From 2026 hybrid heat pumps should be the norm, says minister

DutchNews, May 17, 2022 

Hybrid heat pumps should become the standard replacement for gas-fired central heating systems from 2026, housing ministerHugo de Jonge said on Tuesday. 

The minister said the deadline was intended to give suppliers, installation companies and property owners clarity about the new situation because ‘the need to become more energy efficient is high and the speed [at which this is being done] must be increased’. 

Households could also opt to switch to the municipal heating network if their local council has set one up, or install a fully electric heat pump if they have the right kind of insulation. 

There will ‘of course’ be an exception for property which is not suitable for heat pumps or district heating schemes, De Jonge said in his briefing to MPs. Steps are also being taken to boost both the number of engineers and the production of heat pumps in the Netherlands.

Heating system suppliers have warned in the past there is a shortage of skilled workers to install the new systems. 

Air 

A hybrid heat pump is a combination of a heat pump, which stores warm air or water, and a central heating boiler and their use leads to an average 60% saving on natural gas consumption, the ministry says. 

In well-insulated homes, it may also be possible to switch directly to a fully electric heat pump, which uses no natural gas at all. 

The government is setting aside €150 million a year in subsidies to help home owners pay for the change, and low income households will also be able to borrow the money at a zero interest rate from special fund. The maximum subsidy available will be up to 30% of the cost.

Targets 

The Dutch government has pledged to ensure all homes in the country are gas free in 2050, aiming for 2,000 in the first two years and building up to 1.5 million homes by 2030. 

Dutch home owners association Vereningen Eigen Huis says the cost of installing a hybrid heat pump is currently up to around €6000 but could be as much as €20,000 for a fully electric pump. 

Insulation 

The VEH, which supports the switch, said three things will be crucial in ensuring the success of the project.

‘It must be affordable, there must be enough capacity in terms of people and equipment, and house owners must be given the right advice about what sort of system to install,’ a spokesman told broadcaster NOS. 

In addition, the property must be properly insulated and that means insulated roofs, floors and walls and at least double glazing, the spokesman said. Those costs will come on top of the cost of the new heating system. 

The Telegraaf points out that the equipment also takes up more space than a traditional boiler and has an outside element which can cause noise issues for neighbours. Properties also may need to add in extra or larger radiators. 

Sector lobby group Techniek Nederland estimates two million of the eight million homes in the Netherlands are currently suitable for hybrid systems.

Netizens praise Taiwan's beauty as NASA night image goes viral

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-01-26

The oblique night image taken by the crew of Expedition 40 from the
International Space Station on July 27, 2014. (Photo courtesy of NASA)

A spectacular night image of Taiwan taken from the International Space Station last year as gone viral, with many netizens commenting on the beauty of the island, reports our Chinese-language sister paper China Times.

The image released on NASA's website taken by Expedition 40 last year on July 27 from 375 kilometers above the surface of the planet, shows a brightly lit Taiwan in the foreground with mainland China beyond, along with lights from hundreds of fishing vessels in clusters throughout the panorama.

In the photo, the west strip of Taiwan from north to south is especially bright, with the main cities of Taipei, Taichung and Tainan all standing out. Yilan county in the northeastern past of the country offers the only significant cluster of light along the east coast.

Most have commented on the beauty of the island, with some likening Taiwan to a "glowing potato."

Others have raised environmental concerns from thinking of the power needed for so many lights, saying Taiwan's beautiful night view comes at the expense of the planet.

According to Taiwan's National Applied Research Laboratories, the country's Formosat-2 satellite, responsible disaster prevention, takes similar photos all the time, though there are no night shots as the photos are all taken at 10am every morning.

Details of first pilot center for APEC Green Supply Chain disclosed

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-11-15

The Yujiapu railway construction site in Tianjin, March 7. (File photo/CNS)

More details on the first pilot center for the Cooperation Network on Green Supply Chain of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) were disclosed by Tianjin's Yujiapu Financial District on Friday.

One of the achievements of the APEC Beijing meetings, the pilot center, which will be established in Yujiapu, will explore and share China's experience of low carbon to Asian-Pacific region economies.

The Green Supply Chain is a kind of management mode with an emphasis on energy efficiency and environmental friendliness throughout the whole product life cycle. Enterprises adopting this management style will achieve both environmental and economic benefits.

