Tag Archives: RE:NEW

RE:NEW targets set out

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Admin

December 2013: The Mayor’s recently released draft housing strategy states that “The capital also has some of the worst housing conditions in the country, thus prioritising estate based regeneration through improving the quality and energy efficiency of existing homes remains a key priority. To achieve this the Mayor will make available funding to ensure that by 2016 all council landlords will be in a position to independently resolve their Decent Homes backlog, and will support affordable housing providers to retrofit their entire stock for improved energy performance by 2020.”

Section 2.6 of the consultation paper directly addresses ‘Retrofitting and improving energy efficiency’ and provides some useful information on the Mayor’s ambitions for his flagship environmental programme, RE:NEW:

“To increase retrofit numbers under the government’s Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and Green Deal schemes, the RE:NEW programme has put in place measures to assist all large landlords in London to identify works that can be carried out to their stock, procure the works, access finance and manage contractors. This support will continue until at least 2016, maintaining the momentum for the successor ECO arrangements. The GLA is keen to expand retrofit activity on a more strategic area, or even whole borough, basis. The Green Deal also represents an innovative way to finance energy efficiency works which saves money for individual households. The Mayor will continue to promote the opportunities that the Green Deal offers to Londoners across all tenures. As Table 1 shows, the projected rate of delivery in London is therefore expected to increase significantly over the next three years. “

All of this may however change markedly following the Government’s recent announcement that it will scale back the level of support going to insulation through the ECO as well as significantly reduce the level of solid wall insulation (SWI) installations: the boost in support to SWI systems was often quoted by Government as being a huge advantage to the Mayor’s retrofit ambitions in London due to the high prevalence of solid wall homes here.

Further updated details on the RE:NEW programme.

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Getting the most from ECO and RE:NEW in London

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Admin

December 2013: Presentations and an audio record of the the recent Future of London workshop on the ECO and RE:NEW have recently been posted online. This was a really helpful event include contributions from the GLA’s interim RE:NEW Support Team on the range of areas they provide help to London local authorities with – see slide below (and for further details on their activities see an earlier post here), Havering Borough Council, EDF Energy, and Agility ECO – an interesting new consultancy working with local authorities on the ECO, made up of previous supplier obligation experts at British Gas.

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RE:NEW – Progress & Setbacks Outlined

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Admin

December 2013: The latest GLA Investment Performance Board meeting includes a useful progress report on the various Mayoral delivery programmes. ‘Project Performance Report‘ paper 10b Appendix 2 includes information of some challenges currently being faced by the Mayor’s residential energy efficiency scheme RE:NEW. The paper states:

“Delivery of the RE:NEW Phase II carbon targets are significantly delayed and contractors will miss their contractual obligations. This is largely due to delays in the availability of ECO. The mitigation options are being reviewed including withholding performance payments and reallocating funding to the RE:NEW Support Team to reduce any shortfall in achieving the carbon targets. This combined with  a delay in having to wait for confirmation from the EIB for ELENA funding prior to commencing procurement of the full RE:NEW Support Team means the 2013/14 carbon targets may not be achieved…”

The delays have led to the project being graded an ‘amber’ rating under the paper’s ‘traffic light’ performance system.

A few days later, an update paper on RE:NEW was presented to November’s GLA Housing Infrastructure Group monthly meeting. This paper sets out:

  • RE:NEW has retrofitted over 99,000 homes to date since it was created in 2009
  • Over the next three years, RE:NEW will aim to support the letting of contracts that will save approximately 186,000 tonnes CO2 per annum through retrofitting approximately 232,000 homes
  • Capita Symonds were appointed to operate an interim RE:NEW Support Team – and began work in June of this year, with the GLA’s £150k funding covering programme activities until the end of December 2013. The RE:NEW paper proposes extending this funding by up to £200k for the Support Team to continue activities until the end of March 2014.
  • In contrast to the Investment Board’s mention of programme delays, the Housing Group’s paper relates that “progress made by the [RE:NEW Support] team to date has been excellent. The target of 1,500 tonnes of CO2 saved has been substantially exceeded; two contracts have been signed, with Brent Housing Partnership and LB Lewisham representing a total capital value of £24 million, and a saving of 4,333 tonnes CO2 per annum. There are a further 6 projects in procurement equating to a further £17.5 million capital investment and a saving of almost 6,000 tonnes CO2. This includes projects from Tower Hamlets Homes, LB Wandsworth and LB Havering. A further 17 boroughs and housing associations are engaged with the Support Team at the earlier stages of project development.”

