Householders do not always know how much energy they consume. To help improve their awareness, the EnergyLife app was developed through BeAware , a EU funded project, led by the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (HIIT), in Finland.

Liberalising the heat market is, in theory, possible. It would operate in the same way that enables owners of domestic-scale wind turbines, or any other electricity producer, to sell surplus into the grid and draw power from the network.

Professor Claes-Göran Granqvist and colleagues at Uppsala University in Sweden have recently received about 2 million euros from the European Research Council to develop new materials making buildings more energy efficient.

Competitive solar cells rely on climate, efficiency, material and production costs. The fluctuation of electricity prices from different sources and political climates both play a big part as well.

In the district of Hol, located west of Oslo, a church built in 1920 was renovated to become energy efficient for as little cost as possible, while respecting its status as a historical monument.

Certain European cities are a step ahead when it comes to preserving the environment. For instance, thanks to innovative techniques and a more ecological way of life, the commune of Växjö, Sweden, could be on its way to becoming the first fossil fuel free city in the world.