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Tag Archives: Mayor
RE:NEW to roll out across nine more London boroughs
27 September 2011: The Mayor has announced today that homes in specific areas in Wandsworth, Croydon, Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Hounslow are the next to benefit from the RE:NEW energy efficiency programme. To find out if you are in an area which is getting the RE:NEW treatment go to the postcode search facility here.
Posted in News
Tagged Brent, Croydon, Ealing, Energy Efficiency, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Mayor, RE:NEW, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets
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Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor
September 2011: This month the Mayor answered London Assembly questions in relation to: an estimate of the number of Londoners in fuel poverty in April 2012; the number of homes benefiting from the RE:NEW programme in each London borough; future funding of RE:NEW; an update on the Mayor’s carbon reduction targets; carbon savings associated with the RE:NEW programme; the Green Enterprise District; lighting at London tube stations; carbon emissions from the constituent organisations of the GLA; RE:NEW loans; the number of HCA funded homes built and their Code for Sustainable Homes rating and progress of RE: NEW for 2011/2012.
Previous questions to the Mayor can be found here.
Measuring London’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions
September 2011: The GLA have approved work to commission consultant support to measure London’s greenhouse gas emissions. This analysis is needed as to: “deliver on the commitments set out in the Climate Change Mitigation and Energy Strategy (CCMES), the Climate Change Mitigation and Energy team will need to update the London Energy and Greenhouse Gas Inventory (LEGGI) for 2011 and develop a new methodology and emissions inventory covering London’s indirect CO2e emissions. There is currently no existing UK or international standard to measure city-wide indirect CO2e emissions. To develop a robust, credible and tailored methodology, a consensus-based approach run by an independent facilitator and involving a stakeholder consultation process is recommended. This will focus primarily on the food, retail and construction sectors. Both inventories will contribute to the Mayor’s CCMES annual progress report, which is due in late 2012.”
London Energy Efficiency Fund
13 September 2011: The Lawyer website provides some further background on the London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF) – the new £100m loan facility to help energy efficiency retrofits in public sector buildings announced recently by the Mayor.
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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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).
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.
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.
Mayor’s home energy programme slashed by three quarters
August 2011: News release from London Assembly Member Murad Qureshi responding to the Mayor’s RE:NEW programme announcement which states:
“In 2009 the mayor promised his programme would treat 200,000 homes with easy energy efficiency measures like low energy lightbulbs, and offer advice and support for more complex things like roof insulation, but the new target is just 55,000 homes – or a mere 1.7% of London’s 3.3 million homes.” Full news release here.