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Japan’s GHG emissions decreased by 3.9% in 2018-2019

Due to increase in reliance on renewable energy, Japan has been lowering its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the fifth year in a row, the restart of nuclear reactors and a lower energy demand due to warmer winters have helped in achieving this feat.

According to the Japanese Ministry of Environment, Japanā€™s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions decreased by 3.9% in the financial year 2018-2019 (April 2018-March 2019) to 1,240 Mt CO2e, their lowest level since 1990-1991. It represents a 12% decline compared to the financial year 2013.

Two large coal-fired power stations in the U.K closes down

Coal fired power stations of 2000 and 1580 MW capacities shut down operations in UK. Provisional statistics released by the U.K. government last week showed that electricity provided by coal-fired generators dropped by nearly 60% in 2019 compared to the previous year.

Floating Tidal Power Farm to be set up in waters north of Scotland

A floating superstructure of 72 meter in length would support two 1 MW turbines which will be able to generate enough electricity to meet the annual needs of 1,700 U.K. homes. Scotland and the UK generally are seen as world leaders in tidal energy research, but the US and Canada are both investing heavily in the field.

26 GW dip in power demand during PM Modiā€™s call to switch off lights and light candles during locked down period

The national power grid was prepared to handle the dip as a result of which thermal power plants were gradually scaled down prior to the expected time of dip in power demand. When at the scheduled time, the power demand started dipping, the power generation from hydel power plants were scaled to half of their power generating capacities. And after a short time when the power demand started surging, the power generation from hydel were rapidly increased to maintain grid balance, while that of thermal power plants were gradually increased.

IRENA:75% of new electricity capacity in 2019 came from renewables

IRENA data shows that solar, wind and renewables provided for more than one-third of the world’s power, with 55% of the new power coming from solar- most of which is installed in China, India and other parts of Asia.

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BEE schemes reduced national electricity consumption by 7% till date

Energy-efficiency schemes led by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) led to significant electricity and cost savings, as reported by a Govt. of India parliamentary committee. Over the years since BEE was established in 2002,Ā 109.54 billion units of electricity were saved corresponding to 18.82 million tonnes of oil equivalent and 125.18Ā CO2Ā emissions.

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Guidelines for prevention of COVID-19 spread through building services

REHVA, a European HVAC association, has outlined recommendations for preventing indoor spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus through HVAC and plumbing systems. These include window-driven natural ventilation (except in toilets) and turning off central re-circulation.

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Coronavirus restrictions bring air pollution down globally

As the COVID pandemic forces more and more countries into quarantine, a conspicuous trend has been emerging with respect to the air pollution levels. Significant reductions in air pollutants like PM 2.5, PM 10, Nitrogen oxide (NOx) and Carbon dioxide (CO2) have been observed globally ever since the start of the outbreak in China, which reported these observations as early as mid-March. In India, the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR)Ā has reported an average 50% drop in air pollution levels for several cities within a short span of 3 weeks i.e. mid-March (when the lockdown was implemented) to the first week of April. These declines have been attributed to the severely diminished human activities, particularly in densely populated cities like New Delhi and Mumbai.

COVID-19 signaling a change in design practices?

With the threat of the pandemic, a lot of focus was placed on safe practices to curb the spread of the virus as much as possible. One of the causes for the spread of the virus has been the air conditioning systems in buildings. This has led to the realization of the importance of good ventilation and access to sunlight in buildings.Ā 

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Behavioral science can help achieve net zero goals

While there have been huge leaps of progress that has been made in terms of the technologies or practices that help us in achieving net zero goals whether at a community level or at an organizational level, thereā€™s still a need for push at the micro level. Behavioral science helps in better understanding how to incentivise people to start making changes at the ground level that will help in achieving the larger goals. For example, people moving into or out of a property may be more willing to invest in retrofitting. Assigning relative scores for building energy performance could motivate owners towards retrofitting to avoid dropping into lower rank.

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Poor quality data is the biggest roadblock to net zero transition

According to the latest report by Energy Data Taskforce, a group of UK government appointed experts, the biggest hindrance in transition to a net zero energy system is poor quality, inaccurate or missing energy data. They have called on the UK to modernise its energy system, setting out five core recommendations to capture, coordinate, use, and optimise energy data to help drive decarbonisation, energy efficiency, and cost reductions for bill payers.

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Europeā€™s greenest freezer to be installed by ice cream maker Mackieā€™s

Mackie’s, which produces ten million litres of ice cream a year, is set to install a biomass technology freezer at its family farm in Aberdeenshire, in a move designed to cut both costs and carbon emissions for the Scottish firm. The new refrigeration system has been built to run on ammonia produced using hot water from a large biomass boiler on site. They hope to cut CO2 emissions by up to 80 per cent and drive down its energy costs by as much as 70-80 per cent once the new freezer is fully installed.

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