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April 4, 2024
A New Chapter of Growth for RAP
- Regulatory Assistance Project
The Regulatory Assistance Project is beginning a new chapter of growth and thought leadership as we continue bringing clarity to the complexity of the clean energy transition. After thoughtful discussions between Richard Sedano and the RAP board of directors, Sedano… View Summary +
December 21, 2023
Boiler alert: Predicting boiler breakdowns benefits households and reduces harmful emissions
Policymakers can provide stronger tools to avoid households becoming locked into new gas boiler systems We do not get to choose when our boiler breaks down. It could be at the start of the weekend, when a houseful of relatives… View Summary +
November 27, 2023
Will EU’s buildings directive bring benefits for low-income households?
Louise Sunderland highlights that flexible household energy use is pivotal to the energy transition. The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive provides an essential gateway to citizen participation in the smart energy system and to cheaper energy for low-income households —… View Summary +
March 17, 2023
Let’s make clean heating a reality for low-income households
The cost of heating leaves many European households feeling burnt. Three-quarters of our heat is still supplied by expensive fossil fuels, and heating homes is Europe’s biggest gas user, which creates a twin dilemma: How do we clean up heat,… View Summary +
June 11, 2021
Fit and fair: The case for a European fund for targeted renovation
This week European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans revealed that any extension of carbon pricing to heating and transport would be accompanied by a “climate action social fund.” He states the purpose of this fund is… View Summary +
April 21, 2021
Pipe dream: alleviating energy poverty with hydrogen
The debate about how to reduce emissions from home heating is hotting up, but it risks being derailed by vocal proponents for the use of hydrogen in place of fossil gas. Affordable home heating with hydrogen is, quite literally, a… View Summary +
February 19, 2021
What has gone wrong with the Green Homes Grant?
The Green Homes Grant risks becoming the second government home energy efficiency scheme in a decade designed to fail. The last decade wasn’t a good one for energy efficiency policy in the UK. We all remember the Green Deal,… View Summary +
February 12, 2021
Getting the most from forthcoming minimum energy performance standards
This decade must be a decade of building renovation. To meet the new European climate target of a 55% emissions reduction by 2030, our buildings must go further faster, reducing emissions by 60%. But we are at an almost standing… View Summary +
July 16, 2020
Getting off gas: Future risks for energy poor households
If you are in pain, you go to a doctor who prescribes a painkiller. This cheap, proven and readily available treatment relieves your pain and temporarily solves your problem. However, if you continue to take the pills, you risk the… View Summary +
June 29, 2020
Pushing water uphill: Putting power behind the renovation wave
For some time now I have been struck by the irony of the European Commission’s chosen name for its building renovation policy package, the “renovation wave,” given that increasing the rate of renovation has been like pushing water uphill. Currently,… View Summary +
May 19, 2020
Transition to just
The global experience with the coronavirus crisis is shining light on the precariousness of everyday life for low-income and vulnerable households. As we are forced to stay at home, higher household energy bills put further pressure on already stretched household… View Summary +