The Housing paper also relates that the GLA is hoping to secure up to £3.85 million from the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) ELENA programme “to procure the full RE:NEW Support Team for three years”. The funding process with the EIB has however taken longer than anticipated, leading to the necessity to provide funding to an interim support team.

The paper interestingly also sets out risks associated with not securing this ELENA financing, as well as not being able to access sufficient ECO funds as a consequence of the Government’s recent pronouncements on the supplier obligation energy efficiency programme. The paper states “Changing the ECO model would require secondary legislation…The [GLA] Environment Team is currently developing a proposed lobbying approach to help to address this risk, which may include lobbying for a regional target. If successful this could improve the follow [sic – must be ‘flow] of funding for projects.”

The paper highlights that a formal submission to the EIB has now been made and “funding confirmed in principle” should be sometime this month. Hopefully the EIB will be presenting the GLA with a welcome Xmas present this year – watch this space!

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Funding Energy Efficiency Retrofit in London

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Admin

November 2013: The GLA’s RE:NEW team have recently produced a guide identifying “potential sources of funding and finance available to London Boroughs, Registered Providers of Social Housing, private landlords and individuals to pay for energy efficiency retrofit measures in their housing.”

The sources of funding covered include the ECO, London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF) and the Social Housing Fund. Download the guide here.

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Energy & Climate Questions to the Mayor

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Admin

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

Climate change leadership; London’s successful ‘green economy”;
potential for wind energy in London; the human contribution to climate change; Nissan Electric taxis‘; emissions from electric vehicles; promoting community energy through planning; Mayor’s briefing to the House of Lords on the Energy Bill; Mayoral visits to the Dagenham wind power project; RE:NEW programme advice on supplier switching; supplier switching advice; Nuclear power and London; bills savings achieved by households under RE:NEW; the Mayor’s energy advisor’s visit to New York; the Mayor’s energy advisor’s visit to Rio de Janeiro; the Mayor’s view on wind farms; London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF) Advisory Committee papers; nuclear power value to Londoners; roll-over energy contracts for SMEs; CO2 savings achieved under RE:NEW; the Mayor’s energy advisor’s visit to San Francisco; the Mayor’s view on MASDAR’s investment in the London Array; the Mayor’s view on shale gas; investment opportunities for London through financing wind power projects; hosting a London ‘Climate Week‘; RE:NEW advice supplier switching; renewable electricity supply to the Tube; SOURCE London charging points; London’s need for more electricity substations; completion of Affordable Warmth and Health Action Plan; applications to the London Schools Hydrogen Challenge; budget allocated to the Mayor’s new Affordable Warmth and Health Action Plan; the Mayor’s new Affordable Warmth and Health Action Plan; Londoners supported through the Mayor’s Know Your Rights helpline; GLA officers working on the new Affordable Warmth and Health Action Plan; RE:NEW report backs; Benefit Entitlement Checks (BECs) under RE:NEW; carbon offsets for flights; key activities in the Mayor’s new Affordable Warmth and Health Action Plan; private sector funding leveraged by RE:NEW; targets under the Affordable Warmth and Health Action Plan; community level responses to heatwaves; disseminating research undertaken to date on how to cope with heatwaves and the health impacts of cold homes.

Previous months questions to the Mayor can be found here.

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External Wall Insulation and the Planning System

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Admin

October 2013: Solid Wall Insulation (SWI) is critical in helping improve the energy efficiency of a large proportion of London’s homes and hence helpful that the GLA’s RE:NEW team have produced a short FAQ document on planning issues around the retrofit of External Wall Insulation (EWI).

The note highlights that a General Permitted Development Order (GPDO) was “clarified in regard to external wall insulation for single houses in technical guidance published by the Department for Communities and Local Government, in January 2013. It is stated that for the purposes of planning, external wall insulation is considered to be an ‘improvement’ rather than ‘development’, and, hence, does not require an applicant to make a planning application first to the local planning authority.”

Further information on the CLG planning order referenced above can be seen in an earlier post here. Further information on planning issues related to the roll-out of SWI in London can also be seen in this really helpful Future of London briefing note here.

