Tag Archives: Olympics

Energy & Climate Questions to the Mayor

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Admin

December 2013: This month the Mayor has been asked questions in relation to:

a debate on how the Mayor will look to address the number of excess winter deaths in London;  the impact on London as a result of the Government’s redefinition of fuel poverty; the Mayor’s plans to help tackle fuel poverty (MQs referred to in this answer can be seen here 4251 and 3836); the long terms impacts of climate change;  RE:NEW targets to 2015; the Mayor’s view on the recent ‘Green Crap‘ debate;  the level of increase in London domestic energy bills over the past three years; funding to improve energy inefficient damp London housing;  windfall tax on energy suppliers (see following for link to answer referenced);  the energy costs to Londoners as a result of gas fracking;  Canary Wharf waste heat offtake; details of the recent £5.6m DECC funding to tackle fuel poverty in London; promoting low cost low carbon energy supplies in London (also see the following MQ 4254);  the impact to London as a result of the recent changes to ECO; supporting community-led energy projects such as Brixton Energy; the Mayor’s Low Carbon Entrepreneur competition;  opportunities for the London Pension Fund Authority (LPFA) to invest in low carbon projects;  thes costs of nuclear power (read Liberum Capital note referred to in question here);  London’s top 500 energy-consuming buildings;  Nuclear Power versus decentralised energy; the Mayor’s support for fracking and nuclear power; the Mayor’s ambition – as set out in his recent draft Housing Strategy to retrofit London’s “entire stock for improved energy performance by 2020″; the late publication of the RE:NEW evaluation report;  the Mayor’s energy advisor visit to heat pump system at One New Change; the Mayor’s energy advisor visit to the Barkantine CHP system; the Mayor’s work with the Better Buildings Partnership; the Mayor’s energy advisor’s work with the C40; the Mayor’s energy advisor visit to Islington’s Bunhill CHP scheme;  the Mayor’s energy advisor visit to the Olympic site CHP system; recent events the Mayor’s energy and environment advisor has spoken at; the Mayor’s view on Labour’s proposals for an energy price freeze; future funding for the RE:NEW support team; the Mayor’s comments on wind power; RE:NEW housing retrofit targets; the award-winning Bunhill CHP; the number of fuel poor households to be delivered by RE:NEW; London’s resilience to a nuclear power station radiation leak; fuel poverty advice given to callers to the Mayor’s Know Your Rights helpline; the impact on solid wall insulation as a result of changes to the ECO; tower block residents assisted under the RE:NEW programme;

Previous months questions to the Mayor can be found here.

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‘2012: London’s sustainable Games leave lasting benefits’

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Admin

January 2013: The Mayor’s Environment Advisor, Matthew Pencharz, contributes a column to the C40cities ‘Expert Voices Blog’ on how ‘London’s sustainable Games will leave lasting benefits’

“The achievements have been impressive. No other Games had predicted its carbon footprint, so a new methodology had to be designed and delivered, one that included all the emissions from winning the bid to the end of the Games.

As a direct result emissions have been reduced by 400 ktCO2e equivalent to approximately 9% of the annual CO2 emissions from cars in London. The majority of this figure was achieved through reducing the impact of construction and the staging of the event. This ground-breaking methodology is available for use by future organisers of major events enabling carbon reduction on a significant scale.”

The excellent ‘Learning Legacy’ website has done a great job in compiling the knowledge gained by organisers in delivering  the Olympics, on a wide array of key issues, including sustainability.  Some energy and carbon outputs from this work includes:

Insulation from renewable sources and healthy to install
Combining photovoltaic panels and a living roof on the Main Press Centre
Achieving the Part L target at the Aquatics Centre
The Velodrome, the most energy efficient venue on the Olympic Park
Managing energy consumption during the Games
Carbon reduction in transport management
The Olympic Park Energy Strategy
Reducing embodied carbon through efficient design
Reducing and compensating the Games carbon footprint

Previous posts on energy issues related to the London 2012 Olympics can be viewed here.
Finally, the BBC programme ‘twenty twelve’ had an interesting take on the Olympics ‘ethically designed electric vehicle charging points’ and the ‘Olympic Park wind turbine’.

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Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Admin

November 2012: This month the Mayor has been asked questions in relation to: the way the supplier obligation support for energy efficiency works and its shortfalls in terms of London;  promotion of anaerobic digestion plants through the London Plan;  how the GLA’s asset strategy can promote the low carbon economy; compensating for unavoidable carbon emissions during the Olympic Games; the Mayor’s view on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EUETS) and the international response to aviation being included in the EUETS.

Previous questions to the Mayor can be found here.

