Towards best practices and guidelines of an effective policy to stimulate energy efficiency.
Following the Hamburg G7 Initiative for Sustainable Energy Security, the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is jointly hosting a full-day workshop on business to business Energy Efficiency Networks (EENs) on the 15^th September in Berlin.

The aim is for participants to exchange and work towards best practices and success factors of EENs as an effective policy to stimulate energy efficiency, leading to concrete tools and recommendations for the G7 and beyond. The workshop will provide an effective platform for dialogue between policy makers, network participants, and interested companies and experts.

Applying for funding is a competitive process, and only the best project proposals will be selected.

This year we have structured the content of the Info Day in 8 different sessions, each one providing several networking opportunities as well as the possibility to learn from successful projects. Take a look at the Agenda.

This year’s Information Day will:

• update you on the European Energy Efficiency policy;
• present you the Energy Efficiency priorities of the H2020 Energy Efficiency 2017 calls for proposals;
• provide you guidance on how to apply for funding;
• offer you dedicated workshops for each funding area with the opportunity to meet the EASME energy team and receive answers to your questions;
• give you an opportunity to network and find project partners.

Weather and climate models include complex representations of dynamics (fluid motions) and physics (e.g. radiative transfer, chemistry, cloud processes) that span timescales from fractions-of-a-second to millennia. The coupling of these processes is complex and difficult to represent. This workshop will address challenges in the development of advanced algorithms to accurately and efficiently represent process interactions that determine fundamental characteristics of weather and climate systems.

The workshop has a strong emphasis on the mathematical and computational aspects of weather and climate modeling. On an abstract level, any model development activity can be described as a series of steps that include: 1) choosing the continuous form of the equations that describe the physical system of interest, 2) discretizing the equations, 3) evaluating the solution fidelity and sensitivity, and 4) identifying opportunities for further improvement. From this perspective, the following topics will be discussed at the workshop:

• Conceptual issues in model or process formulation, including conservation and consistency
• Discretization of individual processes and process interactions
• Solution sensitivity to static or dynamic changes in spatial and temporal resolution
• Test strategies, results, and intercomparison
• Optimization, algorithmic efficiency and high-performance computing

The Climate Knowledge Brokers Group (CKB) gathers the best climate knowledge brokers in the world to discuss tactics and strategies to use information to shift the world to a more climate compatible future. Join us in the Rocky Mountains in September to discuss how best to perform the role.

This workshop will be fully interactive – don’t expect lots of powerpoint presentations. If you come to CKB, you come to work; to share; to think.

The objectives of this year’s CKB workshop are:

• Consider developments affecting climate knowledge brokering
• Provide networking opportunities and peer support to climate knowledge brokers, (e.g. through ‘knowledge sharing clinics’)
• Contribute to future development of CKB activities including capacity building for knowledge brokers and the Climate Knowledge Grid concept.
• Broaden the participation and increase understanding of the CKB group and the principles of climate knowledge brokering

Join us at the BIEE’s 11^th Oxford research conference which will bring together industry leaders, policymakers and academics to explore the big trends and likely discontinuities in energy over the next five to ten years and to look at how innovation will change the future energy mix and the thrust of policy.

Watch  speakers  and participants discussing the questions and topics that will be debated at the conference with Prof Matthew Leach, Charles Hendry, Martin Haigh, Steve Jennings, James Leaton, Volker Beckers, Carina Correia, David Gudgin, Dr Matt Hannon.

The 2^nd UNI-SET Clustering Event (ECE) will take place on 26-28 September 2016 and will be hosted by the Politecnico di Torino in Turin, Italy.

The event is the second of a series of UNI-SET “Energy Clustering Events” which will take place in 2016 and 2017 to discuss and stimulate the development of innovative research and education programmes in the energy field. The events seek to mobilise the European university community to tackle the “energy challenge” by fostering exchange and collaboration between researchers, educators and other stakeholders, framed by the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) and the Energy Union.

The event in Torino will provide opportunities for clustering, consortia building and knowledge sharing. The main themes of the event, around which sessions will be programmed, are derived from two priorities of the SET-Plan:

• ‘Develop and strengthen energy-efficient systems’ (Core priority 3)
• ‘Increase safety in the use of nuclear energy’ (Additional priority 2)

The event is organised in the framework of the FP7 UNI-SET project, an action implemented jointly by the European University Association (EUA) and KU Leuven, representing the universities in KIC InnoEnergy. The UNI-SET ECEs are mainly intended for EUA member universities participating in the UNI-SET Universities Survey.

A global summit, Climate Chance aims to become a regular event for all non-state actors involved in the fight against climate change.

On a number of occasions, 2015 shone the spotlight on the strength of the commitment made by non-state actors in the fight against climate change.

As the year drew to a close, the Paris Agreement secured at the COP21 provided a solid platform to mobilise the international community and the full spectrum of actors. This agreement, unprecedented in scale, places work by non-state actors at the forefront of climate solutions, and bolsters efforts to encourage their involvement to meet the targets for the 2015-2020 period. It also paves the way for all these actors to play a role in re-evaluating the contribution made by nation states by 2018.

Growing influence for non-state actors.

The determination of non-state actors to contribute to the effort is a reality, and their mobilisation represents a formidable potential for greenhouse gas reduction. Regional strategies and the involvement of the business world and civil society are how efforts to attenuate climate change and adapt really gain traction. The quality of this involvement relies on their ability to work together, to cooperate and pool their talents, strategies and resources by developing synergies between different groups of actors. It has become increasingly clear since the Paris Agreement, that the Action Agenda is the road map to securing their involvement.

The third Conference of the European Biogas Association will take place September 27-29, 2016 in Gent, Belgium and will cover a broad range of topics related to biogas and biomethane from anaerobic digestion and gasification. The 2016 edition is organized in close collaboration with Ghent University and will be held at the NH Gent Belfort Hotel.

The CRESCENDO General Assembly will take place in Bologna, Italy, from the 27th to the 29th of September 2016.

The CRESCENDO project, led by Prof Colin Jones from the University of Leeds, facilitates a coordinated European contribution to the 6th Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) where the climate research community compares a range of International Earth System Models using common sets of experimental protocols, to improve our knowledge of the Earth’s climate processes and provide the best possible future projections to governments and decision-makers.

More information about CRESCENDO here!

The “Cities of the Future 2016” Brokerage Event will bring together 300 researchers, industry professionals, government officials and policy makers from Europe and Turkey.

The event will target the following H2020 calls:

• ‘Smart and Sustainable Cities’ and ‘Energy Efficient Buildings’
• ‘Sustainable Process Industries’ and ‘Circular Economy’
• ‘The European Green Vehicles Initiative’
• ‘Factories of The Future’

“Cities of the Future 2016” is meant as a wider concept that encompasses cities’ overall energy and resource efficiency with profound economic, social and environmental impacts, resulting in a better quality of life. In this context ‘Green Vehicles’ play an essential role, as well as further advances in ‘Factories of the Future’ or ‘Sustainable Process Industries’, for increased resource efficiency, new markets, and new jobs.

This event provides a unique opportunity to connect not only with Turkish and European researchers but also with highly qualified research-performing SMEs, making this event an excellent platform to expand networks and create new partnerships for the upcoming calls in Horizon 2020.