MR Energy Systems is exibiting at GreenBuild Expo 2013, the most important Expo on Green Building worldwide, gathering venue for the international LEED community.

MR Energy Systems brings @ Greenbuild its experience in consulting engineering for sustainbale buildings including:

• LEED – GBC Italia – consulting services
• Energy Dynamic Symulations
• Energy monitoring systems, Building Automation Systems, Energy Response Platform
• Sustainbale materials consulting: LCA, Carbon Footprinting, EPD
• Strategic consulting, policy analisys & development

Come and meet us together with the other Italian companies at the ICE-Italian Trade Promotion Agency booth # 1011 .
For more information, do not hesitate to contact us: info@mrenergy.it

Sorry, this entry is only available in Italian.

Started the 26th of November and ending the 7th of December, COP18, the 18th conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is being held this year in DOHA, Qatar.

Back in 1992, countries joined an international treaty, the UNFCCC, to cooperatively consider what they could do to limit average global temperature increases and the resulting climate change, and to cope with whatever impacts were, by then, inevitable.

The Kyoto Protocol, defined during COP3 in Kyoto, and entered into force in 2005, legally binds developed countries to emission reduction targets. The Protocol’s first commitment period started in 2008 and ends in 2012.

At COP17 in Durban, governments of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol decided for a second commitment period, from 2013 onwards, which could last 5 or 8 years.

In the last years, emissions of developing economies have doubled, becoming higher than those of developed countries. The urgency of coming to a new global agreement has been repeated many times this year by IEA, World Bank, PWC and many others, waiting for the publication of the fifth IPCC’s report. In fact, if we want to limit global warming to +2°C, we need to act now.

DOHA’s delegates need to work very hard during these two weeks, in order to sort out the three folowing main items:

• Kyoto Protocol: define the continuation until 2020 and probably its phase out, shifting the carbon market into a new agreement
• Long-term Cooperation Agreements, LCA: probably end the work, keeping what is good (Green Climate Fund and Technology Executive Committee) shifting it into the new agreement
• Ad-hoc Working Group on Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, ADP: main discussion item, set-up a strong path and working program until 2015, conveying issues like GCF, TEC, global carbon market, adaptation fund, etc.

The future agreement, based on ADP, needs to overcome distinctions between developing and developed economies (Annex I and non Annex I), if we really want to have some hope to meet the 2°C target (many think that we already missed this target).

Two weeks of very important work for the +10.000 delegates.

Sources: unfccc.int “DOHA Climate Change Conference”, David Hone “Expectations for COP18 in DOHA”, Carlo Carraro “AAA cercasi nuova architettura politica per il clima”.

Recorded in the Antenna 3 Studios in Padova, the episode of the talk show ‘Parlare d’Abitare’, talking about living, has been transmitted in the past days by ADA Channel, a digital TV channel specializing in building industry. Franco Frison, Secretary of the National Council of Architects, Mauro Roglieri, as Executive Officer of Green Building Council Italia and Igino Zanandrea director of the AT&T Associates, discuss with the presenter, Cristina Catarinicchia, the ways to develop or re-qualify our territory making sure it becomes more sustainable, and how to ensure that results are measured.

International Policies are strong drivers to this change, and EU is allocating important economic resources exactly with the aim of obtaining quick and relevant results in terms of sustainable development of buildings and territory. Tools as those developed by Green Building Council Italia, but also training and education, specific competences are absolutely necessary to stay in line with these changes and market transformation, and be the first movers in the market. Enjoy the video (in Italian).

If you don’t manage to see the video, please click here.

The Ministry of Environment invests 9 million euros for the development of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in Porto Marghera and the Certosa Island. The agreement, signed on the 29th of December 2010, includes a number of measures among which an industrial initiative in Porto Marghera (“Marghera Ecodistretto”), and the sustainable renovation of the Certosa Island (natural park and touristic venue) in Venice.

Source: www.minambiente.it

The contribution of the Environmental Ministry to the growth plan being discussed in these days by the Government after the summer holidays, has been published last week on the Ministry official website.

The framework described in the document is quite comprehensive and confirms the effort to put Italy back in track with the decarbonization of the economy addressed by several EU Directives. Various policies are already in place, but suffered in the past months of many delays in their actuation, due to conflicts of competences between different Governmental departments.The current technical Government could effectively help to solve several impasses.

For more information about the contribution (in Italian): http://www.minambiente.it/home_it/showitem.html?item=/documenti/comunicati/comunicato_0438.html&lang=it

“This is a big step ahead: for the very first time we have legally binding energy efficiency measures. Europe is now much better placed to achieve its 20% energy efficiency target for 2020”, Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger stated.

“The measures will reduce our energy bill while generating further growth and jobs. They stimulate investments and make our energy using products more efficient.”

“The European Parliament and the Council have played a constructive role in finding a compromise. It also shows Europe’s ability to act in difficult economic times.”

Yesterday evening, the European Parliament, the Council and the EU Commission reached a political agreement on the Energy Efficiency Directive. Today, Coreper endorsed the agreement. European Parliament and the Council still need to give their approval.

To read the complete memo from the EC, click here.

GBC Italia took part to the meeting organized by UNECE on the 4th of April 2012;  The delegation of GBC Italia was composed by Mauro Roglieri and Francesco Bedeschi, both members of the Executive Board of GBC Italia.

The participation to this prestigious meeting matches very well with GBC Italia’s mission of diffusing the knowledge of Green Building Rating Systems in the relevant National and International authorities, to support the promotion and diffusion of usage of protocols as a tool to drive building market transformation towards sustainability.

The objective of this seminar was to discuss cost-efficient and “green” solutions, which can make the housing sector more sustainable. These include improvements to energy efficiency, environmental performance (water and waste management), and resilience to climate change. Greening homes is a part of the green economy concept, which is in turn at the heart of renewed efforts to integrate environmental and social considerations within the mainstream of economic decision-making in the run-up to Rio+20 and beyond.

The seminar has being organized back to back with a meeting of the UNECE Working Group to discuss a possible framework convention on sustainable housing. More than 70 UNECE member state representatives attended the working group meeting. More than 30 participated to the seminar, which facilitated the identification of priorities for the preparation of the September 2013 Ministerial Conference on Housing and Land Management.

GBC Italia presented the ‘bottom-up’ role that Green Rating Systems such as GBC Home or LEED® can have as an accelerator of change.

Access to the UNECE event page: UNECE – Greening Homes

Download presentation: GBC Italia: how rating systems can drive the change

[Sources: UNECE, GBC Italia, MR Energy]

Last days for EU-ETS plants to surrender 2011 emissions to their national registries. Final deadline is April 30th 2012.

The Carbon market situation remains very uncertain, with EUA 08-12 Spot trading at around 7,19 €/t (EUA-08-12, Bluenext, 18/04/2012), as economic crisis has reduced significantly the emissions of EU plants (together with an increase of production of renewable energy). The attached graph shows verified emissions of the last four years: total EU-27 ETS emissions have decreased in 2011 by 12,5% compared to 2008 levels (14,4% for Italy), clearly showing an average reduction in the need to cover short positions, and therefore reducing the demand on the trading platforms.

The news introduced by EC from 2013, like the absence of free allocations for power production plants for instance, have not yet sorted the effects of maintaining a reasonable price level which can justify and really enforce investments in energy efficiency.

Is the pricing really reflecting already the new 2013 regime? Will the third period bring an improvement to the mechanism? Please send us your comments, or do contact us for more information.

EU ETS verified_emissions_2011_en