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Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Admin

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

How the Mayor’s programmes will respond to the forthcoming IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 5th Assessment Report; the Mayor’s “climate sceptic views“; London’s growing energy demand; £145k spend on climate change adaptation;  the amount of energy generated from waste incineration; the number of GLA officers working on energy efficiency retrofit; the amount of ECO funding that could be directed to London; the operation of the RE:FIT schools energy efficiency programme in Harrow; the RE:FIT schools programme in Brent; Government’s proposed changes to building regulations and its potential impact on London Plan energy requirements; the Mayor’s response to DECC’s Community Energy – Call for Evidence; the Mayor’s support for community energy schemes in London – such as Brixton Energy; publication of the latest London Energy and Greenhouse Gas Inventory (LEGGI); the cost of producing ‘Using Local Powers to Maximise Energy Efficiency Retrofit – How to’ materials for London’? (report here); the terms of loans provided by the London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF); extending LEEF loans to the private sector; details of the LEEF Advisory Committee; consultancy companies working on LEEF; the amount spent by LEEF; the number of loans given out by LEEF; rollover energy contracts for SMEs; Londoners energy bills; the amount of renewable electricity provided by Source London electric vehicle charging points; funds previously spent on adding energy efficiency measures to Metropolitan Police buildings currently for sale; developing a Fuel Poverty Action Plan for London; the supply of electricity to London’s electric vehicle charging points; the supply of electricity to London Underground; London Green Deal targets; a London Green Roofs map; the Mayor’s Green Deal assessment on his home; stimulating Green Deal finance packages; spend of the Green Bus Fund; funding received from the Green Bus Fund; identifying brownfield land in London suitable for sustainable energy projects; CO2 savings achieved by the Mayor’s climate change programmes; potential for the London Pension Fund Authority to invest in low carbon energy projects; when the next update to the Mayor’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy is to be published; how climate change will affect London’s summer temperatures; new anaerobic digestion plant in Surrey; the level of waste being directed to the Beddington incinerator; the London Plan’s policies on incineration; the Mayor’s approval of the Beddington incinerator; if the Mayor had pressed for the Beddington project to develop as a anaerobic digestion plant; if the Beddington incinerator can operate in combined heat and power (CHP) mode; heat network around the Beddington incinerator; the growth of waste incineration in London to 2016; the role for future incineration in London; local planning controls and fracking; the fracking potential in London; details of the new RE:NEW domestic energy efficiency programme; targets for the new RE:NEW programme; the choice of the Capita Group to manage the new RE:NEW programme; GLA buildings that have been treated by the RE:FIT programme; whether the Mayor’s Environment advisor had visited the Kings Cross CHP and district heating scheme.

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Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Admin

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

the Mayor’s ability to help resolve the EU-China solar panel import tariffs conflict; savings achieved by householders going through the Mayor’s home energy efficiency programme RE:NEW; the number of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) provided under RE:NEW; the number of schemes supported by the London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF); an update on the Whitehall and Pimlico District Heating Schemes project; the amount of money spent by the GLA from funds awarded by DECC; the number of retrofits delivered by this funding; and the number of jobs delivered; Greenwich Power Station; Transport for London’s energy strategy; discussions with energy suppliers; the impact of future energy price increases on London’s economy; the RE:FIT in Schools initiative; Sutton incinerator; the RE:NEW evaluation report; Green Deal assessments under RE:NEW; flats treated under RE:NEW; fuel poor houses treated under RE:NEW; solid wall households treated under RE:NEW; the number of pensioner households treated under RE:NEW; TfL’s support for biomethane buses; hybrid buses supported by the Green Bus Fund; carbon and the London Enterprise Panel; carbon and the Growing Places Fund; Whitehall District Heating scheme; research undertaken to develop the London Thames Develoment Gateway Network; research into welfare reform and fuel poverty; jobs and the insulation industry; the number of energy efficiency retrofits carried out under funding; the amount of the £5.6m DECC funding provided to the GLA for energy efficiency funding spent.

Previous months questions to the Mayor can be found here.

