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News
Hounslow Climate Change Strategy
September 2011: Hounslow is currently in the process of developing the borough’s first climate change strategy. Consultation on the proposed objectives for the Strategy will take place over a six week period from Monday 5 September to Sunday 15 October 2011.
Fuel Poverty in London: Evidence Session
September 2011: The London Assembly Health and Public Services Committee will question energy companies, energy efficiency suppliers and national and local government about how fuel poverty can be eradicated in the capital at meeting on Tuesday, 13 September at 3pm. This is part of their ongoing inquiry into fuel poverty in London. The Committee’s meeting is open to the public – details with regard to attending are here. Energy for London was part of a coalition of organisations who submitted evidence to the Committee last month.
Latest funding details on RE:NEW and RE:CONNECT
8 September 2011: Details have just been released by the GLA of the funding to two key Mayoral low carbon activities, RE:NEW (improving the energy efficiency of homes) and RE:CONNECT (supporting the roll out of 10 Low Carbon Zones in London). Also recently released are details of the ODA funding to the GLA to roll-out retrofit projects RE:NEW and RE:FIT across the Olympic boroughs. This is to compensate for shortfall in CO2 emissions as a result of the key renewable feature of the Olympics – a wind turbine – failing to go ahead. The ODA are hence allowing funding of £1.7m to retrofit homes and schools within the host boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, and Waltham Forest. The primary objective of the project is to deliver 1,300 tonnes of CO2 savings per annum through energy efficiency measures persisting for a lifetime of 10 years.
Posted in Energy Efficiency, News
Tagged Funding, Hackney, Mayor, Newham, Olympics, RE:CONNECT, RE:NEW, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest
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The Housing Crisis in London
8 September 2011: A report released today by lobby group the Pro Housing Alliance claims that housing conditions in the UK are among the worst in Western Europe and cost the country £7 billion in costs to the NHS, social services and education. Alongside its main report, Recommendations for the Reform of UK Housing Policy, is a supplement focused on the capital called the Housing Crisis on London, where the authors state that the situation is particularly bleak.
The London report lists a long of very significant problems with the housing market here, but the report also highlights that:
- The condition of the London stock is worse than national in several respects such as state of repair, security and energy efficiency
- Energy efficiency (SAP) ratings tend to be lower in London than elsewhere
- Carbon emissions higher; and
- Summer overheating more of a problem because of the ‘heat island’ effect
These will be issues which the Mayor will need to look at through the current process (launched last week) of revising London’s housing strategy.
London Councils memorandum on Fuel Poverty
September 2011: London Councils have submitted a memorandum of evidence on fuel poverty to the London Assembly’s Health and Public Services Committee current inquiry on this issue (see item 8 on the agenda).
Camden Using DE to tackle Fuel Poverty
September 2011: Further detail from, energy services company MITIE, on the innovative Combined Heat and Power (CHP) scheme being installed at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, where “surplus heat from the hospital plant will be piped to a new energy centre in the Gospel Oak area of Camden to provide hot water and heat to residents. As a result, up to 1,500 council home tenants will benefit from the Council’s ability to procure energy at a much cheaper rate than would otherwise be available to the council commercially.” See earlier stories on this project here, here and here.
Updated list of LDA Climate and Energy projects
September 2011: Papers from a recent LDA Board Meeting include a Mayoral approval note (Public Item 03.5.7 – Appendix 7 Climate Change Mayoral Direction) providing detail on the transfer of LDA climate and energy projects over to the Greater London Authority (the LDA is expected to be abolished on 1 April 2012). Included in the note is a useful funding breakdown of the total £3.795m budget of seven current programmes (Low Carbon Zones, RE:FIT, RE:NEW, Decentralised Energy Masterplanning, Better Building Partnership, London Low Carbon Capital and the Centre for Low Carbon Technology).
CESP Update for London
7 September 2011: Ofgem’s half yearly update (to the end of June 2011) on energy companies progress against their targets under the Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP) has just been published. However, the results provided in the update only refer to the 201 UK-wide ‘proposed‘ schemes, as opposed to the schemes actually ‘approved’ by Ofgem. With reference to London, the CESP update reports that 15 schemes have been proposed. In terms of actual measures delivered, London schemes in operation (an unknown number), have installed 1047 measures in 751 dwellings. The CESP Annual Report published earlier this year noted the slow progress of the programme to date: the update goes on to highlight the difficulties in getting schemes of the ground as even if all of those proposals put forward by energy companies to Ofgem for approval came to fruition,they would only represent around 50% of the CESP target, with only just a year left of the programme to go.
