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Author Archives: Admin
Lewisham domestic energy efficiency retrofit
14 October 2015: Lewisham seeking EOIs for a domestic energy efficiency retrofit programme, the aims of which are to:
- Assess the scale and nature of the energy efficiency market in Lewisham and south east London
- Identify methods and mechanisms to maximise take-up of energy efficiency measures
EOIs in by 4 November: contract start date 18 November.
Boris to go to Paris climate summit
14 October 2015: Following a series of Mayoral Questions (MQs), London Assembly member Jenny Jones has now received confirmation that the Mayor will be attending December’s international climate change conference in Paris, COP21. The Mayor’s focus will no doubt be the Climate Summit for Local Leaders, to be held on December 4, 2015 at the COP, and which will be chaired by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, and Michael R. Bloomberg, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change. Further coverage on this as the agenda emerges…
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Energy & Climate Change Questions to the Mayor
September 2015: This month the Mayor has been asked questions in relation to:
data gathered through the Mayor’s Business Energy Challenge; the impact on the London Plan carbon targets as a result of the government scrapping the Zero Carbon Homes policy (and again) and again – and one more time; encouraging renewable energy investments through the London Pension Fund Authority (LPFA); a discussion around potential winter electricity ‘blackouts’; impact of the government’s proposals to change the Feed in Tariffs (FITs) on the Mayor’s retrofit programmes – and again; lobbying to reduce business rates to district heating – and again; whether the Mayor will attend COP21 in Paris this December; the Clean Bus Summit recently held in London; fuel economy of the New Routemaster bus (and again, and again); a dossier of problems associated with the New Routemaster; GLA and boroughs discussions on coordinating fuel poverty responses across London; the roll out of electric vehicles in London; and supporting zero emission taxi fleets.
Previous months questions to the Mayor can be found here.
Posted in Decentralised Energy, Energy Efficiency, News, Renewable Energy
Tagged Electric Vehicles, Photovoltaics, Planning, RE:FIT, RE:NEW, Transport
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DECC sold off…well – the building that is
20 September 2015: Tangential – but interesting to note the following story in today’s Sunday Times: “Whitehall energy HQ sold – The Grade II-listed building that houses the Department of Energy & Climate Change in London has been sold in an £80m deal. LaSalle Investment Management, part of the American property giant JLL, bought the site just off Whitehall from Aberdeen Asset Management last week. Nick Howitt of LaSalle said the area was improving, thanks to the regeneration of nearby Covent Garden and Victoria.”
SE24 Community Energy
14 September 2015: Encouraging to see Dulwich & West Norwood MP Helen Hayes raise in the House of Commons London community energy group, SE24, concerns over the government’s current Feed in Tariff consultation (in short “it is hard to see how any community energy group can continue on this basis”). Read more on SE24’s website here.
The Pope’s Encyclical on Climate Change & Cities
19 June 2015: It’s unlikely I’m going to get through the full 180 pages of the Pope’s Encyclical on Climate Change (by the way – if you’re looking for the contents page – it’s at the end of the document), but I did want to see if there was anything there on cities – and was pleased to see that there is specific consideration on how the quality of life of urban dwellers is impacted on by the state of the environment around them.
Selected below are parts of the Encyclical that touch upon the challenges placed upon cities due to environmental stresses and increasing climate change. Much of it is quite general, and much of it is probably more targeted at those growing mega-cities of the South – but the points equally resonate to pockets of deprivation in London as well as in many other developed cities.
“44. Nowadays, for example, we are conscious of the disproportionate and unruly growth of many cities, which have become unhealthy to live in, not only because of pollution caused by toxic emissions but also as a result of urban chaos, poor transportation, and visual pollution and noise. Many cities are huge, inefficient structures, excessively wasteful of energy and water. Neighbourhoods, even those recently built, are congested, chaotic and lacking in sufficient green space. We were not meant to be inundated by cement, asphalt, glass and metal, and deprived of physical contact with nature.
Thames tidal flood defence inspection under way
27 May 2015: ENDS journal reports that “The Environment Agency (EA) has started detailed engineering and structural investigations into the condition of tidal flood defences in London and the Thames estuary.” The work is being carried out as part of the Environment Agency’s (EA) ten-year Thames Estuary Asset Management programme to refurbish and replace tidal flood defences in London and the Thames estuary (more info on TEAM2100 here), and the agency recently awarded the 10-year refurbishment deal to Balfour Beatty to run the project which is worth £250 million.
A great piece in The Guardian earlier this year on the Thames Barrier asks how safe is London from another major flood?