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Olympic Schools Retrofit Project

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Admin

July 2012: The GLA has approved procurement of  “specialist technical services to supervise and inspect energy efficiency works… during the delivery of RE:FIT to 12 schools as part of the Olympic Retrofit Project. It is estimated that these services will cost no more than £60,000.”
The approval form sets out the history to this project, which arose as a consequence of the shortfall in carbon emission savings and renewable energy generated on the London Olympics site due to the failure to secure a viable large-scale wind turbine project.

“The Olympic Retrofit project is a CO2 reduction project that will be fully funded by an ODA grant. It will be delivered with zero costs to the GLA. The ODA set ambitious targets within its 2007  Sustainable Development Strategy including a target “To achieve a reduction in carbon emissions for the built environment of 50 percent by 2013”. This subsequently became legally binding under a Section 106 agreement [Schedule 11]. The planning conditions for the Park also include a twenty percent renewable energy target, which contributes to the overall fifty percent carbon target. So far, the ODA has invested in a suite of carbon mitigation measures including energy efficiency; district heating and cooling from the Energy Centre; and renewable energy...

“The strategy to meet the renewable energy target on the Olympic Park had originally relied on a 2MW wind turbine that had received outline planning permission and was expected to deliver thirteen percent renewable energy for the Olympic Park. Diminished commercial interest however meant that the plan had to be abandoned. With consideration of cost and programme, the ODA could only reasonably deliver a further two percent renewable energy through the installation of photovoltaic (PV) panels on the Multi-Storey Car Park and the Main Press Centre. The overall impact is a gap in the ODA carbon target of circa 1,100 tonnes of CO2. The ODA assessed the options to compensate for the onsite shortfall and a local retrofit project based on the RE:NEW and RE:FIT models proved to be the best value for money. The ODA have amended their Section 106 agreement allowing funding of £1,700,000 to be spent on this compensation project to retrofit homes and schools within the host boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, and Waltham Forest.The ODA is a ‘sunset organisation’ meaning it has a limited timeframe for operation (related to the London 2012 Games) and so it was necessary to seek a third party to deliver the programme onbehalf of the ODA. The ODA identified the GLA as best-fit to deliver through the existing RE:NEWand RE:FIT models (see Appendix 1 of MD839).

“A project led by the GLA, in conjunction with the boroughs, comprised of RE:NEW-style treatments in homes and RE:FIT works within schools will achieve this objective. The ODA has grant funded the GLA, and the GLA has entered into a grant agreements with each ofthe host boroughs to deliver the RE:NEW-style measures within homes. The GLA has called-off from the RE:FIT framework and entered into a service contract with EDF Energy. EDF Energy are currently undertaking an investment grade proposal for the portfolio of 12 schools.”

A recent update on the scope the RE:FIT project is available in the following June 2012 conference presentation – ‘The London Experience of RE:FIT’.  A tender was issued in June by Mayor for companies to be added to the RE:FIT procurement framework. More on RE:FIT here.

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Olympics2012-Energy and Carbon Lessons Learned

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Admin

May 2012: The ODA have established a learning legacy website which “has the aim to ” sharing the knowledge and the lessons learned from the construction of the Olympic Park, to help raise the bar within the sector “. Included amongst the material posted there is a number of documents relating to the energy initiatives undertaken on site at the Olympics:

The Olympic Park Energy Strategy Case Study

Energy In Use Implementation Guidance for Project Teams sets out the ODA’s requirements and the standard tools, templates and methodologies for demonstrating compliance with the carbon objectives detailed in the ODA’s Sustainable Development Strategy.

The environmental impact of the thermal insulation used at the Olympic Park, where several contractors sourced and installed insulation materials which were considered to be healthier for the operative installing the product (and potentially future maintainers) and which came from natural sources, such as plant matter or recycled material.

Reducing embodied carbon through efficient design – As the operational carbon emissions from buildings are reduced through energy efficiency measures, the embodied carbon emissions in construction materials become more significant. Two key strategies were used at the Park to reduce the embodied carbon of venues and infrastructure.

Achieving the Part L target at the Aquatics Centre – the ODA target to exceed 2006 Part L Building Regulations by 15 per cent was not included in the Aquatics Centre’s original design brief, but was instructed by RIBA – the design team successfully incorporated the requirements by focusing on the building systems and fabric improvements.

The Velodrome, the most energy efficient venue on the Olympic Park – which has a designed energy efficiency improvement of 31 per cent over 2006 building regulations.

Carbon reduction in transport management– reviews the Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA’s) approach to reducing the carbon impact of its transport arrangements and associated lessons learned.