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New London Energy Efficiency ‘Programme Delivery Unit’ to be created

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Admin

June 2013: The Deputy Mayor for Housing, Richard Blakeway, provided the opening address at the recent Energy UK/DECC ‘Energy Company Obligation (ECO)’ London event held at City Hall. Mr Blakeway spoke about the future ambitions for the Mayor’s RE:NEW home energy efficiency retrofit scheme stating that:

  • On the basis of London’s population, when compared with the rest of the country, up to 21% of the £1.3bn ECO fund should be coming into the capital each year. London has however fared poorly under the Government’s energy efficiency obligation schemes to date.
  • Hence, the GLA have been talking to the ‘big 6’ major energy suppliers are are looking to establish a Memorandum of Understanding to help increase the delivery of energy efficiency measures to Londoners’ homes.
  • These have been “really positive discussions” and the GLA are now working to identify a pipeline of homes that benefit from the ECO
  • The GLA are also examining the “niggles in the system” which are hindering progress, such as parking issues for energy companies when visiting homes.
  • The GLA are working with social landlords – who maintain around 800,000 homes in the capital – to identify ‘at scale’ homes that could qualify.
  • Initial work has identified a pipeline of 100,000 properties that could be “early beneficiaries of the ECO”. (for further information see consultancy Verco’s research paper on this earlier post).
  • To channel this work, the GLA are establishing a new Programme Delivery Unit. The PDU will work with boroughs, social housinglandlord and other stakeholders to support and increase uptake of the Green Deal and ECO schemes.
  • Positions are now being appointed for the PDU which should be operational by June.
  • Similar to other Mayoral programmes, such as RE:NEW and RE:FIT, the PDU will establish a framework contract for delivery agents, helping speed up the procurement process for local authorities and other housing providers.

A recent presentation by the GLA provides some further background to the new PDU.

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London Energy & Climate Priorities for the year

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Admin

June 2013:  The GLA’s Environment Programme budget for 2013-14 has recently been approved by the Mayor, setting out a total spend of £946,000 to support the delivery of the GLA’s environment policy and programmes. The approval form sets out in detail priorities being focussed on across the environment programme,  but listed below are those actions specifically related to energy and climate:

  • £100,000 to fund consultancy support for Energy Assessments: The London Plan sets out a requirement for developers to submit an energy assessment as part of their planning application.The Environment Team appraises at least 300 applications per year and requires part time expert consultancy support to assist on some highly technical issues. More on this  here.
  • £125,000  for the preparation of the London Energy & Greenhouse Gases Inventory (LEGGI) and London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (LAEI) which provide baseline information on London energy use, greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions.
  • £30,000 for a CHP in social housing study. This research will help demonstrate the commercial viability of Combined Heat and Power schemes in social housing over the installation of individual boilers and support the application of the energy hierarchy in the London Plan.
  • Guidance for developers on revised Building Regulations. The review of Part L of Buildings Regulations will lead to revised standards for new buildings coming into effect in October 2013. This study will recalibrate the standards in the London Plan (Policy 5.2 – see page 141) and provide guidance to the London Plan team and developers.
  • £30,000 to London Climate Change Partnership (LCCP) to undertake 3 projects: a) working with commercial landlords to reduce climate risks to the premises and tenants, b) working with social housing landlords in 4 boroughs to reduce overheating risks, c) undertaking a scoping study to define and increase the ‘adaptation economy’.
  • £30,000 for Hydrogen London – The Hydrogen London 2013-2014 programme will deliver the Mayor’s vision of London as a global centre of hydrogen and fuel cell activity, services and early adopter of these technologies.
  • £10,000 to review London’s CO2 emissions from waste – including to monitoring CO2 emissions from municipal waste management and reviewing CO2 metrics for waste (for previous work on this issue by the GLA see the following links here and here)
  • £160,000 to retrofitting London –  £110k will support the development of interventions with London Councils and the boroughs to remove barriers to delivery of energy efficiency. These include guidance for conservation areas and areas with a high density of listed buildings; procurement and analysis of energy performance certificate (EPC) data to enable the targeted identification of properties, quantification of the impact of emerging energy legislation and build the investment case for increasing the ‘success rate’ for delivery of measures. £50k will support the development of delivery models to maximise engagement to increase uptake in the private rented and owner occupied sectors (70 per cent of London’s housing stock).
  • £66,000 to delivering decentralised energy – Funding the London Heat Map (£16k in 2013/14 and £9k per year thereafter) – which identifies opportunities for local energy supply projects. The costs involve the GLA maintaining the current site hosted by RADE includes cost of ArcGIS server licence (a one off fee), hosting and admin costs for the site. LWaRB have agreed to pay 50 per cent towards the licence and hosting services.
  • £30,000 for Energy master plans (EMPs) – these provide the strategic planning function that underpins the delivery of strategic DE projects. The EMP provides a high-level feasibility and viability assessment and puts forward a ‘preferred solution’ for the energy infrastructure of that area. Funding will support three EMPs . EMP costs around £50k to produce. GLA will make £~10k contributions, developers and boroughs will contribute the remaining required budget. Recent energy masterplans undertaken include major regeneration sites in Croydon, Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea, White City and London Riverside.
  • £20,000 in 2013/14 and £50,000 in 2014/15 to Licence Lite – following our recent application to become a supplier we will need to work with Ofgem and the electricity supply market to develop business model and submit for Mayoral approval. We will work with market advisors on completing matrix of services needed and completion of formal legal agreements for services. (see here and here for further detail).
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RE:NEW Evaluation Report published