Quietways
April 2015: Tfl have posted information online of a helpful initiative they’re calling ‘Quietways’.
“Quietways will be a network of radial and orbital cycle routes throughout London. Linking key destinations, they will follow backstreet routes, through parks, along waterways or tree-lined streets.”
TfL are working in partnership with London boroughs and managing authorities to deliver seven Quietway routes by mid-2016:
- Waterloo to Greenwich (Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham, Greenwich) (
- Bloomsbury to Walthamstow (first phase to Mare Street) (Camden, Islington, Hackney, Waltham Forest)
TfL say that maps for the further five routes are to be made available during spring 2015.
- Regents Park to Gladstone Park (Dollis Hill) (Westminster, Brent, Camden)
- Elephant & Castle to Crystal Palace (City, Southwark, Lambeth)
- Aldgate to Hainault (first phase Whitechapel to Fulwell Cross) (Tower Hamlets, Newham, Redbridge, Hackney, and the London Legacy Development Corporation)
- Waterloo to Wimbledon (via Clapham Common) (Lambeth, Wandsworth, Merton)
- Clapham Common to Croydon (Lambeth, Wandsworth, Croydon).
Further proposals to support cycling in London can be read here.
Harrow Energy Masterplan to be developed
March 2015: Not much information here – but a tender from Harrow Borough Council looking for a consultant to help develop an energy masterplan for the Heart of Harrow regeneration area.
An earlier consultation document issued by the council sets out that “Within the Heart of Harrow, a district-wide combined heat and power network is promoted. There are already specific proposals to deliver district energy on a number of our major sites, but no masterplanning has yet been undertaken to establish the feasibility of a wider network. Neither has additional feasibility work been undertaken to develop business cases for individual schemes.Our strategy is to pursue district energy opportunities within the Heart of Harrow area, both on our own redevelopment sites and on other major development schemes. We will be preparing an energy master plan and, where appropriate,additional feasibility studies to map the potential district energy programme for the Heart of Harrow in more detail” – which must be what the consultant for this work must be undertaking.
Posted in Decentralised Energy, News
Tagged CHP, Community Heating, Decentralised Energy, Harrow, Planning
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Energy & Climate Questions to the Mayor
January 2015: This month the Mayor has been asked questions in relation to:
Fuel Povery and Children; Meetings of the Mayor’s London Green Infrastructure Task Force; Membership of the Mayor’s London Green Infrastructure Task Force; London Plan policies encouraging development of solar farms; consideration of carbon emissions in policy decision making
Invitation to attend the European Capital Cities meeting ahead of the Paris 2015 IPCC summit; Progress made in 2014 to delivering the London Climate Change Adaptation Strategy; Measuring CO2 emissions across the GLA Group; An update on the GLA group’s Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) reports; the Mayor’s concern over increasing signs of climate change; GLA Economics analysis on energy
Communication to the Treasury over tax incentives for community energy projects; TfL’s hedging policy on energy prices; Misleading information on shale gas; Reallocation of RE:NEW funds to RE:FIT programme; Havering Solar Farm planning application; New powers to Ofgem; RE:NEW programme underspend; An update on RE:NEW programme projections; Research commissioned by the GLA’s Environment Team
Previous months questions to the Mayor can be found here.
Posted in Energy Efficiency, News, Renewable Energy
Tagged Carbon Emissions, Climate Adaptation, Community Initiatives, Photovoltaics, RE:FIT, RE:NEW
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London Green Infrastructure Taskforce details revealed
27 January 2015: The Mayor had previously announced in his draft London 2050 Infrastructure Plan that a new London Green Infrastructure Taskforce was to be established (details of which are provided on a previous post here). Membership of the Taskforce has now been revealed, as well the group’s terms of reference and minutes of their first meeting.
The purpose of the Taskforce is set out as:
“to bring together a wide range of interests and expertiseto identify how to encourage a more strategic and long-term approach to investment in and delivery of green infrastructure, which is defined as:
A network of green spaces – and features such as street trees and green roofs – that is planned, designed and managed to deliver a range of benefits, including: recreation and amenity, healthy living, mitigating flooding, improving air quality, cooling the urban environment, encouraging walking and cycling, and enhancing biodiversity and ecological resilience.
It will prepare a report advising the Mayor on the strategic issues which need to be addressed in relation to the design, management and operation of London’s green infrastructure.”
Further details of the Task Force are posted on the GLA website here. Papers from the Taskforce’s first meeting, held on 21 November 2014 – are linked below
Energy Efficient Cafe in Peckham
31 December 2014: Short profile of Lerryn’s Cafe in Peckham in Guardian feature on energy efficiency initiatives by cafes.