The cooperation network aims to conduct applied research on the green supply chain, subsequently establishing pilot centers and relevant websites to share information, explained assistant general manager of Tianjin Innovative Finance Investment Company, Mu Lingling, who is in charge of the preparation work.

"We hope the pilot center can help develop an information sharing mechanism and form a kind of Tianjin Mode in the market and service, so as to export the 'Chinese Standard' to Asia Pacific," Mu said.

The Yujiapu Financial District, set up in 2009, aims to become the world's biggest financial district. By 2012, the number of registered enterprises in the zone exceeded 470.

Ikea kitchens help sell insulation to Dutch – and UK could be next

Dutch consortia Energiesprong could give zero carbon retrofits to social homes across England, using innovative wrap-around insulated panels, if EU funding is approved

The Guardian, Arthur Neslen, Friday 10 October 2014

Dutch energiesprong (‘Energy Leap’) pilot project in Tilburg in the Netherlands.
Photograph: Rogier Bos/Energiesprong

More than 100,000 homes across the UK could be given a carbon-neutral retrofit by 2020 if the EU approves funding for a ground-breaking green social housing project this month.

The first pilot projects are due to start within a year on council estates and housing association properties in London, Birmingham and southern England and are set to save 1,950GWh of energy.

The Energiesprong (Energy Leap) initiative involves completely wrapping houses with insulated panel-facades that snap on like Lego. Insulated roofs adorned with 24 high-efficiency solar panels each are fastened on top, while heat pumps, hot water storage tanks and ventilation units are stored in garden sheds.

On the Woonwaard housing estate near Amsterdam, tenants whose homes have already received the upgrade say that the final effect is like living inside a ‘tea cosy’.

“This new house is great,” former social worker Astrid Andre, 58,told the Guardian. “You can’t hear the traffic from outside anymore. It feels as if I’m living in a private home, rather than social housing. Before, the wind used to go through the house in winter. I have arthritis and when the weather was colder, it became worse. But my bones are better now, more supple.”

Former social worker Astrid Andre, who lives near Amsterdam, says that both
noise and draft levels have improved since the retrofit. Photograph: Arthur
Neslen for The Guardian

The programme has already won a contract from the Dutch government to provide a wave of 10-day makeovers to 111,000 homes on estates mostly built in the 1960s and 70s. It is now bidding for €10m (£7.8m) from the EU’s Horizon 2020 money pot to extend the project to the UK and France.

Partners in the bid to bring the Dutch Energiesprongdevelopment team to the UK include the Greater London Authority (GLA), the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc), The Housing Finance Corporation (THFC) and the National Federation of Housing Associations (NFHA).

“The Netherlands has a head start but the basic logic is the same,” said Jasper van den Munckhof, Energiesprong’s director. “If you have political will, government support, and a housing association sector that can put up a strong volume for conceptual development, then there is a profitable case for builders to step in.”

Materials used for wall isolation in renovated houses by Dutch Energiesprong
in Arnhem. Photograph: Frank Hanswijk/Energiesprong

The deceptively simple idea behind the initiative has been to finance the roughly 300,000 mass-produced renovations from the estimated €6bn of savings from energy bills that they will make each year.

In the Netherlands, upfront capital comes from the WSW social bank, which has provided €6bn to underwrite government-backed 40-year loans to housing associations. These then charge tenants the same amount they had previously paid for rent and energy bills together, until the debt is repaid.

The prefabricated refurbishments come with a 40-year builders’ guarantee that covers the entire loan period, and a 5.25% return is guaranteed to participating housing associations.

But the renovations can only be done if all tenants in a block agree to it, and that spurred the invention of an unlikely environmental incentive: free bathrooms, fridges and Ikea kitchens, with electric cooking.

“Everyone has been talking about it since last December,” said Bianca Lakeman, a 32-year-old office worker and single mother on the Woonwaard estate. “They’re saying how the front facade is very modern but most of all they are talking about the beautiful Ikea kitchens.”

Tenants can choose the kitchen’s colour and design and, because the construction companies are contracted to provide maintenance for the next four decades, the new installations work out cheaper than the anticipated costs of servicing mid-20th century kitchens into the mid-21st century.

“When we started, there was a period where not everybody was keen,” said Marnette Vroegop, a concept developer for the Woonwaard housing association. “The main doubts were about whether it was realistic.”

