Gas utilities have a structural problem in an electrifying economy. Customers can stop using gas one building at a time, while most of the physical network remains in service until enough neighboring customers have left for a section of pipe to be shut down. That distinction matters more as heat … [continued]
Healthy social housing has to provide winter warmth, summer safety and clean indoor air, while retrofit sequencing determines how quickly residents receive those benefits.
“Fabric first” starts from a sensible building-efficiency idea. Improve insulation, stop unnecessary draughts, fix ventilation and reduce heat demand before replacing a gas or oil boiler with a heat pump. Some homes plainly need that work, and cheap measures such as loft insulation, draught repair and basic remediation can be … [continued]
Every year, the number of manufacturers making residential heat pump water heaters (HPWH) for the American market continues to grow. A decade ago, there were just a handful of HPWH manufacturers. In 2026, with Lennox and Reservoir bringing HPWHs to market, the total number has reached 17. Two more are … [continued]
50 companies, industry associations and civil society organisations urge governments to finalise the transposition of ETS2 and start using the revenues to support vulnerable households. 50 companies and NGOs are calling on governments to start using ETS2 revenues to support vulnerable households’ transition to clean energy. Using frontloaded revenues from … [continued]
Ireland’s National Heat Study distinguished useful fabric improvements from extensive renovation and found that deep retrofit should not automatically delay replacement of fossil heating.
For several years I have been arguing that “fabric first” becomes a trap when a sensible building-efficiency principle is turned into a universal sequencing rule. Insulation, draught-proofing, ventilation and building repair can all be valuable, sometimes very valuable, but that does not establish that every household should complete extensive renovation … [continued]
The Netherlands cut its 2040 hydrogen forecast by more than half as electrification displaced hydrogen across power, heat, buildings and transport—but the remaining forecast still assumes substantial demand growth.
Three years is a long time in hydrogen strategy. The Netherlands’ 2023 National Energy System Plan projected roughly 460 petajoules of gaseous hydrogen demand in 2040. Its 2026 National Energy System Plan update cuts that central estimate to about 200 PJ, a reduction of roughly 57%. This is especially interesting … [continued]
Farm electrification is several different operating problems sharing one electrical platform. Stationary loads, redesignable services and narrow-window seasonal work require different investment sequences.
Ask whether agriculture can electrify and the conversation usually arrives at the same machine within minutes: the tractor. More specifically, the large diesel tractor working hard through planting, harvest or another narrow seasonal window. It is a legitimate engineering challenge, but it is a poor organizing principle for farm electrification. … [continued]
Split heat pump water heaters (HPWH), where the compressor and tank are separated, are having a moment. Several new products have come to market this year, and more are on the way. To add to this excitement, A. O. Smith, one of the “big three” manufacturers in US water heating, … [continued]
EU Commission identifies grids as a bottleneck for electrification, promising to standardise vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology The EU Commission has announced an electrification target of 46% by 2040 — doubling the current level. Accelerating electrification is crucial if Europe is to reduce its reliance on imported fossil fuels. Prioritising transport — … [continued]
Nothing quite drives home the horrors of climate change like forest fires and wildfire smoke. We living on the West Coast have had a couple more years to experience the nightmare that the Midwest and East Coast are experiencing for the second time in 3 years. I’ll never forget 2017 … [continued]
