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News
Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor
October 2012: This month the Mayor has been asked questions in relation to:
a London-specific target under the Government’s forthcoming Energy Company Obligation (ECO) programme; progressing in achieving the Mayor’s Hydrogen Powered Vehicles strategy; the provision of energy efficiency support to SMEs in London; work being undertaken under the Mayor’s Decentralised Energy Project Delivery Unit; support for Cooperative Renewable Energy projects; how London will benefit under Energy Company Obligation (ECO); a list of all current Decentralised Energy projects supported; the roll out of the Green Deal in London; work to support the support the non-domestic Green Deal programme in London; the scale of the Mayor’s Green Deal programme in London; Guidance on low carbon cooling systems; low/zero carbon measures secured through the GLA’s planning process; GLA review of the potential for low and zero carbon microgeneration technologies; future carbon emissions related to new infrastructure projects; work by the GLA with ICLEI, C40 and Eurocities on climate mitigation and adapation; and update on Low Carbon Skills Forum; planned budgets for future carbon mitigation programmes; carbon savings achieved by the Mayor’s programmes; the success of the Feed in Tariff (FIT) programme in London; an update on the London Thames Gateway Heat Network; the publication date of the Mayor’s Technical Guide for District Heating; and progress on the development of district heating commercial templates and a London Heat Charter. Planning guidance on sustainable design and construction; progress under the RE:FIT programme; targets under the RE:NEW 2 programme; annual progress report on the Mayor’s climate programme; an update on the London greenhouse gas inventory (LEGGI). Publication of the London Environment Strategy (see here for the answer referred to); the number of Solid Wall Insulation companies in London; Mayoral action on tackling Fuel Poverty; energy efficiency of new homes in the Olympic park; proposal for a zero carbon development around the Olympic site; energy consumption of superfast broadband; and future plans for Edmonton incinerator.
A series of questions (below) were asked in relation to RE:NEW – all of which were directed to a question asked earlier this year pointing to the November 2012 publication of the evaluation of the RE:NEW programme.
How many pensioner households treated under the RE:NEW programme; number of solid wall homes treated under RE:NEW; fuel poor households treated under RE:NEW; flats treatedunder RE:NEW; private rented homes treated under RE:NEW; the number of solid wall installations undertaken under RE:NEW; the number of cavity wall insulation installations undertaken under RE:NEW; the number of loft insulation installations under RE:NEW; the number of benefit checks undertaken through RE:NEW; and how RE:NEW has helped drive up the CERT and Warm Front programmes in London.
Previous questions to the Mayor can be found here.
Posted in Decentralised Energy, News
Tagged CERT, Community Heating, Decentralised Energy, Fuel Cells, Fuel Poverty, Green Deal, Jobs, Microgeneration, Planning, RE:NEW, SMEs, Solid Wall Insulation, Warm Front
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London continues to fall behind on FITs
October 2012: Ofgem have just published their latest newsletter on the Feed in Tariff (FITs) scheme which provides an overview on the number of installations that are now participating. The newsletter sets out that as at June 30 2012:
- A total of 285,235 renewable installations have been registered under the scheme since 1 April 2010
- 1,241.05MW of Total Installed Capacity (TIC) has been registered under FITs since 1 April 2010; and
- A total of £102,024,574.64 in FIT payments were due to generators in the quarter 1 April to 30 June 2012.
The newsletter includes a figure (above) providing a regional breakdown of generation (in megawatts/MW) across the UK and clearly shows that London has the lowest installed capacity of FIT capacity at only 30.92MW. Compared with the highest region, the south-west, London has less than 1/8th of the capacity installed. Download the FITs latest newsletter here.
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Planning reforms ‘totally ignore climate change’, warn green groups
October 2012: BusinessGreen article highlighting that “Green groups have today warned that planning reforms that the government predicts will encourage billions of pounds of new investment in energy projects “totally ignore climate change”.
The new Growth and Infrastructure Bill, published yesterday, brings together a range of measures intended to give energy and building companies the confidence to invest and boost economic growth
It includes provisions to make it easier for utilities to change designs mid-project to incorporate new energy-efficiency technology with out having to restart the planning process…” Read the full story here.
