Italy change course on the promotion of alternative fuels: less focus on first-generation biofuels in favor of those of second and, above all, support for biomethane.

The new policy to center the European target of 10% renewable energy in transport by 2020 is indicated in the new National Energy Strategy: Italy has so far met and exceeded EU obligations from 1% in 2007 to 4.5% of 2012. Also, what is required to implement at Community level was established a national system of certification of sustainable biofuels and bioliquids which provides for the verification of compliance with certain criteria to achieve the targets for 2020 as well as access to incentives.

The PV in Italy was undoubtedly the best source on the crest of a wave of recent years: the generous benefits guaranteed by the different versions of the twenty-year energy account resulted in a completely unexpected growth in the sector. Suffice it to say that the goals of Pan (National Action Plan) drafted a few years on renewable allocate to this source a 2020 target of only 8 GW, while currently we are at about 15.5 GW.

The development of this source also resulted in significant consequences for the national electricity system as a whole, because during the day the sun now provides a non-marginal share of electricity demand. In this tumultuous advanced there have been some the mistakes: speculation, mega parks on the ground of doubt impact on the landscape, the lack of development of an industrial chain.

In terms of renewable energy a phase often culpably neglected is true concerning the installation of the system. As it is easy to guess a bad installation of one or more components may restrict, perhaps significantly, the performance and lifetime of an installation.

Given then that installers, craftsmen and electricians are often the only point of contact between the wider audience of non-experts and companies in the sector, it is clear that the availability of qualified personnel is a guarantee for the dissemination of all energies renewable.

The annual PV capacity of our country has accounted for more than 33% of the world market in 2011 and the Italian has become the world's largest market of the year ahead of Germany that still retains the record for cumulative capacity with 24,700 MW of installed capacity, the ' Italy is second with 12,700 MW, which in May exceeded 13,160 MW.

These data were presented yesterday by Gerardo Montanino, operating division of the Energy Services Operator (ESO) during the fourth edition of "ITALIAN PV SUMMIT, roadmap to grid parity", being held in Verona, with over 450 registered participants.

The year 2020 is approached. By this date, as stated in the applicable European Directive, all the civic buildings of new construction must be able to produce most of the energy they consume is approaching and with it must deal all players of the construction industry.

For the manufacturing world this major constraint involves constructing buildings to consume much less energy than current ones. Here comes into play because the exploitation extended to all surfaces of the building. No longer will need to install solar thermal and photovoltaic roofs but should be considered, as already noted has begun to do, to use the walls of the buildings, hitherto neglected for aesthetic reasons, cost and modularity.

In winter, warm our home environment is obviously necessary, but unfortunately also expensive. It is estimated that its cost affects on average over 50% of the annual energy consumption. With a few precautions, however, you can also halve that cost.

Following are some suggestions, dividing them into those referring specifically to the domestic environment - so as not to disperse the heat or diminish the strength consume unnecessary power - and those related to heating. Finally, a space will be devoted to some useful tips for buying a good heating system.

In these times marked by the economic crisis every opportunity to save a few euro should not be overlooked, is the case of pellet stoves, which in recent years have seen increased enormously in their sales. But it is really cheap pellet stove? Let us first say a few words about how they work and their fuel pellets. The pellet has the form of a small cylinder woody; obtained from sawdust (scraps of wood), by subjecting specific machinery, to very high pressures. The cylinders derived from it are held together by a natural substance found in wood and called "lignin", a product so completely natural and ecological. It should be noted that before the advent of the pellets, waste wood processing were thrown.

European objectives in the field of renewable energy not only affect the production of electricity, but also the generation of thermal energy and transport. Even for the latter, in particular, are provided specific binding targets to 2020: 10% of the total fuel consumption in the EU will be covered with clean fuels.

Aside from the fact that at the moment almost all Member States have a long long way to go (especially Italy), a significant problem is the lack of consensus on so-called green fuels, ie biofuels.

In particular, under indictment have long finished the first-generation bio fuels, that is derived from corn, rapeseed, palm oil and sugar, mainly imported from non-EU countries. According to the aid organization Oxfam, the land used to produce biofuels for European cars could feed 127 million people in a year if it had been sown with wheat and corn. Not only the growing European demand for biofuels is spurring the rise of food prices on a global scale and, in many cases, expulsion of the local communities from their lands. 

Renewable energy is too expensive: the usual chorus of detractors of these technologies has been refuted, numbers in hand, a recent report of Irena, the International Agency for Renewable Energy, which has examined the production costs of different sources of energy generation.

In particular, renewables are already the cheapest way to produce electricity for those hundreds of millions of people around the world (particularly in developing countries) which are not yet connected to the network. Alternative energy, also, they have also become the least expensive option to extend the supplies in those regions where they can count on adequate resources, such as sun and wind.

The class of energy consumption, also known as energy efficiency class, is a subdivision of the scale of consumption of household appliances regulated by the European Union. It indicates precisely the annual consumption expressed in kWh of an appliance as letters from A + + to G.

The consumption bands corresponding to a class vary according to the type of appliance.

After more than a year after its entry into force (19 June 2010), recently (21 July 2011) became mandatory for all EU Member States to apply the provisions in the EU Directive 2010/30. This directive, approved by the European Parliament in May last year, Directive 2010/30/EU has not only introduced a new format for the European energy label applied to household appliances, as well as new fields of application.