Scientists, monument preservationists and craftsmen aim at ensuring conservation of the region’s architectural heritage also by optimising energy efficiency.

A new Directive, dubbed the energy performance of buildings Directive (EPBD), brings the new concept of net -zero energy buildings (NZEB) meaning buildings with a zero energy balance that have a better level of energy performance than the standard energy efficiency requirements in current building codes.

Going from modern energy efficient houses to historic buildings must have been a big leap for you.

Professor Karsten Voss works at the school of architecture at the University of Wuppertal in Germany.

What projects are you working on at the moment? We are involved in a German research program called Energy-optimised Construction. It funds monitoring of buildings.

The sun has enough power to supply the whole earth with energy. But as long as renewable energy is more expensive than energy produced by coal or nuclear plants, solar energy won’t be first choice.

Some laboratories have achieved impressive efficiencies under concentrated sunlight. SunPower Corp. is much closer to the market. The California-based company recently produced a record-setting 24.

Engineer and project manager Michael Blunk, Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology IWES, is one of the experts in the European project UpWind. The aim is to develop a new type of turbine.

Worldwide gas prices continue to rise daily- as well as environmental and safety consciousness. Hydrogen as an energy carrier in fuel cells could now bring forward a solution to many of these problems.

These days, a walk with your loved one along the quiet alleyways of Naples’ old city centre will not induce any feelings of romance, that’s for sure. The smell is unbearable, and the view is simply unimaginable.

Climate change is on everyone’s lips these days and the European Union, having decided to reduce its CO2-emmissions by at least half by 2050, is no exception.

Our future depends on energy, and as households and cars currently contribute to more than 50% of all energy consumption in the EU, new energy-efficient architecture can be an important approach to bring this percentage down.

17 th November 2022 - The city of Dresden – the second most populated city in Germany – has an important historical significance in the country.

The ongoing energy crisis, which started in summer 2021 due to low natural gas supply and which further deteriorated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has highlighted the urgent need for a more independent European energy policy .

The world of online digital media marches forward relentlessly, but many of us still prefer the feel and enjoyment of a good book in our hands, or a newspaper to while away a quiet moment.

In the city, the famous Cabanyal district which had been home to a local fishing community for a long time, has recently been transformed into a testing ground for numerous energy efficiency techniques.

Maguy Soldevila is a former art teacher. Some years ago, she quit the frenzy and the pollution of the French city of Lyon to move into a typical house of the 1960s, in the small village of Sail-sous-Couzan.

Cities, with their concentration of services, economic opportunity, mobility and social interaction, have proved endlessly attractive to humans.

Francesco is an Italian lawyer. He lives in Rome and is now about to move into a new apartment. “It’s a way to get closer to my office,” he says. “I don’t have a car, I just ride bicycle.

Buildings stand at the epicentre of the climate change and sustainability debate, as discussions at the recent COP26 conference demonstrated.