Pierre Sponselee, director of Woonwaard housing association. Photograph:
Arthur Neslen for The Guardian

“There is one block of six houses here and one person still says no,” Pierre Sponselee, the association’s director said. “The man had lived here only for a year and came from another house where he’d had a renovation and he didn’t want another one. It is a pity for the rest of the neighbours.”

Minor complaints from tenants about the refurbishments have included noise from garden shed installations and increased awareness of internal house sounds, as floorboards become proportionately louder when outside noises are muffled.

Bianca’s block is due to be renovated this month in the latest construction round on the estate that will see another 50 zero energy homes created. “I’m very excited about it because it can keep my cost of living under control and reduce the effects of climate change,” she said.

Around 40% of Europe’s carbon dioxide emissions come from heating and lighting in buildings and the EU has set a zero energy requirement for all new house builds by 2021. But these only make up around 1% of the continent’s housing stock and how to persuade the construction industry to renovate to new and untried standards had been a vexed question.

With support from the Dutch government, Energiesprong dangled the carrot of secured long-term contracts for a market of up to 2.3m homes, and then asked a depressed construction sector what solutions they could come up with.

Energiesprong renovated building in Groningen. Photograph: Rogier Bos/
Energiesprong

The result was the beginnings of a reindustrialisation of the Dutch building sector, with construction companies taking 3D scans of houses to offer factory-produced refurbishments tailored to each house’s dimensions.

“We have to think like a manufacturer,” said Joost Nelis, the director of BAM, the Netherlands’ biggest construction company. “We want to shrink the garden power units like Apple did the iPad,” Nelis says.

The company is also experimenting with apartment blocks run on DC electricity, which increases solar panel efficiency by about 30%. Almost all buildings in the Netherlands run on AC, but few tower blocks have room for enough solar panels to generate electricity for more than five floors of homes.

While trade unions have enthusiastically signed up to Energiesprong, energy companies that use fossil fuels could lose out on the gathering transformation, according to Nelis. Tenants in places such as Woonwaard can already sell their excess electricity back to the grid and may one day be able to use electric cars to power their homes.

Ambitious though it is, Energiesprong says its programme of building renovations should be seen as a means to a low-carbon transformation of the building sector, rather than an end in itself.

Last week, a similar deal was signed with the Netherlands biggest mortgage banks, real estate surveyors and government, to take the project into the private sector too.

New 'skin' makes 1960s terraced home super energy efficient

DutchNews.nl, Monday 25 August 2014

Solar panels allow the house to become energy self-sufficient. Photo: TU Delft

Students from Delft University have turned an ordinary 1960s terraced house into an energy-neutral home by giving it a ‘new skin’ involving solar panels, glass walls and smart technology.

The project shows how 1.4 million similar terraced homes in the Netherlands could be made energy self-sufficient and won top prize for sustainability at the 2014 Solar Decathlon event in France earlier this summer.

The home, a replica of the house lived in by one of the students as a child, has been rebuilt in Delft with all the high-tech modifications. The project is called Prêt-à-Loger – ready to be lived in – because the residents are able to remain living there while renovations are carried out.

Delft researchers will use the house as a test site for improving the indoor environment in homes and for the further development of consumer products, systems and fittings within buildings and solar cells.

The house is the first building in The Green Village, a Delft initiative to develop a living laboratory for sustainable innovations on the university campus.

The house was formally opened on Monday by housing minister Stef Blok.

It is the first time that an old house in this way energy is made ​​neutral 

(Colette van Nunen/NOS)

Renewables grip German coalition talks

Deutsche Welle, 31 October 2013

Germany's push for renewable energy has dominated coalition talks in Berlin on forming its next government. At issue is how to restrain electricity price hikes while shifting from fossil fuels to wind and solar power.

 Peter Altmaier (CDU) and Hannelore Kraft (SPD) Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and center-left Social Democrats wrangled over electricity pricing on Thursday as their coalition talks focused on Germany's planned shift to renewable energy sources to tackle climate warming.

Environment Minister Peter Altmaier of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said the energy transition was "a central project" of the proposed coalition, but for consumers it had to remain "affordable."

Germany, he added, needed to show the world that renewable power could be produced at competitive prices.

He was reacting to recent calculations showing that despite falling wholesale prices for electricity, households were paying sizeable surcharges to encourage "green power" suppliers. 

German industry also warned recently that its competitive edge was at risk.

