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News
Olympics Drops Full Carbon-Offset Plan
2 September 2011: Bloomberg have reported on how the Olympics will now not use international emissions trading programmes to help account for the entire CO2 emissions associated with the construction and operation of the 2012 games. BP Target Neutral will however continue to develop carbon offset programmes to help account for game-time related emissions for the period of the Olympics and Paralympic games.
Further information on approaches taken by the Olympics to reduce emissions are set out in the London 2012 Sustainability Report and the Olympics Carbon Footprint Study.
New Low Cost Loans to fund retrofitting of London’s buildings
2 September 2011: The Mayor announced today that “Hundreds of public buildings in London including schools, libraries and hospitals are set to get a green makeover, with low cost loans from a new £100 million fund”. The Mayor has agreed a £50 million contribution from the London Green Fund to set up the new London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF). LEEF will be led by Amber Infrastructure Limited and the press release states that “Amber has already expanded the fund’s value with upfront commitments for £50 million from RBS and the company is expected to leverage in further amounts over the life of the project.”
Further information provided at www.leef.co.uk sets out that eligible projects will aim to deliver:
- Energy Savings Ratio of at least 20% compared to conditions prior to investment
- Each £1500 LEEF Investment should achieve a reduction of at least one tonne CO2; and that
- The pricing of LEEF’s loans will be “dependent on the credit rating of the borrowing entity and the amount and level of security provided; the aim is to be able to structure the transaction so that a highly competitive rate can be offered.”
A list of eligible technologies that qualify for funding are also set out there. A brochure posted at the LEEF website also makes some interesting comparisons to how the fund will operate in comparison to the existing funding made available to public sector organisations through the Carbon Trust’s Salix programme. Further information on RE:FIT can be found here.
Connecting Decentralised Energy to London’s Electricity Network
September 2011: Back in May Ofgem issued an ‘open letter’ requesting views from the distributed generation (also commonly called decentralised generation) industry of their experience of connecting projects to the local electricity network. Ofgem’s letter sets out that they:
“consider that the efficient development of distributed generation could play an important role in addressing a number of key policy issues. These include helping the UK to achieve its targets for reduced carbon emissions as well as improving the security of energy supply and addressing fuel poverty issues. To this end, we have endeavoured to ensure that those seeking to connect distributed generation to the network do not encounter any unnecessary barriers resulting from the way that the electricity distribution networks are operated and regulated.”
The increased use of decentralised energy is a key element of London’s energy strategy, and the Mayor has established a target for 25% of London’s heat and power to be sourced by localised DE schemes by 2025.
Ofgem have now published a useful ‘High Level Summary’ of responses which highlights the difficulities that DE operators experience when bringing forward a project. This includes the:
- Limited and inconsistent distribution network data available to generators
- Costly processes ranging from connection assessments to legal fees
- Prohibitively complex grid code requirements placed on these smaller distributed generation systems.
No regional aspects are highlighted in the findings – that is – is it any harder/easier to connect DE to London’s electricity distribution system (operated by UK Power Networks in the main and also SSE in SW London) than anywhere else, however, if London is to significantly increase its use of DE, the numerous barriers identified by smaller generators that currently exist need to be removed.
Posted in Decentralised Energy, Library, News
Tagged CHP, Decentralised Energy, Distribution, Ofgem, UK Power Networks
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Islington Residents save cash on energy bills
1 September 2011: Over 1,500 Islington households will be warmer this winter and save a total of £322,000 on their fuel bills following a breakthrough energy saving scheme being trialled in the Archway Low Carbon Zone. Further information on Islington news release here.
Greener Homes Costing Less…but cost more in London
August 2011: The Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) have released the latest in its regular updates on the additional cost requirements of building homes to higher levels of environmental standards as required under the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH). CLG’s press release states that “homes built to Code level 3 standards, average extra costs have fallen by almost three quarters in the last three years – falling from £4,458 in 2008 to £1,128 in 2010” – the extra costs being those required to achieve the Code level over the cost of building to the baseline building specification – in this case a Part L 2006 compliant building.
The research highlights that:
- A significant fraction of the costs of building to Code standards are incurred under the Energy and CO2 category of the Code.
- Typically meeting Code 3 requirements has involved improvement of the building fabric in combination with a solar thermal system or small PV array.
- But the standard could also be achieved through fabric improvement alone at a similar extra-over cost to strategies involving low carbon generation and several home builders cited a preference to avoid installing generator technologies on grounds of simplicity; and
- A fabric only approach at Code level 3 may become the norm
The research also highlights (pages 70/71) however that there are regional variations in the costs associated with meeting the targets, with London estimated to be up to 9% higher than elsewhere taking labour and material costs (from the industry price guide SPONS) into account.
