Principles for the aggregation of relevant knowledge submitted by NER 300 projects

NER 300 is an EU funding programme for the demonstration of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and innovative renewable energy (RES) technologies at the pre-commercial stage. Knowledge sharing requirements are built into the legal basis of the programme as a critical tool to lower risks in bridging the transition to large-scale production of innovative renewable energy and CCS deployment. Projects have to submit annually to the European Commission relevant knowledge gained. The European Commission assesses the relevant knowledge, aggregates and disseminates it. This report presents the methodology for the aggregation of relevant knowledge.JRC.F.6-Energy Technology Policy Outloo

Towards Additional Policies to Improve the Environmental Performance of Buildings

This report supports EU policymaking on sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in the area of buildings, which were indentified as being particularly relevant for environmental improvements. While the objective of SCP policies is to address all the different types of environmental impacts in a balanced way, previous research by the JRC-IPTS (IMPRO-Buildings study) has shown that the energy consumption during the use phase of the buildings is by far the most important factor to take into account for the life cycle environmental impacts of buildings. Moreover, residential buildings are responsible for 27 % of final energy demand in the EU. The report reviews the barriers towards energy efficiency and the measures to overcome. It then compiles an overview over existing and planned EU policy instruments dealing with the environmental and energy performance of buildings, building elements and equipment. Finally, barriers, available measures and policy instruments are assessed against each other to find out what more could be done and to assess if there are additional policies to the existing ones that could lead to further improvements.JRC.J.2-Competitiveness and Sustainabilit

2014 JRC Geothermal Energy Status Report

Geothermal energy resources have been used by mankind in some form for thousands of years. Depending on the temperature of the resource, it may be used for power production, supply of heat or a combination of both. This report presents the current status of the major technologies to utilize the full temperature range of geothermal resources ranging from shallow and borehole ground source heat pump systems, direct use facilities to power plants deriving their fluids from volcanic systems. Power production from hydrothermal resources where natural permeability coincides with hot bedrocks is a mature technology. Power and heat production from engineered geothermal systems where permeability has to be artificially created is less mature and needs further development and support for large scale implementation. The market status of geothermal in EU is discussed and geothermal provides 0.2% of EU final energy demand. Although the EU theoretical power production potential with the EGS technology is very high, public support for geothermal is limited compared to other renewable technologies. In order to expand the potential for geothermal power production, focus should be made on facilitating the deployment the EGS technology. The understanding of successful long term EGS reservoir management has to be elevated, cheaper and more reliable drilling technologies should be developed.JRC.F.6-Energy Technology Policy Outloo

Towards Additional Policies to Improve the Environmental Performance of Buildings. Part II: Quantitative Assessment

This report supports EU policymaking on sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in the area of buildings, which were indentified as being particularly relevant for environmental improvements. Various policies exist or have been proposed at EU level to improve the energy efficiency and thus the environmental performance of buildings. However, these policies address mainly new buildings and major renovations of existing buildings. Previous research has shown that ¿ on top of the policies already in place ¿ there is the potential for additional policies to lead to further reductions in the environmental impacts. Improving the energy efficiency of certain building elements such as windows and roofs independently of major renovations of whole buildings was identified as potential main target of such additional policies. This report presents the quantitative assessment of the possible environmental and socio-economic effects of such policy measures. In particular, two types of measures addressing the energy efficiency of building elements are assessed: 1) requiring high energy efficiency standards (thermal insulation levels) when individual building elements have to be renovated, and 2) accelerating the retrofitting of individual building elements according to high energy efficiency standards. The results of the modelling show that additional policies could deliver further substantial savings of energy and greenhouse gas emissions and that the socio-economic benefits would outweigh the costs.JRC.J.6-Sustainable production and consumptio

Drawing policy insights from social innovation cases in the energy field

Peer reviewe

Feebate and Scrappage Policy Instruments - Environmental and Economic Impacts for the EU27

This report presents the results and conclusions of a research carried out by the JRC/IPTS analysing two demand-side measures that can help improving the environmental performance of cars: The first instrument, the feebate system, is a way to differentiate the registration tax according to the CO2 emissions from cars. The second instrument, the scrappage policy is intended to encourage the owners of old cars to scrap their car earlier. The potential and consequences of technical options to reduce car weight are also analysed. The report builds a comprehensive assessment of these policy options at EU level, covering all major environmental life cycle impacts and the different economic impacts. The report is built upon IPTS research work, supported with a study subcontracted to a research consortium led by Transport&Mobility Leuven (TML) and involving Öko-Institut and ISI-Fraunhofer.JRC.J.2-The economics of climate change, energy and transpor