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Promoting green behaviour: don't mention the environment!
20/05/2014
Promoting green behaviour: don't mention the environment!
Every hotel has them: notices in the bathroom informing guests that they can do their bit for the environment by reusing their towels, rather than expecting clean towels every day. Usually the notice contains a standard appeal, something like: Studies comparing the effectiveness of hotel towel...
Eu
European regions bring innovation to life  
20/05/2014
European regions bring innovation to life  
The Swedish region Värmland has won the 2014 Regional Innovation Award organised by the Assembly of European Regions (AER) following the building of a sustainable hospital in Karlstad, Sweden.  The Regional Innovation Award aims to recognise European regional authorities and their partners who...
Sweden
Environmental technology verification: an emerging discipline  
20/05/2014
Environmental technology verification: an emerging discipline  
Hopes are high for At European Union level, a pilot programme is underway, which will issue Statements of Verification for technologies in the water treatment and monitoring, materials and waste, and energy sectors. The ETV programme is about a year old, and is one of the initiatives of the...
Denmark
New study on product durability launched by DG Environment
22/04/2014
New study on product durability launched by DG Environment
A project commissioned by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment (DG Environment) will develop a methodology to assess the durability of products. Two products that would benefit from extended durability will be selected to pilot the methodology. This is the first time...
Eu
German resource efficiency programme aims to build a sustainable society
22/04/2014
German resource efficiency programme aims to build a sustainable society
The German federal government adopted its resource efficiency programme - termed a “master plan for sustainable growth” by the then environment minister Norbert Röttgen - in 2012. The aim of the programme is to progressively decouple resource use from economic growth and to make a major step in...
Germany
EU should set target to focus its resource efficiency efforts, European Resource Efficiency Platform says
03/04/2014
EU should set target to focus its resource efficiency efforts, European Resource Efficiency Platform says
The European Union should set itself a The target would be measured against the pre-economic and financial crisis resource productivity trend in the EU, and should “aim to secure at least a doubling of resource productivity as compared with the pre-crisis trend,” EREP said in its...
Eu
Croatian construction panels show promise
03/04/2014
Croatian construction panels show promise
A Croatian project is combining two eco-innovative developments to manufacture a recyclable prefabricated wall panel that it says could be “a possible technological solution for fast construction of very low energy buildings on a large scale.” The project, The ECO-SANDWICH panel is made from...
Eu
Polish region sets its sights on bio-economy growth
18/03/2014
Polish region sets its sights on bio-economy growth
The eastern Polish region of Lubelskie is putting smart specialisation at the heart of its economic development strategy for the 2014-2020 period, and eco-innovation is set to play a significant role. Lubelskie was a partner in the Innovation strategies for smart specialisation (known as RIS3...
Poland
EMAS Awards in April to highlight eco-innovation
18/03/2014
EMAS Awards in April to highlight eco-innovation
The European Commission is preparing to hand out the The 2014 EMAS Awards will take place alongside the 16th European Forum on Eco-Innovation and the 2nd ETV (Environmental Technology Verification) Stakeholder Forum - a suite of events connected by a shared circular economy mission. The EMAS...
Eu
Organic farming goes in circles  
27/01/2014
Organic farming goes in circles  
A Slovakian eco-entrepreneur wants to promote outside his home country a system for the mechanical cultivation of agricultural soils that can work entirely without oil as an energy input. Soil cultivation is generally done using heavy machinery such as tractors. While these have greatly...
Slovakia

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