Heat pumps will play crucial role in CO2 reduction in buildings

According to International Energy Agency (IEA), heat pumps may reduce global hashtagCO2 emissions by 500 Mt by 2030 , or around 40% of total direct and indirect emissions reductions in space and water hashtagheating in buildings.

Heliogen, a solar energy company backed by Bill Gates, made a breakthrough

Heliogen, a solar energy company, has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to focus reflected sunlight so precisely that it generates extreme heat - up to 1500ºC. For the first time, concentrated solar energy can be used to create the high-temperature heat required to make cement, steel, glass and other industrial products. The Heliogen’s technology could eventually be used to create carbon-free, green hydrogen which could then be turned into fuel for cars, trucks and airplanes. 

EU heating strategy: more district heating and renewables

The European Commission (EC) is finalising recommendations on heating and cooling with an intention to update EU energy legislation and possibly draft new directives. Currently heating and cooling account for around 40% of European Union energy consumption, but are only indirectly targeted by existing EU policies, which focus more on power production with renewable energy. 

Your shower is wasting huge amounts of energy and water. Here’s what you can do about it.

For a standard shower head, every minute wasted equates to 2.5 gallons of water — and insofar as some of it is warm, “that’s energy-rich water that we’re running down the drain.” And research conducted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has suggested that the waste levels may be even higher — 30 percent of shower water overall and 41 percent of “hot water energy.” Showering drives almost 17 percent of water use in homes, and an average American family uses some 40 gallons of water per day in the shower.