Historical buildings and town quarters are an integral part of the European cultural heritage. However, such buildings are often not very energy efficient and thus contribute substantially to the emission of greenhouse gases.

The NuOffice in Munich is an office building and one of the showcases of the EU-funded project DIRECTION . The first building phase was completed in 2012, the second and third will be completed in 2014 and 2015.

Much effort has been put into its planning and construction to reach this high-level of sustainability, which makes it the most sustainable newly erected office building worldwide , according to LEEDS standards.

To make a building sustainable, taking into account its climatic conditions is key. No better examples than the three showcase buildings under the EU funded  DIRECTION project.

Sustainable buildings partly depend on control strategies to be energy efficient.

Energy efficiency has become a key objective in the current context of increasing energy demand, decreasing resources and global warming. Key to efficient energy savings, however, are users' awareness and behaviour.

Making food and drink production for more than 500 million people more eco-friendly is a key policy in Europe. About 99% of all agro-food companies in the European Union are small and medium size enterprises (SME).

Livestock produces a lot of waste. One solution is to turn such agricultural waste into biogas to generate energy .  It requires using so-called anaerobic digestion, which consists in breaking down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen.

The quest for energy efficiency has become a modern mantra. But developing new energy sources and production methods is not sufficient.

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.

A researcher who is using nanotechnology on the active layer of organic solar cells is Dr.

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.

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.

90% of the world’s population lives less than 2,700 km from a desert. If less than 1% of the world’s deserts were used to concentrate solar power, enough electricity could be produced to supply the entire planet.

Geothermal energy has always been used by man, but it wasn’t until the late 19th century that geothermal energy was “rediscovered” and used on an industrial scale.

Ecostiler “Energy efficient Community Stimulation by use and Integration of Local Energy Resources” is aiming to develop energy efficient communities thanks to the use of locally produced biogas and district heating systems.

In the spring of 2004, construction began on what is probably the most revolutionary project Högsåra in Finland has ever seen. This initiated a very special type of island adventure.

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.

Reducing the energy requirements of buildings is an absolute priority in Europe. The energy demonstration project SARA has developed several public-access eco-buildings in France, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, UK and Uzbekistan.