'Ecological' but affordable

Outside the coalition talks venue, the opposition Social Democrats' lead spokesperson on energy Hannelore Kraft said the energy transition must be "safe, affordable and ecological."

The premier of the traditional coal-mining state of North Rhine-Westphalia rejected accusations that she was a lobbyist for the coal industry. "We want to expand renewables," she said.

Fukushima jolt in Germany

Prompted by Japan's 2011 Fukushima disaster, Chancellor Merkel's previous center-right coalition cabinet reacted by reaffirming plans to shut down Germany's nuclear plants by 2022 and wean the country off fossil fuels.

Altermaier had told the Handelsblatt business daily earlier on Thursday that Germany's Renewable Energy Act with its incentives for suppliers needed reforming by 2015.

His remark coincided with a paper from business advocates within CDU circles who want subsidies for wind, solar power and biogas plant operators ended as soon as German renewable power - currently at about 25 percent of total supply - reaches 35 percent.

Protestors haul in coal

Greenpeace activists parked a hand-drawn trolley loaded with coal outside the Berlin coalition talks venue, urging negotiators not to backtrack on renewables.

They displayed a banner reading: "coal destroys the energy transition."

Fairer burden?

Surveys show that 90 percent of residents in Germany support the expansion of renewables but want a fairer distribution of costs, including cuts in power rebates favoring heavy industries such as aluminum smelters and cement works.

The German Industry Federation (BDI) recently warned that reducing energy costs would be crucial for the survival of energy-intensive industrial companies, which account for nearly one million jobs.

The European Environment Agency said in mid-October that only four EU members – including Germany – were "making good progress" towards achieving a 20-percent improvement in energy efficiency by 2020.

ipj/pfd (dpa, AP, AFP)

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much….”

"The Quantum Factor" – Apr 10, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Galaxies, Universe, Intelligent design, Benevolent design, Aliens, Nikola Tesla (Quantum energy), Inter-Planetary Travel, DNA, Genes, Stem Cells, Cells, Rejuvenation, Shift of Human Consciousness, Spontaneous Remission, Religion, Dictators, Africa, China, Nuclear Power, Sustainable Development, Animals, Global Unity.. etc.) - (Text Version)

“…  What if... just what if... you also became wiser as well? What if you started to control that which is your population and the use of the earth's resources in a better way. What if you stopped using up the resources of earth and depended instead upon the ocean for power as we told you how to do? What if you decided to dig a hole and make steam out of the heat that's below your feet, instead of building a nuclear reactor? What if you finally realized that nuclear reactors are the world's most expensive and dangerous steam engines! There are lots of ways of making steam that will not hurt one animal, or molecule of air, and the process lays there ready for your discovery. What if you became benevolent and responsible, and GAIA  supported the balance of your numbers? What a concept! ..."

"2013 - What Now ?" – Jan 6, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… New ideas are things you never thought of. These ideas will be given to you so you will have answers to the most profound questions that your societies have had since you were born. Inventions will bring clean water to every Human on the planet, cheaply and everywhere. Inventions will give you power, cheaply and everywhere. These ideas will wipe out all of the reasons you now have for pollution, and when you look back on it, you'll go, "This solution was always there. Why didn't we think of that? Why didn't we do this sooner?" Because it wasn't time and you were not ready. You hadn't planted the seeds and you were still battling the old energy, deciding whether you were going to terminate yourselves before 2012. Now you didn't…. and now you didn't.

It's funny, what you ponder about, and what your sociologists consider the "great current problems of mankind", for your new ideas will simply eliminate the very concepts of the questions just as they did in the past. Do you remember? Two hundred years ago, the predictions of sociologists said that you would run out of food, since there wasn't enough land to sustain a greater population. Then you discovered crop rotation and fertilizer. Suddenly, each plot of land could produce many times what it could before. Do you remember the predictions that you would run out of wood to heat your homes? Probably not. That was before electricity. It goes on and on.

So today's puzzles are just as quaint, as you will see. (1)How do you strengthen the power grids of your great nations so that they are not vulnerable to failure or don't require massive infrastructure improvement expenditures? Because cold is coming, and you are going to need more power. (2) What can you do about pollution? (3) What about world overpopulation? Some experts will tell you that a pandemic will be the answer; nature [Gaia] will kill off about one-third of the earth's population. The best minds of the century ponder these puzzles and tell you that you are headed for real problems. You have heard these things all your life.

