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2012 EUROPEAN YEAR OF ACTIVE AGEING
Europeans are living longer but are having fewer children and by 2060 there will be only two working adults for every person over 65, compared with four now. The 2012 European year of active ageing and solidarity between generations aims to raise awareness about the rapidly ageing EU population, promote an age-friendly environment and find new solutions to turn ageing into an opportunity.
FINAL VOTE ON THE RECAST OF THE WEEE DIRECTIVE
On the 19th of January 2012, a European Parliament plenary vote has finally brought to an end an epic 3-year parliamentary debate on the update to Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) legislation.
Products and scope
Amongst other electro technical and electrical equipment, the WEEE Directive now also applies to photovoltaic (PV) panels, which represents an important challenge for PV panel producers in Europe. While the EU legislators have included in the Directive reference to already existing schemes, such as PV CYCLE, which can continue operating under the framework of the WEEE legislation, it will now be crucial for the PV industry to avoid an excessive variety of implementing measures at national level. ...
NEW CENELEC WEBSITE OFFERS EASY ACCESS TO INFO ON EUROPEAN STANDARDS
The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) have joined forces to launch a new website – cencenelec.eu – which went online for the first time on18 January. This new joint website complements the existing websites of CEN and CENELEC by providing easy access to general information about European Standards.
DIFFICULT ENERGY EFFICIENCY DIRECTIVE PUSHED BACK BY MEMBER STATES TO 2012
Targets proposed in the EU’s draft energy efficiency directive (EED) are being contested by Member states, with Britain and the Netherlands pushing for some provisions to be deleted entirely, AIE has learned at the informative session on the EED at the European Parliament on 17 November last.
PV CYCLE: COLLECTION & RECYCLING OF 1.000 TONNES OF PV MODULES IN EUROPE
In early October, PV CYCLE reached its first 1,020 tonnes of end-of-life modules collected for recycling since the only Europe-wide programme of its kind became operational in June 2010. In addition to the more than one thousand tonnes that entered the Collective Scheme, the current Individual System, which is also under the umbrella of PV CYCLE, has collected and processed 1,900 tonnes in the same period. PV CYCLE’s System is now well-prepared for larger volumes as the industry expands to meet the demand for renewable energy.