Posted in Energy Efficiency, Library, News
Tagged CESP, Energy Efficiency, Fuel Poverty, Ofgem
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Revising London’s Housing Strategy
5 September 2011: The Mayor last week launched a consultation with the London Assembly on initial proposals for a revised London Housing Strategy.
The Mayor’s first Housing Strategy was only finalised in February 2010. However, the GLA’s website reports that as “there have been major changes to the allocation of government funding for housing and there are significant changes proposed in the Localism Bill, including significant new housing and regeneration powers for the Mayor… a number of areas have been identified where change is needed, and a revised housing strategy is being produced.” The consultation however does go on to state that this “document presents the Mayor’s initial policies and proposals for a new strategy and is not, therefore, a full draft housing strategy. As the current strategy was published only last year, this document focuses on those areas where there will be significant change; the fact that something from the current strategy is not mentioned does not mean it is not still important or will not appear in the new one. This document should therefore be read in conjunction with the 2010 strategy document.”
The consultation states that the 2010 Strategy “contained a large number of policies on design and green issues. Most of those relating to design, including the key environmental policies relating to new homes, are now part of the design guide. Policies on greening existing homes included in the 2010 Strategy will similarly be incorporated into the Mayor’s new single London environmental strategy.”
The only comments in the initial proposals document in relation to improving the energy efficiency homes relate to the Mayor’s proposals to:
- ensure that new homes will be built to higher design standards and a minimum of Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) Level 4
- set out his policies on greening existing homes in the forthcoming single environmental strategy.
The timeline for Strategy is consultation with the Assembly by 28 October2011; this will be followed by a public consultation version of the full draft of the new London Housing Strategy towards the end of the year, with a final proposed draft submitted by the Mayor to the Secretary of State in mid-2012.
Mayoral Funding to Low Carbon Initiatives
September 2011: Details of the Mayor’s recent funding support to London South Bank University’s (LSBU) Centre for Low Carbon Technology which will “enable emerging low carbon technologies to be researched, trialled and demonstrated in a full scale urban environment” and also the Better Buildings Partnership.
A new single ‘London Environment Strategy’
5 September 2011: The Localism Bill continues its passage through the House of Lords today, moving to Report Stage. Amongst the many changes proposed in the Bill there is a more modest, but important, clause in the Bill regarding the six environment strategies that the Mayor is currently statutorily required to produce.
Clause 212 of the latest version of the Bill calls for the Mayor to produce a ‘London Environment Strategy’ which “must contain a general assessment by the Mayor of the environment in Greater London, so far as relevant to the functions ofthe Authority or of the Mayor” containing “provisions dealing with the Mayor’s policies and proposals in relation to each of the following matters in relation to Greater London—(a) biodiversity;(b) municipal waste management;(c) climate change mitigation and energy;(d) adaptation to climate change;(e) air quality; and(f) ambient noise.”
Importantly, the Bill goes on to repeal the duty on the Mayor to publish the six separate environmental strategies. Hence it is proposed that all material/policies contained within these six individual strategies will be consolidated into the new single London Environment Strategy. The Communities and Local Government (CLG) Secretary of State may give guidance to the Mayor on the content and preparation of this new strategy and may also give the Mayor direction as to its policies. Also proposed in the Bill is a new power for the London Assembly which is the ability to reject any of the Mayor’s statutory strategies if a two-thirds majority of members vote against publication.
Despite the changes being proposed in the Bill the Mayor stated back in June that the climate change mitigation and energy strategy, the climate change adaptation strategy, the municipal waste strategy – and two further non-statutory environment strategies on business waste and water – all of which are at draft stage – will all be published by the end of the calendar year.
Transport for London update energy and climate activities
5 September 2011: Transport for London’s latest annual report has just been published. The report includes a brief update on TfL’s activities to help reduce London’s transport sector contribution to climate change including: promoting the uptake of car club membership, supporting the use electric vehicles, research and trials into low-carbon bus technology, and investing in hybrid (diesel/electric) and also hydrogen vehicles.
TfL was recently awarded for its activities to promote low-carbon buses and the report states that “Buses contribute five per cent of the total transport CO2 emission in London and the largest share, nearly 40 per cent, of TfL’s own CO2 footprint. The latest bus technology will help meet the Mayor’s goal of a 60 per cent CO2 reduction by 2025 compared with 1990 levels.”
The report also mentions that London Underground is looking at ways to source decentralised and renewable energy and that new procurement processes are being set up so LU can work with energy companies under the Government’s Feed in Tariff. More detailed information on the full range of TfL’s climate and energy related activities can be found in TfL’s last environment report, published in December 2010.