Building and lighting focus in Communication on ICT and Energy Efficiency
13/05/08

EuroACE welcomes the European Commission's announcement today that it plans to promote the use of ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) to improve energy efficiency in buildings, lighting and the power grid. EuroACE agrees with the Commission that these sectors are of initial importance and offer a great potential for improving energy consumption in today's society. A total of 360 Mt/annum of heat-related CO2 savings is yet to be realised in buildings while an achievable energy savings of 40% on all lighting currently installed in Europe (including Russia, Ukraine and Turkey) would save 85 Mt/annum of CO2 emissions. Today, only 1% of office/building lighting uses lighting controls (presence detection and daylight control). Giving consumers access to more and better information on the energy performance of homes and buildings can only serve to create behavioural changes that have, so far, been sorely lacking in most Member States judging by the poor implementation of the EU Buildings Directive. Energy-smart homes and buildings and smart lighting will go a long way to realising these savings.