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Admin

June 2013: A RE:NEW roll-out evaluation summary report has just been published by the GLA (direct link to document here).  RE:NEW is the Mayor’s home energy efficiency programme originally launched in April 2009. The scheme has had various targets in place and currently RE:NEW Phase II is in operation. Much past detail on the Mayoral flagship carbon programme can be found from previous posts here.

The evaluation report sets out that:

  • Following technical trials the roll out the programme across London operated from July 2011 – April 2012 and the “aim for the roll-out stage of project was to develop a ‘pan-London’ approach – with at least one RE:NEW area in every borough. This is the phase evaluated in this report”.
  • 50,683 homes were visited under the RE:NEW programme and offered energy efficiency advice, energy and water saving devices, referred to as ‘easy measures’ [see footnote 4 of the report for the full list of easy measures offered]
  • However, the proportion of homes visited for the  installation of further measures energy efficiency measures from Government programmes such as CERT & CESP was only 3.05%
  • The report goes on to say that “The focus of RE:NEW is saving carbon emissions and so for RE:NEW to be a success it is vital that referrals for installing further measures are made…It was anticipated that cavity wall, loft insulation and heating measures would be funded through the Carbon Emission Reduction Target, Warm Front or other funding levered in. …Whilst the take-up of easy measures and advice was high and a real success for the scheme overall, referrals for further measures, such as loft and cavity wall insulation were low.” p5
  • Page 6 of the report is useful in setting out the common reasons for the low take up from referrals to installations – these included: discrepancies between identified measures and referrals reported from sub-contractors – where delivery agents felt that further training of their advisors would prevent discrepancies between identified measures and possible installations. Additionally, drop-outs occurred due to not all residents granted access for the follow up visit. Also contributing was the significant lag time between referral to installation
  • “These issues affected the conversion rate from home visit to further installation measures, causing consistently low numbers across the programme. Almost all boroughs recorded a conversion rate of less than 3% and a number of boroughs did not progress beyond installation of easy measures.” p6
  • P8 of the report onwards sets  out a comprehensive series of programme recommendations which make interesting reading. Included is that the GLA spearhead a  pan-London marketing campaign  as a way to warm up residents.

Much more detail is set out in the report, included borough-level data tables in Appendix 1.

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Energy & Climate Questions to the Mayor

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Admin

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

whether the Mayor had signed up to the London Big Energy Switch; whether the Mayor had signed up to the Green Deal; making Greenwich Power station a low-carbon generator;  the London Energy and Greenhouse Gas Inventory (LEGGI); discussions with DECC over increasing levels of fuel poverty in London; the Mayor’s response to the Government’s consultation on a new definition for fuel poverty – (link to actual response document here); the growth of fuel poverty in London’s private rented sector; a new power station for London; energy and climate issues in Transport for London’s business plan; decentralised energy and the London Infrastructure Group; meetings with energy supplier companies on the ECO in London; the impact of rising energy prices on London’s economy; the poor uptake of photovoltaics in London; renewable energy supply to London Underground; the use of recycled cooking oil in London’s bus fleet; the number of job losses in the insulation industry in London; how the London Enterprise Panel’s Skills & Employment Working Group will promote green jobs; the number of ‘green’ double decker buses in London; the number ‘green’ single decker buses in London’; emissions related to the ‘New bus for London’; the Shoreditch Heat Network; the Citigen CHP scheme; Guidance on Low Carbon Cooling systems; zero carbon heating at the Tate modern; minutes of the High Level Electricity Working Group; future changes in London’s weather; climate change in the national curriculum; petition to remove climate change from the national curriculum; carbon emissions and projects supported under the Growing Places Fund the RE:NEW evaluation report and an update on the Mayor’s electricity ‘license lite’ application.

Previous months questions to the Mayor can be found here.

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