The report highlights that as yet there is too little experience of building homes to higher levels of the Code however it is likely that biomass systems and community heating networks will be increasingly required to delivered the CO2 savings needed. In relation to London it must be noted however that :
- There are major concerns amongst air quality experts in relation to the use of biomass heat and power systems in London which will likely limit their use (new emission standards for biomass systems are currently being devised)
- Progress on the development of district heating networks in London remains slow despite the Mayor’s commitment to a 2025 25% decentralised energy target for the capital.
Posted in Library, News
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Delivering a sustainable games
August 2011: Interview posted on The Guardian’s website with the Olympic’s sustainability team on the environmental challenges in terms of delivering the games and the lessons learned on the carbon mitigation initiatives taken forward.
Briefing on Sustainable Energy & Planning
August 2011: The Local Government Group’s Planning Advisory Service (PAS) has updated its councillor briefing on sustainable energy. This briefing covers:
- What is sustainable energy?
- Jargon busting
- What does planning deal with and what can be expected from applicants
It provides a useful introduction of many of the key issues raised in relation to the challenges of delivering safe, secure and reliable energy systems at a time of considerable change in the UK energy market.
Review of the Green Doctor Programme
25 August 2011: The Green Doctor programme “aims to tackle fuel poverty amongst vulnerable residents by providing home visit services in deprived neighbourhoods ” and is being delivered in Islington by Groundwork London. The project was funded by Ebico Trust, the charitable arm of Ebico, the “UK’s only not-for-profit energy supplier‘, and a progress report of work undertaken to date under the programme has just been published.
Haringey to invest £15 million in solar panels for schools and homes
25 August 2011: The Tottenham & Wood Green Journal reports that “Schools, libraries, social housing and council offices, which could include the Civic Centre and River Park House, both in Wood Green, will be set up with the photovoltaic panels in a move that could double London’s current solar power capacity. The council will plough in £8.5 million of its own cash into buying panels for council buildings and rent out the rest of its rooftops to third-party providers to raise the remaining £7.5 million for the scheme.“ Read the full story here.
Supporting Renewable Energy through Business Rates
August 2011: The issue of how the Government’s proposals for business rate retention by local authorities could help fund sustainable energy initiatives has been highlighted previously on this website, and on 18 July, CLG’s consultation paper, Local Government Resource Review: Proposals for Business Rates Retention sets out the detailed proposals for a new rates retention scheme to replace the current local government finance system. Supporting this consultation paper, the Government has now published eight technical papers exploring in further detail how councils would be allowed to keep locally generated business rates, which should help enable them to borrow against future rate income.
In addition to this potential new investment stream into energy projects, included amongst the technical papers is a specific Government’s proposal to support communities hosting renewable energy projects by allowing them to keep the business rates generated from such projects. The paper covers issues such as:
- the types of renewable energy that would be covered by the proposals
- what is meant by a “new renewable energy project”
- how different scenarios of renewable energy projects would be dealt with
- who would be responsible for determining whether a project was covered by the scheme and, therefore, not taken into account in the setting of any levy; and
- how the business rates from a renewable energy project might be split between different authorities in two-tier areas
Posted in News, Renewable Energy
Tagged CLG, Finance, Local Authorities, Renewable Energy
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Visit a London Superhome!
August 2011: The Sustainable Energy Academy’s Superhome initiative seeks to establish “a network of exemplar, old dwellings which have undergone an energy-efficiency retrofit and are local and publicly accessible, within 15 minutes, to nearly everyone in the country”. A number of these highly energy efficient Superhomes can be visited during London’s Open House Weekend on 17 and 18 September 2011 including:
- A 3 bedroom Victorian house in Belsize Park
- A Victorian terrace house in Camberwell
- A Victorian mid terrace maisonette in Hanwell
- A 1930’s end of terrace house in Finchley
- A Victorian terraced house in Twickenham; and
- A 24 year old Self-build house in Walters Way, Honour Oak Park in Lewisham.
Many of the homes have managed to achieve CO2 reductions of 60%+ using a variety of measures ranging from draught proofing, triple glazing and high levels of insulation (external and internal wall insulation, flooring insulation and flat roof insulation) to LED lighting, sun pipes, PV, solar thermal, micro wind turbines and also wood burning stoves. Find out more by visiting these Superhomes. The links above provide details of how to book a tour.
The Institute for Sustainability’s FLASH+ programme
August 2011: Coordinated and managed by the South East Centre for the Built Environment (SECBE), FLASH+ is free and aimed at architects, planners, designers, builders, engineers, and facilities managers and anyone who is involved, or wants to be involved, in specifying, buying or delivering low carbon solutions. Further information on the Institute of Sustainability’s website.
Posted in News
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