Monthly Archives: December 2011

Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor

December 2011: This month the Mayor answered London Assembly questions in relation to LFEPA CRC efficiency as compared to other parts of the GLA group; the number of Excess Winter Deaths due to fuel poverty in London; steps taken by the Mayor to promote Combined Heat and Power; clarification on the RE-FIT programme; contribution from the Mayor’s Budget to the Centre of Low Carbon Technology; the numb of Flats treated under home energy efficiency programme RE:NEW; the Cost of delivering RE:NEW and CO2 savings abatement cost; the number of homes treated in the private rented sector; the Mayor’s activities in promoting subsidised insulation programmes across all of London; the RE:NEW delivery of CESP; the number of Benefit Entitlement Checks undertaken under RE:NEWSubsequent benefits of RE:NEW home energy efficiency programmeRE:NEW’s  treatment of homes in fuel poverty; the Energy Companies’ Record of delivering energy efficiency in London; an update on Borough roll-out of RE:NEW; an update on RE:NEW; the extent of London’s energy Gap; the degree of Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) delivery in London; an update on LEGGI greenhouse gas emissions data; delivery of the RE:NEW Home Insulation scheme in Islington; projections for the capacity of  PV in London by 2025; targets under the RE:NEW programme; London Underground’s use of Renewable energy and again; energy reduction in GLA buildings and targets; and increasing the number of  lighting controls at London Underground stations.

Previous questions to the Mayor can be found here.

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Sub-regional fuel poverty data for England, 2009

DECC 2011: DECC’s latest issue of Energy Trends includes an article on  Sub-regional fuel poverty data for England, 2009.  Estimates of fuel poverty at the local authority level were published by DECC last month and can be downloaded as an Excel spreadsheet here.

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Consumer Focus report on FIT installations

12 December 2011: A new Consumer Focus report1 – entitled Keeping FiT’ – published today highlights the high overall level of satisfaction among consumers who have taken up the Feed-In Tariff (FiT) scheme. However it also shows some concerns about misleading sales practices, a lack of adequate information from some solar panel installers, and difficulties with the registration and payment process for the tariff itself. Read the full news release here.

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‘Sydney beats London in race to be green’

December 2011: As part of an OECD studyEnabling Local Green Growth: Addressing Climate Change Effects on Employment and Local Developmentfour cities were studied in relation to the  impacts of climate change and effects on local  labour markets, focussing on the creation of jobs and the development of a skilled workforce to meet the needs of the greener economy. A press report on a workshop for the study highlighted that “More than half of Sydney companies have changed or modified their jobs to improve green performance, compared with only 3.5 per cent of London firms.”

The full OECD comparison report is as yet to be published (see above link for further information), however the detailed London study can be downloaded here.

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Camden “leads the way in national campaign to fight climate change”

6 December 2011: Camden press release stating “Camden Council’s carbon footprint was cut by an impressive nine per cent last year putting it at the forefront of a national campaign to reduce carbon emissions.” Read the full release here.

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State of the Environment – London fact sheets

December 2011: Environment Agency updated fact sheets “designed to provide local information on the state of the environment in each of the Capital’s boroughs.” Factsheets for each borough can be downloaded here.

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Camden Sustainability Plan Update

5 December 2011: A report to Camden’s Culture and Environment Scrutiny Committee providing a six month update on progress in delivering Green Action for Change, LB Camden’s environmental sustainability plan (2011-2020), which was adopted by Cabinet on 6th April. The update covers the period from April to September 2011. Points to note include:

  • With respect to the forthcoming Green Deal the report states that “Further to thepan-North London study Camden participated in earlier this year, which looked broadly at the potential role boroughs could play in the Green Deal, we await these technical details before we can fully assess the role Camden might play within the scheme.”
  • The Camden Climate Change Alliance moves from strength to strength,overseen be a highly engaged Advisory Board. The Alliance’s membershipgrew from 125 to 172 (38% increase) from Nov 2010 to Nov 2011 and theAlliance is on track to meet its 10% reduction target by end 2012. An estimated 7.8% decrease in carbon emissions was achieved from 2008/9 to2010/11.
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Identifying Heat Losses in Camden Homes

December 2011: With the aid of a thermal imaging camera – recently bought by Camden Council – major areas of heat loss are being identified from residents homes, and then being ‘tagged’ so as to aid maintenance departments and contractors. Camden has also used the camera to check insulation consistency after a major work programme to install cavity wall insulation in private dwellings in Camden.  Read the full story here.

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‘Why I’m lending my voice to community renewable schemes’

December 2011: Guardian posted article by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall about the energyshare initiative, created to help support and promote community-led sustainable energy projects. Energyshare – together with funding from British Gas – have just finalised (yesterday) their current competition, allowing supporters to  vote for their favourite community energy project, with winners being awarded up to £100,000 funding. Four projects have been selected – none unfortunately in London – but all worth reading about! Further information here.

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Dial-a-Ride vehicles trialling biodiesel

December 2011: Transport for London (TfL)is to use an “environmentally friendly biofuel in 12 of its Dial-a-Ride vehicles in a year-long trial…The biodiesel, which will be supplied by Argent Energy, is a renewable, clean-burning fuel made from used cooking oil from the catering industry and tallow, which is a residue from the meat processing industry.” Further information on TfL press release here.

For further information on the use of  biofuels in London, see the following posts. Further information on Scottish based Argent Energy here.

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RHI FAQ

December 2011: Ofgem question and answer factsheet providing assistance to applicants who intend to apply for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) Scheme.

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‘1m homes in London and South-East hit by fuel poverty’

3 December 2011: The Evening Standard reports on revised estimates released by Consumer Focus on the number of households deemed to be suffering from ‘fuel poverty’. The data referred to in the article doesn’t appear to be available on Consumer Focus’s website as yet, however the following BBC article provides a summary of the estimates which suggests that the proportion of fuel poor households in London has risen from 13.3% in 2009 to 17.8% in 2011.

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