The Department for Communities press release can be viewed here and a background note to the Bill can be downloaded here and the actual bill here. Friends of the Earth have issued the following news release.
London should not be a ‘no-go’ area to suppliers meeting their energy efficiency obligations
17 October 2012: Over 100 people came together in Islington’s Assembly Hall for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition’s Local Action for Warm Homes event. The aim of the conference was to show how councils, working with the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, can play a central role in helping the Government meet its statutory target to eliminate fuel poverty (as set out in the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000). Energy Minister Greg Barker MP addressed the audience on current Government action to tackle fuel poverty.
Energy for London asked the Minister about how proposals to change the definition of fuel poverty – which correctly take housing costs into consideration – will lead to a doubling in the number of fuel poor households in London (see previous post for further details). Mr Barker stated that:
- In terms of tackling fuel poverty London needs to recognised as a special case
- He would not allow London to be a “no-go area” for energy suppliers in meeting their energy efficiency obligations (especially in central London) simply because of the higher costs of delivery
- DECC had no specific solutions on tackling fuel poverty issues in London as yet – but the department has a good working relationship with the Mayor and that they would be following up on options following the conclusions of the current fuel poverty definition consultation.
‘RE:NEW is delivering again across London’
16 October 2012: The Mayor’s RE:NEW domestic energy efficiency programme has just tweeted that it is delivering again across London. Further details on how you can save “up to £300 a year on your energy bills” on the following link.
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The World’s Largest Solar Powered Rail Station
The Green Deal for social housing tenants and providers
October 2012: DECC have issued 10 ‘quick guides’ on the Green Deal. Links to each individual briefing follow below – and the full set can also be downloaded from the following DECC webpage.
- The Green Deal Assessment – what to expect
- Green Deal – how your business can benefit
- The Green Deal consumer protection quick guide
- Get help to keep your home warm – the Energy Company Obligation
- Moving into a home with a Green Deal
- The Green Deal – a new way to pay
- The Green Deal – post assessment
- Quick guide to the Green Deal for residential landlords
- Quick guide to the Green Deal for social housing tenants
- Quick guide to the Green Deal for social housing providers
The Power Book
October 2012: Labour’s Shadow Energy and Climate team have established a website setting out some of their activities and key messages. One of the first things posted at www.shadowdecc.org.uk is a new publication called ‘The Power Book’, produced with support of the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU), the Labour environment campaign SERA and the Co-operative Party.
The book consists of a series of papers on initiatives being taken forward to develop community-led energy projects, ranging from the role that local authorities and community groups are playing, to the technologies such as microgeneration and district heating, that are being used. The foreword to the book by Shadow Energy Secretary of State Caroline Flint states that “we cannot neglect the potential for individuals and communities to create and save energy. In truth there are plenty of examples both here and abroad which demonstrate the potential of community energy as a low carbon driver…There is also a window of opportunity to increase community-level energy generation instead of creating a rigid framework to fit the old, centralised system.” Download the report here.
Carbon Visualisation
October 2012: A previous post highlighted how a campaign by the excellent Centre for Sustainable Energy managed to secure the release of a 40,000 dataset of public sector buildings Display Energy Certificates (DECs).
CSE have recently highlighted how this data has been used by a company called Carbon Visuals.
Some of the London building carbon data is illustrated above.
Carbon Visuals explain:
“With a grant from the UK’s Technology Strategy Board we have been exploring real-time visualisation and the visualisation of large data-sets. One of the results is an interactive visualisation of the carbon footprint of every public building in England and Wales – 40 thousand of them!
http://uk-energy-ratings.carbonvisuals.com/ The visualisation works in any browser that can run the Google Earth plugin but because the dataset is large, the plugin may perform sluggishly on slow computers. Or open in desktop version of Google Earth: http://uk-energy-ratings.carbonvisuals.com/kml/uk-emissions.kml “
‘Put green energy into local hands’
12 October 2012: Good letter in today’s Financial Times:
“Sir, Your report about how numerous German towns, cities and regions are leading the country’s Energiewende away from nuclear power towards renewables and energy efficiency makes for fascinating reading (“Market reforms move power to the people”, Analysis, October 10). This is what the UK government’s “green deal” and “green investment bank” should be all about – giving local authorities the resources to promote community renewable energy schemes, energy efficiency and microgeneration projects; and this may possibly allow for any profits to be reinvested into local services stretched to the limit in the current recession.
