Gent in transitie?!

De stad Gent is o.a. via het Gents Klimaatverbond al een tijdje bezig om via transitie-initiatieven te komen tot een meer duurzame stedelijke omgeving. 'Gent in transitie?!' heeft deze initiatieven in kaart gebracht en heeft ze raadpleegbaar gemaakt volgens verschillende criteria (systeem, niveau, initiatiefnemer, periode, ligging en fase). Het gaat momenteel al om een 70-tal projecten. Gent in transitie?! maakt deel uit van het onderzoek van het Vlaams Steunpunt Transities voor Duurzame Ontwikkeling (TRADO).

Principles for nearly zero energy buildings

source: Ecofys

The recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) in 2010 introduced nearly zero energy buildings (nzeb) as a future requirement for all new buildings in the EU from 2021 on (public buildings from 2019). In this frame ECOFYS and the Danish Research Building Institute made a study on the principles for nearly zero energy buildings.
Report and summary can be found on the website of Ecofys or on the website of BPIE (Building Performance Institute Europe).

The Blue Economy

The Blue Economy is going a step further than the Green Economy. 
According to Gunther Pauli, founder of Ecover and author of 'The Blue Economy', the Green Economy leads to green solutions that are more expensive than the traditional ones, thus only feasible for the happy few (the rich ones).
The Blue Economy aims at looking for solutions that are both sustainable and affordable.
The Zero Energy Research Institute (ZERI) has been set up as a world wide network of researchers and entrepreneurs searching for this kind of solutions. Already 99 cases have been collected and every week a new case is presented.

 

Limburg goes climate neutral by 2020

The summary report on how the province of Limburg, Belgium will become climate neutral by 2020 is now available in English.

The full report of this study by VITO is only available in Dutch.