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Author Archives: Admin
CERT delivery in London
22 February 2012: Parliamentary question from Tessa Jowell, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood about the delivery of CERT in London.
Tessa Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much expenditure under the (a) Carbon Emissions Reduction Target and (b) Community Energy Saving Programme has been incurred in respect of properties in (i) London and (ii) the UK. [95626]
Gregory Barker: Best estimates of energy companies total costs in meeting their GB-wide Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) and Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) obligations were detailed in the respective impact assessments at the outset of the schemes. Regionally disaggregated cost estimates have not been made. However, in terms of delivery activity, latest figures published by the Energy Saving Trust show that around 2.6 million homes had received insulation measures by March 2011, including almost 132,000 properties in London.
At present, the Government do not have powers to require the obligated energy companies to disclose their CERT and CESP compliance costs. However, we are taking steps to ensure information is available about the cost of delivery under the forthcoming energy company obligation, which is due to replace the existing schemes at the end of 2012.
The latest EST figures for CERT are posted here (they are anticipated to be updated by the EST in early March). The data above once again highlights the low delivery of CERT and CESP in London, with London only achieving a level of around five per cent of all homes treated in the UK
Posted in Energy Efficiency, News, Uncategorized
Tagged CERT, CESP, Energy Efficiency, Fuel Poverty
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Households treated under Warm Front in London Constituencies
February 2012: DECC have provided a spreadsheet showing the number of households assisted in each parliamentary constituency under the Government’s Warm Front scheme, for the years 2005/06 to 2011/12. The full list for English constituencies can be downloaded here. The spreadsheet filtered for London data can be downloaded here.
Impact of the Green Deal in London
21 February 2012: Angie Bray, MP for Central Ealing and Acton, has asked two Parliamentary Questions about the anticipated impact of the introduction of the Green Deal in London with regard to investment and jobs.
Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much private sector investment in energy efficiency in London he expects to result from the Green Deal. [94812]
Gregory Barker: The Department’s estimate of the level of Green Deal private finance is set out in the draft impact assessment published on 23 November 2011. The final impact assessment will be published in the spring. These figures are national and DECC has not carried out an assessment of the private finance requirement on a regional basis. The impact assessment can be seen here.
Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many jobs he expects to be created in London as a result of the Green Deal. [94813]
Gregory Barker: It is not possible to provide figures for the number of jobs that will be created in London. It is estimated that by 2015 the number of jobs in Great Britain as a result of the Green Deal and energy company obligation could be up to 65,000.
Reading the 200 page-plus Green Deal and ECO Impact Assessment (IA) is a pretty thankless task at the best of times, filled as it is with endless graphs and tables of the various scenarios envisaged by DECC’s modellers, but it’s particularly pointless at the moment as the Minister has previously stated – over a month ago – that the “Green Deal Impact Assessment is already out of date” (see Greg Barker’s response to George Monbiot at 11.04am).
It is difficult to see how many new jobs will in fact be created by the Green Deal as the Government anticipates in the IA a massive reduction in the number of insulation jobs with the introduction of this new flagship environmental programme. This has been picked up by a wide range of diverse commentators (UKERC, CBI, and most importantly a detailed response from the Committee on Climate Change) and many press articles (BBC and Guardian amongst others). However, maybe this will all change in the final IA to be published in the Spring…
Renewable Heat in London
21 February 2012: Angie Bray, MP for Central Ealing and Acton, asked the following question in Parliament on the extent of the operation of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) in London:
Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many organisations in London have received support from the Renewable Heat Incentive to date. [94815]
Gregory Barker: None of the five installations accredited to date by Ofgem for support from the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme are based in London. Payments under the scheme will be made on a quarterly basis following submission of eligible heat usage data. We expect to make the first payments in March.
The RHI tariffs are paid for 20 years to eligible technologies with payments being made for each unit (kWh) of renewable heat which is produced. The second phase of the RHI scheme will see it expanded to include more technologies as well as support for households. Further information is posted on the DECC website.
The RHI is to be introduced in two phases. The scheme opened for non-domestic applications on 28 November 2011 and, as the answer outlines, only a few schemes have been accredited to date, none of which are in London.