Let me ask you this. (1) What if you could eliminate the power grid altogether? You can and will. (2) What if pollution-creating sources simply go away, due to new ideas and invention, and the environment starts to selfcorrect? (3) Overpopulation? You assume that humanity will continue to have children at an exponential rate since they are stupid and can't help themselves. This, dear ones, is a consciousness and education issue, and that is going to change. Imagine a zero growth attribute of many countries - something that will be common. Did you notice that some of your children today are actually starting to ponder if they should have any children at all? What a concept! ….”

Energy firms, employers, ministers seal 'energy agreement'

DutchNews.nl, Wednesday 28 August 2013

The proportion of sustainable energy used in the Netherlands should go up from  4% to 16% of the total by 2023 under the terms of a new 'energy agreement' finalised on Wednesday.

Talks on the deal have been ongoing for six months under the auspices of SER, the government's advisory body made up of union, employer and lay representatives.

Investment

The agreement will lead to billions of euros of investment and create at least 15,000 jobs, SER said. Total energy use should be cut by 1.5% a year across the board.

Some €400m has been earmarked for subsidies for private landlords to make their properties more energy efficient.

The deal also involves closing down old coal-fired power stations earlier than scheduled, the setting up of a special fund to pay for energy efficency measures - with cash from pension funds - and a major focus on offshore wind energy generation.

Reactions

Reactions to the plans have been largely positive, news agency ANP said. Most political parties welcomed news of the deal, although the left-wing greens GroenLinks said it is a 'first step'.

'If we want to combat climate change and protect our environment we will have to be a lot more ambitious,' party leader Bram van Ojik said.

The agreement still has to be signed by all 40 parties involved in drawing it up.

After delays, solar panels again being installed on White House

LA Times, By Neela Banerjee, August 15, 2013

WASHINGTON – The White House began installing solar panels this week  on the first family’s residence, finally making good on a pledge President Obama made almost three years ago.

The installation follows a speech Obama made in June on tackling the causes of climate change and dealing with its effects. Administration officials announced in October 2010 that solar panels would be installed in the White House as part of an initiative to make government buildings more energy efficient, but the work was repeatedly delayed.

Environmentalists and solar energy companies welcomed the news.

“Solar is fast becoming America’s most popular home improvement, and we are very pleased to see the first family follow the American people’s lead. Support for solar energy is one issue that rises above the political fray,” said a statement from Sungevity, an Oakland-based solar company.

Sungevity was part of a coalition of solar businesses and environmental groups that petitioned the administration in early 2010 to bring back solar power to the White House.  President Carter had solar panels installed there, but President Reagan had them taken down in 1986.

When the project was announced in 2010, Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said it would show that “American solar technologies are available, reliable, and ready for installation in homes throughout the country.”

Renewable sources generate only a small portion of the country’s electricity, but their share has grown. The United States installed 723 megawatts of solar energy in the first quarter of 2013, which accounted for more than 48% of all new electric generation capacity built over that period, according to the Solar Energy Industries Assn., a Washington trade group.

The White House said the project would “help demonstrate that historic buildings can incorporate solar energy and energy-efficiency upgrades.”

The administration said the solar equipment is “American-made,” but declined to give any other details, including the cost, the name of the vendor, how much energy it will save or when it will come on line.

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Beijing pledges to further boost green industries

Want China Times, Xinhua 2013-08-13

Residents take used items to their local recycling center in Hefei,
Anhui province. (Photo/Xinhua)

China has published measures to help boost green industries as it looks to increase domestic demand and update its economic structure, according to a document issued by the State Council or cabinet.

The country vowed in an industrial development plan last year that it will raise the total output value of environmental protection industries to 4.5 trillion yuan (US$729.7 billion) by 2015, or on average a 15% yearly increase.

The State Council reiterated the goal in its latest document, vowing to spur technological innovation, expand consumption demand of green and energy saving products, and boost the services industry related to environmental protection.

In terms of specific policy measures, the central government will direct more of its budget to fund environmental protection industries and encourage eligible companies to issue bonds, according to the document.

Efforts will also be made to establish pricing schemes of renewable energy and to push forward tiered prices for household water and gas consumption, according to the document.

To further improve market mechanisms, pilot programs for emissions and carbon trading will also be carried out, the State Council said in the document.

