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Incisive commentary from RAP experts
RAP experts keep their finger on the pulse of the energy sector and provide timely analysis of topics impacting stakeholders TODAY.
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June 23, 2021
How the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive risks destroying Europe’s forests
- Dominic Scott ,
- Jan Rosenow ,
- Samuel Thomas
In meeting their 2020 renewable energy targets, EU Member States have overseen large increases in renewable power. But this has been accompanied by a less welcome development: a near doubling in the amount of energy derived from solid biomass, which… View Summary +

March 1, 2022
How heat pump sales are starting to take off around the world
- Jan Rosenow ,
- Duncan Gibb
Experts see heat pumps as one of the main solutions for tackling the carbon emissions associated with keeping buildings warm, both in the UK and internationally. Yet sales of the technology, often likened to a… View Summary +

March 2, 2022
How Europe can rapidly reduce its gas dependency
- Jan Rosenow ,
- Michaela Holl
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them,” Albert Einstein famously said. Yet this is exactly what the European Commission appears to be doing in its forthcoming strategy for more affordable, secure and… View Summary +

July 20, 2022
‘Game on’ for Germany’s heat pump transformation
Time is of the essence if Germany hopes to meet its ambitious net-zero emissions target by 2045. To achieve this goal, the country will have to rapidly transform how it heats its buildings while ridding itself of Russian gas. Alongside… View Summary +

February 7, 2023
‘Hydrogen-ready’ boilers – a lifeline for fossil fuel heating in Europe
- Jan Rosenow
The heating industry is in turmoil. The need to decarbonise energy demand as well as the gas crisis caused by the war in Ukraine have led to governments around Europe setting phase-out dates for the installation of fossil fuel heating… View Summary +

February 23, 2023
Staying the course: Keeping the key role of the energy savings obligation in focus as negotiations reach their endgame
As we move towards the endgame in the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) revision, what should negotiators be considering as they recraft the key energy saving provisions — the energy savings obligation? The right level of ambition … As part… View Summary +

September 25, 2017
It’s cheaper to save energy than to buy it, despite misleading claims
- Jan Rosenow
“Energy efficiency is too expensive, will increase costs to consumers and push people into energy poverty”—this is a claim made by some commentators in Brussels recently. As the Energy Efficiency Directive is being negotiated in the Parliament, Jan Rosenow reveals… View Summary +
January 19, 2018
Time for German network operators to come clean about tariffs
Network tariffs are an important part of energy costs for consumers, yet, surprisingly, the way these fees are established in Germany is completely opaque, writes Andreas Jahn, Berlin-based senior associate at global energy policy advisors Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP). According… View Summary +

October 6, 2016
Why the UK will Miss its Climate Targets Without a Step-Change in Building Energy Efficiency
- Jan Rosenow ,
- Pedro Guertler
The last 18 months have been a major set-back in the British policy landscape affecting carbon emissions from buildings: the trajectory to zero carbon new build has been paused; government support for Green Deal finance was withdrawn with no alternative… View Summary +
April 19, 2017
Efficiency First: A Crucial Building Block for the Energiewende
When the German Ministry of Energy and Economic Affairs published its green paper on energy efficiency, it not only put the spotlight on efficiency, it also started the conversation around a necessary underlying energy policy framework. Until now,… View Summary +