• H2020
• Excellent Science
• European Research Council

Yesterday (5 April) saw the launch of the European Union and the Joint Research Centre’s (JRC) interactive and collaborative online European Energy Efficiency Platform (E3P).

Designed to connect scattered data and fragmented knowledge resulting from an increasing energy efficiency market, the platform is expected to be an accesible source of information and a meeting place for the dissemination of data and best practice for reducing superfluous activities.

E3P is also a call to the energy efficiency community; an invitation to contribute to strengthening knowledge in this increasingly critical sector. The JRC provides the web platform as a tool to facilitate knowledge exchange and ensures that the needs of the online community experts are met. The JRC will also strive to ensure that data and information provided are consolidated and validated by peers.

The JRC’s events website states: ‘Energy Efficiency is at the core of Europe’s 2030 strategy, setting up an indicative target at the EU level of at least 27% for improving energy efficiency (EE) of future energy consumption based on the current criteria, European Council Conclusions, 24th October 2014.

‘Therefore, the European Commission, in collaboration with member states, has to propose priority sectors in which significant energy efficiency gains can be reaped. The objective is to ensure the necessary regulatory and financial efforts are implemented to address the challenges faced by our economies in terms of jobs, growth, fairness and democratic change.’

EP3 provides three tools for the relevant community. These are a data collection hub for the elaboration of datasets; a ‘WikEE’ for the collaboration of experts’ knowledge dissemination, data and expertise; and an online community allowing the self-organisation and networking of experts into working groups. It will be organised around six thematic areas: energy efficiency in products, cities, buildings, transport, industry and distribution (heating, cooling and electricity).

The JRC provides evidence-based support to EU policies that address societal challenges innovation. It is funded directly by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 funding programme.