China will encourage capable domestic companies to undertake overseas projects in environmental protection, and eligible foreign-funded firms will enjoy the same industrial preferential policy with their Chinese counterparts, the State Council added.

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Greener cars could slash US pollution by 2050: study

Google – AFP, Kerry Sheridan (AFP), 18 March 2013 

Traffic converges on highway I-495 South just west of Washington on Nov. 23, 

2011, in McLean, Virginia (Getty Images/AFP/File, Win McNamee)

WASHINGTON — Greener cars that use alternative fuels could help the United States slash its greenhouse gas emissions from everyday driving a full 80 percent by 2050, according to a scientific study out Monday.

That could lead to a more than 13 percent cut in overall US pollution into the atmosphere, with consumer-driven cars and small trucks currently responsible for 17 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, said the study.

However, sticker shock could turn off many consumers, with alternative fuel vehicles costing several thousand dollars more than today's prices.

Still, the long-term benefits would outweigh the early costs, said the report by the National Academy of Sciences, which called for subsidies and tax incentives to ease the burden on consumers who want to drive green.

"These are things that will not happen in the market naturally," committee chair Doug Chapin told reporters. "There has to be real teeth in these policies."

The Mercedes B-Class F-Cell is seen

 during the press day of the LA Auto

 Show on November 17, 2010 (AFP/File,

Gabriel Bouys)

The study envisions cars and small trucks of the future that drive a stunning 100 miles per gallon (42.5 kilometers per liter), way over the 25 miles per gallon that they did on average in 2005.

More efficient vehicle technologies -- like lighter, more aerodynamic designs -- could be combined with alternative power sources such as biofuel, electricity or hydrogen, reducing petroleum use in 2050 by 80 percent as well, it said.

"There is no silver bullet that is adequate by itself," said Chapin.

Fuels under consideration include corn-grain ethanol and biodiesel, which are already being produced in commercial quantities. Natural gas was ruled out because its greenhouse gas emissions were too high.

The study also pointed to "much greater potential" in fuel from wood waste, wheat straw and switchgrass, known as biofuel from lignocellulosic biomass.

"This 'drop-in' fuel is designed to be a direct replacement for gasoline and could lead to large reductions in both petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions," it said.

The study examined hybrid electric, plug-in electric and battery electric vehicles already on the market including the Toyota Prius and Chevrolet Volt, as well as hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles like the Mercedes F-Cell, scheduled for market release in 2014.

High up-front vehicle prices would be expected to endure for at least a decade, even though it would cost less to fuel up and drive greener cars, it said.

The study said the benefit to society in terms of energy cost savings, better vehicles, reduced petroleum use and lower greenhouse gas emissions would be "many times larger than the projected costs."

The chassis of a Chevrolet Volt is

 seen on media preview day at the 

Los Angeles Auto Show on November 28,

2012 (AFP/File, Frederic J. Brown)

The goals set out by the study, which took two years to produce, will be "difficult but not impossible to meet," Chapin said, as long as they are guided by strong national policies.

He acknowledged that projecting until 2050 created significant uncertainty in the study, but urged many policies and approaches to be pursued at the same time.

"If the goals are not completely met, the effort itself and partial success is expected to yield valuable benefit," Chapin said.

According to committee member David Greene of the Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy, incentives such as subsidies or mandates would be needed to "overcome the initial cost barriers for the advanced technologies."

"In the long run, we remove all of those special subsidies or mandates and let the market decide which vehicles it prefers," he said.

The study was sponsored by the US Department of Energy's Office of Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

President Barack Obama last week sought to preserve green energy research after an impasse with Congress sparked an 85 billion dollar austerity drive and widespread budgets cuts.

Obama, who has also urged Congress to do more to fight climate change, plans to introduce further efficiency standards for cars and make a fresh push for cleaner energy, but those policies face an uphill battle among Republican lawmakers who say the costs are too high.

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US teen designs compact nuclear reactor

"It's about bringing something old, fission, into the 21st Century," Wilson said. "I think this has huge potential to change the world."

He has designed a small reactor capable of generating 50-100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power as many as 100,000 homes.

Chicago skyscrapers go green, slash energy costs

Yahoo - AFP, December 9, 2012

File picture of downtown Chicago at night. Chicago's skyline is going green,

 as property managers install energy efficient tools like motion-detectors on

 office lights, in a project officials hope will inspire changes across the United

States.