If cities such as Munich, Cologne and Hamburg can lead the way with such policies, why not Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff or Fife, Caerphilly and the Shetland Islands? Local councils have a much greater appreciation of local energy needs and the energy-saving measures that can help reduce fuel poverty than Whitehall mandarins. I know there is a great appetite in local government for moving from an overly centralised energy market towards satisfying decentralised community energy needs.
If this policy was energetically pursued then I believe there would be no need to worry about the lights going out in 2015, and the billions of pounds of public money planned for new nuclear or shale fracking investment could rather be diverted to a clean, jobs-rich and sustainable energy alternative.
Brian Goodall, Chair, UK and Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities, c/o NFLA Secretariat, Manchester, UK”
Further funding to the ‘Know Your Rights’ campaign
October 2012: The GLA has approved £25,000 to support a further round of the Mayor’s annual ‘Know Your Rights’ campaign this winter. The authorisation note sets out that “the campaign, was first launched in 2009 and aims to help reduce the number of vulnerable and disadvantaged people in London experiencing poverty by raising awareness of advice, support and benefits to which they may be entitled. As part of his May 2012 Manifesto for Older Londoners, the Mayor pledged to continue to support this initiative.”
The ‘Know Your Rights’ campaign contributes to the Mayor’s Climate Change and Energy Mitigation Strategy – policy 7: Tackling fuel poverty in London by helping to ensure that the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups can afford to keep their homes warm and help prevent ill health and winter deaths. It does this by encouraging Londoners to contact the Home Heat Helpline, an energy industry-led initiative to help households struggling with fuel bills.
‘Londoners in fuel poverty could double’
5 October 2012: Inside Housing pick up on a previous Energy for London post on how the number of households in London identified as being ‘fuel poor’ could double as a result in the change in the definition of fuel poverty.
Concerns over the true extent of fuel poverty in the capital have been raised for some time – with research from the Mayor suggesting that – compared to official statistics – one in four London households could in fact be affected. However, despite this, there remains no London-wide strategy for tackling fuel poverty. This issue was highlighted by the London Assembly’s inquiry into the issue earlier this year which recommended that:
“Recommendation 8: The GLA should, by July 2012 and in consultation with the energy companies and local authorities, develop an affordable warmth strategy for London. The plan should include: agreement on the risk mapping criteria; the identification of priority areas for intervention on the basis of risk mapping; a timeline for the programme to work in each of those areas between 2012 and 2016; and agreed measures to tackle some of the barriers to investment in London (such as parking restrictions and planning”
DECC recently stated that, in the new year, they will publish and consult on “an updated fuel poverty [for England] strategy to ensure resources are being used in the best possible way.” With government terminating Warm Front early on in 2013, one of its main fuel poverty programmes, and the Green Deal and ECO having very specific fuel poverty targeted activities (ie. predominantly solid wall – or a more limited spend for all insulation measures, but only in low income areas) – it appears the national target to ‘eradicate fuel poverty’ by 2016 , as set out in the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000, will not be achieved despite the proposed change in definition (see recent House of Commons research note for further information on this). This all makes the rationale for a coordinated programmes of activities to tackle fuel poverty, operating London-wide, ever more urgent.
Many London boroughs have programmes in place to help insulate dwellings in their area (some of which are listed here). The Mayor’s main insulation programme, RE:NEW, reported that it does not measure the number of fuel poor households treated (here and here and here) .
The Mayor does support a ‘Know Your Rights’ campaign which aims to encourage people to find out what support is available by calling Home Heat Helpline, an industry-led initiative which provides advice to households concerned over fuel bills or how to improve the energy efficiency of their home.