In the interim to Phase 2 being launched, the Government also introduced a grant funding programme, the Renewable Heat Premium Payment scheme, which will run from 1st August 2011 to 31st March 2012. As detailed previously (here and here), the grants will be focused on ‘non-gas grid’ sites, and hence London will miss out on receiving any support for the installation of technologies such as heat pumps, solar thermal panels and biomass boilers.
The RHPP is managed by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) who produce weekly statistics on the grants given out. Disappointingly they do not provide detail of the grants given out by county or local authority, only by country. The latest (15 February) statistics can be seen here. It’s interesting to note that with just over a month of the scheme still to go, only £3.9m of the £15m RHPP funds appear to be allocated.
‘Ken pledges lower energy bills for Londoners’
21 February 2012: Post on labourmatters.com detailing Ken Livingstone’s pledges to ” cut the cost of living for Londoners through series of new ambitious measures to tackle the rising cost of energy bills.” The article details that:
“Ken will:
1. Secure London’s fair share of national energy efficiency funding to help cut Londoners’ energy bills by £150 a year
2. Prioritise insulating older people’s homes.
3. Establish the first ever London Energy Purchasing Co-operative.
4. Make cutting Londoner’s fuel bills and reducing carbon emissions a Mayoral priority.
“Alongside my pledges to cut the fares and campaign for lower rents, cutting Londoner’s fuel bills is at the very top of my agenda. If I am elected I pledge to:
“Firstly, take personal charge of an unprecedented drive to insulate hundreds of thousands of homes which will save Londoners hundreds of pounds. It’s astonishing that London has missed out on over £400 million home insulation funding. I will put the full resources of the GLA behind a drive to ensure every single penny of insulation funding that is available to the capital is used to cut Londoners’ fuel bills.
“Secondly, I believe the Mayor must act when the big energy companies impose huge hikes to Londoners’ fuel bills. I will establish the first ever London Energy Purchasing Co-operative to provide a cheaper alternative to the big energy companies and save Londoners money.
“And finally I will make energy costs a Mayoral priority. If I’m elected I will call an immediate Energy Summit of all the main domestic energy suppliers and chair a ‘Warm Green Homes’ task force to provide leadership and take action to cut Londoner’s fuel bills.”
The average cost of keeping a home warm has risen by over £300 a year since 2008. The Citizens’ Advice Bureau has reported 45% of Londoners are worried that they will not be able to pay their next heating and electricity bills.”
Read the full detail on the pledges here.
Brixton Energy share offer
February 2012: An exciting initiative for London – community group Repowering South London, has announced a share offer for its first project: Brixton Energy Solar 1. The project will look to install several hundred square metres of solar panels on the roofs of the Loughborough Estate in Brixton.
Funding is to be provided by a £75,000 community share offer, providing a return to investors of up to 3% p.a. Part of the income generated will be reinvested in energy-saving improvements in the local area such as insulation and education on energy efficiency.
The share offer form can be downloaded here. Keep uptodate on news from Brixton Energy by signing up to their Twitter feed.
London’s largest solar array
20 February 2012:
After a three year refurbishment, Blackfriars station has re-opened. As part of the station’s refit, Network Rail has installed 4,400 solar panels on the roof of Blackfriars station. Accounting for 50% of the station’s energy needs, they will form London’s largest solar array. Further information here and here.
Lessons from the Community Sustainable Energy Programme (CSEP)
February 2012: BRE are holding a series of events on ‘Lessons from the Community Sustainable Energy Programme (CSEP)’ – not to be confused with CESP!
CSEP provided Big Lottery Funding for community-based energy efficiency and renewable projects (NOTE: the programme closed in 2010 – however very recently a new funding round has opened with a deadline for applications of 29 February 2012).
No specific London workshop took place, however, a session earlier this month at BRE’s HQ includes a detailed (8MB) presentation on CSEP, and also a case study presentation on the Brixton Solar project. Download both here.
The Green Deal in London: Borough Challenges
February 2012: Future of London are holding a series of events on the challenges boroughs face in implementing the Green Deal and ECO in London. The first of these “focused on how London Boroughs can be “Green Deal Friendly” and drive demand for the mechanism in their area.” Presentations from the session from local authority representatives from Croydon, Merton and others are available to view as well as a summary of the workshop – Borough Challenges Briefing Paper.