CHICAGO (AFP) - Chicago's skyline is going green, as property managers install energy efficient tools like motion-detectors on office lights, in a project officials hope will inspire changes across the United States.

At the riverside Sheraton hotel, chief engineer Ryan Egan cannot get over what his new thermostats can do -- or the $136,000 a year in savings they are producing.

First off, they're tied into the booking management system, which means he can let the room temperature drift beyond standard comfort levels until the moment a guest checks in.

An infrared sensor means the savings don't stop there. Once the guest leaves the room, the temperature starts to drift again, giving the heating or cooling system a break until it's needed again.

It's not a random drift -- the thermostat is programmed to only allow the room to warm up or cool down to the point where it can get back to the pre-set temperature within 12 minutes of the guest's return.

"The brains behind how much it can drift is really interesting," Egan said. "If you're on the shady side (in the summer) it'll drift more because it knows it can recover faster."

The Sheraton is one of 14 major commercial buildings that signed onto the Retrofit Chicago challenge to cut energy use by 20 percent over the next five years, for savings estimated at more than $5 million a year.

If they succeed, it will be like taking 8,000 cars off the road.

"The fact that this is the city that built the first skyscraper, we love that we're trying to green the skyline," Karen Weigert, chief sustainability officer for the city of Chicago, told AFP.

Some 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the Windy City come from the electricity and gas used to heat, cool and power homes, businesses, schools and other government buildings.

In addition to the greening in commercial buildings, the city plans to cut energy use by 20 percent in hundreds of municipal buildings, for an estimated monetary saving of $20 million a year and emissions savings equivalent to taking about 30,000 vehicles off the road.

It has also launched a program to help retrofit residential properties and expects more big commercial buildings to join the challenge.

"Fighting climate change can take all sorts of forms. This one happens to also save building owners a lot of money," said Rebecca Stanfield, a senior energy advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"We're excited about the potential for big property owners who are in the Chicago initiative to use what they learn here in buildings across the country."

A similar program is being promoted by the Department of Energy, which has racked up commitments from schools, cities and businesses to reduce energy use by 20 percent in 2 billion square feet.

AT&T -- the first company to sign up for Chicago's challenge -- is testing out a host of new energy efficiency technologies at its downtown office tower.

It's just one test kitchen for the telecom giant, as it searches for best practices in its quest to cut emissions company-wide by 20 percent by 2020.

The results so far have been impressive.

They've swapped out ceiling lights with more efficient bulbs and set up motion detectors so the lights aren't burning when technicians and sales staff are away from their desks.

They've put insulated shutters on the air intake system to keep the chill out in winter and the heat out in summer.

They've installed regulators on the big fans that push heated or cooled air through the 1960's era building so they only operate when needed instead of running all day and most of the night.

They've even swapped out the belts on the fan's motors to cut down on energy-sucking slippage.

"There's no question we've identified enough opportunities to save 20 percent," said John Schinter, AT&T's executive director for energy.

All the improvements tested in Chicago will pay for themselves in three years or less, and most will be rolled out to the 1,000 corporate and 500 retail buildings that AT&T is targeting in its sustainability plan, Schinter said.

"If a project doesn't have scalability for an enterprise as large as ours, we don't spend much corporate time on it," he said in an interview.

Jim Javillet is amazed at how attitudes have changed in the 43 years he's been managing buildings like the AT&T tower.

"In the 60s and 70s they used to run (both) heating and cooling all year -- why not," he recalled.

Another big advance came when buildings installed systems to turn most overhead lights off at a set time so they didn't burn all night.

Now, even in the middle of the day, he can see who's away from their desks by the dark spots in the room. And when he walks down an empty hall, he creates a tunnel of light.

These types of innovations are common in countries like Spain and Japan, where energy is more costly and governments have been more aggressive in pushing energy efficient building codes.

But Americans are ready to accept change, said Dan Tishman, whose realty company owns the Sheraton Chicago and nine other major US hotels.

"Consumers in this country are comfortable with motion detectors on lights and other technologies that save energy, like low flush toilets or green roofs, and they appreciate it," said Tishman, who is also chairman of the National Resource Defense Council and heads a leading construction firm.

"I do think that when we implement the changes we are planning, we will be successful and other large hotel properties will follow suit."