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All homes built on Olympic park to be zero-carbon

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Admin

May 2012: The London Legacy Development Corporation has recently published a new sustainability guide for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park which sets out priorities against seven environment objectives which including requirements for:

  • Zero carbon homes
  • 15 per cent reduction in emissions from actual energy use by Park occupants over five years by promoting energy efficient home appliances
  • 25 per cent reduction in operational emissions over five years in venues and parklands
  • 100 per cent of homes will have smart meters to help people monitor their energy use
  • Ensure 95 per cent of visitors to events and attractions arrive by public transport, cycle or foot
  • 20 per cent of car parking spaces to have access to electric charging
  • By 2020 60 per cent of household waste should be recycled or composted compared to a London average today of 32 per cent
  • Energy efficient lighting throughout the Park

After the Games the Development Corporation will create a 225 hectare park with 102 hectares of open space, up to 8,000 homes, five permanent sporting venues, event spaces, 45 hectares of bio diverse habitat and a network of pathways, cycle routes and waterways. The document ‘Your Sustainability Guide to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park’ can be downloaded via the following page or directly here.

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London 2012 Olympic Park – Energy & Carbon

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Admin

March 2012: Slides from a recent UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) Masterclass which focused on detailed technical lessons learned from the London 2012 Olympic Park strategy on energy and carbon can now be downloaded from the following weblink (see bottom right-hand corner of linked page for slides).

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Olympics Carbon Offset Scheme

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Admin

March 2012: London2012 announced a few months ago that ticketholders to the games would be able to participate in the Olympics carbon offsetting programme, BP Target Neutral, for free. The initiative states that the “more people who sign up, the more Target Neutral can support low-carbon development projects worldwide.” Further information about the offsetting programme, and how to sign up, can be viewed at bptargetneutral.com and spectatorneutral.bp.com.

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Olympic Park – Cutting carbon

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Admin

March 2012: A briefing event by the IET (Institution of Engineering & Technology) onthe ODA’s approach to “delivering this energy strategy for the Olympic Park, including energy efficient design, the combined cooling heat and power system and renewable energy” with a focus on the district heating network across the site.  The event is to take place on 12 March 2012 at the IET London HQ at Savoy Place. Further details and link to book a place here.

Details of the Olympic Park Energy Centre here.

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Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Admin

February 2012: This month the Mayor has been asked questions in relation to:

money saved through RE:FIT; grants available to tackle Fuel Poverty; the budget available to the RE:NEW energy efficiency programme; Carbon savings of ten easy measures from RE:NEW; Borough roll-out of home energy efficiency scheme RE:NEW; an Update on home energy efficiency scheme RE:NEW; the Mayor’s work with energy companies to eradicate Fuel Poverty; the number of homes in Greenwich under the RE:NEW programme; the number of homes in Lewisham under the RE:NEW programme; the number of homes under the RE:NEW programme receiving benefits; the age profiles of householders being treated under the RE:NEW programme; fuel poor homes treated under the RE:NEW programme; the number of public sector buildings treated under RE:FIT; the London 2012 Olympics – carbon reduction target; progress on Decentralised Energy; monitoring of renewable energy; the quantity of London’s Renewable Energy; RE:NEW cost and carbon savings; progress against London’s 2020 CO2 reduction target; and Climate change budgets.

Previous questions to the Mayor can be found here.

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‘London 2012: ‘Lack of energy saving plan’ criticised’

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Admin

9 February 2012:  A BBC story has reported that: “London 2012 organisers still do not have an energy-saving strategy despite a pledge to make it one of the greenest Olympics, a watchdog has said. It missed its target to source 20% of energy from renewables and now a bid to cut CO2 emissions through energy conservation instead may not be met.
The Commission for a Sustainable London (CSL) 2012 said these issues needed to be addressed urgently.” Read the full BBC story here.

The CSL’s report ‘Sustainable Games Preparations review’, which can be downloaded here, makes two key recommendations in relation to energy:

That LOCOG produce an energy management and conservation plan demonstrating how it willreduce carbon emissions by at least the amount that would have been avoided through therenewable energy target, in sufficient time for its recommendations to be implemented.

That LOCOG calculates the carbon that would have been saved through the renewable energytarget and demonstrates how this carbon will be saved through reducing Games time energy use.

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Huhne visit to Olympic Park CHP

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Admin

9 January 2o12: “Secretary of State, Chris Huhne visited the Energy Centre at the Olympic Park this morning. The park, which is the largest energy centre scheme to be built so far in the UK, will contribute towards the Olympic Delivery Authority’s overall target to reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent” read full DECC news release here.

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