The session was well attended by 12 London boroughs and makes interesting reading. Included amongst the comments:
1) Participants from across the majority of participant Boroughs were concerned about the feasibility of the Green Deal – particularly relating to levels of local demand and the costs of implementing retro-fit programmes in London
1) General doubts over feasibility of the Green Deal
a) Several doubts were expressed from a number of different sources about whether Green Deal will work under current arrangements
b) In particular, concerns were raised about levels of demand locally for the Green Deal, the impact this could have on the Golden Rule, and the particular costs associated with delivering energy efficiency in London.
c) One borough noted a free eco-refurbishment scheme had only been successfully completed on one property
d) It was felt that further incentives are likely to be required to boost participation.
d) At the moment there is a reluctance amongst the majority of Boroughs represented at this seminar to act as Green Deal providers – there is too much uncertainty surrounding the mechanism
e) There is a risk that Boroughs who don’t take on a meaningful role in the delivery of Green Deal will disengage from the Green Deal altogether, because they have less stake in its success
The Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) consultation finished a few weeks ago and Government are now considering the 600+ responses. Further updates on the Green Deal are available here.
Tube Cooling Update
17 February 2012: Transport for London (TfL) have issued a news release providing an update on measures being implemented to help ‘cool the tube’. The release reports that “At Green Park station borehole cooling technology will be used. London Underground has already successfully drilled wells to source naturally cool water from deep below Green Park and will now install air cooling units that will use the water to cool the Victoria and Piccadilly line platforms.” A similar ground water cooling scheme already operates at Victoria station.
The Mayor’s 2010 Transport Strategy (Chapter 5 – Managing and enhancing the transport system) highlights the challenges in providing ‘coolth’ to the underground:
High tunnel temperatures during the summer months are one of the biggest challenges facing the Tube, particularly for the deep tunnelled sections of the Underground,such as the Victoria line. These are generally closed systems where the major proportion of the energy that enters (for example, train motors) is released as heat, which in turn raises temperatures in the tunnels and on the trains. As a result of increased train service capacity (primarily through higher train frequencies) and reduced journey times (mainly through quicker acceleration and faster maximum speeds), electricity use on the Underground is anticipated to increase by 2020, resulting in more heat being released in the tunnels. This will be exacerbated by increasing passenger numbers and possible increases in air temperature due to climate change.
More recently, the Mayor’s 2011 Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (p104) details that:
London Underground’s aim is to minimise the heat generated by the existing network and planned upgrade of the service, so that further energy is not required to offset the heat that is generated. The interventions to cool temperature increases caused by the line upgrades will also help to manage the higher external temperatures caused by climate change. Optimising the energy efficiency of the service through driving the trains more efficiently will reduce the heating contribution from the operating regime.
Despite these efforts, temperatures on the Underground will continue to be uncomfortable in hot summers … projections suggest that on a summer day by the 2030s, there is a 24-27 per cent probability of temperatures being warmer than 24°C. By 2050s, this rises to 62-75 per cent and 70-91 per cent by 2080s. This compares to 11 per cent probability today.
A recent (2 February 2012) TfL Board Paper (page 21) also provides a summary update on Phase 1 of the Tube Cooling programme.
Urban Design and Carbon Reduction
20 February 2012: “The importance of urban design compared to the value we put on it has been brought home to me again this week. In working in Tottenham, to try to maximise the impact on regeneration of the efforts to reduce carbon by 40% by 2020, urban design keeps appearing as a critical element.” Interesting comment piece by Chris Brown at Regen.
New funding available from the BIG Lottery Fund
February 2012: The Community Sustainable Energy Programme (CSEP), an initiative sponsored by the BIG Lottery Fund (BIG), has recently announced that it has opened for one more capital funding round. Applications will be accepted for heat generating technologies and energy efficiency measures only. Deadline for the receipt of completed applications will be 5pm Friday 29 February 2012.
The Community Sustainable Energy Programme has to date awarded £8.5 million – through 11 previous rounds up to the end of 2010 – to community-based organisations for the installation of microgeneration technologies, such as solar panels or biomass boilers and energy efficiency measures including loft and cavity wall insulation. It has provided £1 million for project development grants that has helped community organisations decide if they could benefit from a microgeneration and energy efficiency installation.
Full details of how to apply are posted www.communitysustainable.org.uk.