Tag Archives: RE:NEW

Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Admin

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

the number of applications to the London Energy Efficiency Fund; the Mayor’s correspondence with DECC on the ECO;  fuel poverty and health; Details of decentralised energy schemes being supported by the Mayor; visits to Brixton Energy Solar projects; energy efficiency targets in the Mayor’s London Rental Standard; fuel poor families in London – and RE:NEW delivery in the private rented sector; the Mayor’s work to plug the energy gap; progress under the RE:FIT programme in London boroughs; the level of Green Deal activity in London; Is the GLA a Green Deal provider; plans in place to spend the £5,627,342 DECC Green Deal and Fuel Poverty funding to the GLA; 2013/14 funding to the RE:FIT programme; evaluation of the RE:FIT programme;
RE:CONNECT programme budget for 2013/14; Better Building Partneship programme budget for 2013/14/; events attended by the Mayor’s Environment Advisor; Bunhill CHP scheme; attendance at the High Level Electricity Working Group; and participation on environmental issues on the Talk London website.

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Supporting the Green Deal in Social Housing

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Admin

March 2013: A paper presented at the most recent GLA Housing Investment Group meeting has set out of the opportunities and challenges in expanding the Mayor’s housing retrofit programme, RE:FIT under the new landscape of the Green Deal and ECO. The paper sets out a proposal for additional funding for 2013/14.

“This paper seeks approval to allocate up to £150,000 for interim support to deliver early Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) projects through the existing RE:NEW framework.

“To avoid a slowdown in delivery during this period, we intend to procure interim support to help manage the early pipeline of projects that have been developed through our work with social housing landlords.

“Response to this project has been very positive and currently there are over £10m of potential projects currently being reviewed which could be ready to tender in the next 3-6 months, with a further £77m of identified projects under review. The total pipeline includes over £950m worth of potential projects and over 100,000 dwellings.“

Additional information is available in Appendix A- RE:NEW project pipeline and Appendix B- Pipeline projects currently under review – status update

The process to identify projects was kicked off in a workshop at City Hall in December 2012: a great paper on Financing retrofit in London social housing by Verco was presented – and post workshop Verco have also prepared a summary of proceedings. Amongst the outputs  the key points for future success in attracting funding for energy efficiency retrofit in the social housing sector included:

  • Senior leadership buy-in (e.g. to overcome barriers)
  • Economies of scale
  • Get dedicated lead
  • Accurate stock data
  • Build relationships with suppliers and contractors ASAP
  • Know your stock – to be able to negotiate
  • Data – Tower Hamlets have a database of all properties in the borough (do surveys, get EPC data from DECC, not HEED – automatic calculation of Golden Rule) and;
  • There are wide differences in the helpfulness of planners in different London boroughs – if planners are less cooperative, try a multi-prong approach via sustainability officers or ward councillors (!)
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Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Admin

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

Collective Switching initiative by boroughs; details on decentralised energy projects being delivered by the Mayor; Mayoral response to the Government’s ECO brokerage consultation; the spend timeline for DECC funding to the GLA and boroughs; the GLA response to the Government’s consultation on the definition of fuel poverty; the impact of sun spots on London’s CO2 emissions; a London target for ECO; progress on delivering the Green Deal through the Mayor’s RE:NEW programme; recently published GLA environment reports; recent meetings of the Mayor’s Environment Adviser; the Mayor’s position on climate change; the commissioning of Weather Action; CHP capacity secured through planning in 2012; Sutton energy from waste plant; the Mayor’s support for solar power in London; emissions from the new London Bus; support from the DfT’s Green Bus Fund to TfL; changes being made to the  Congestion Change Exemption; details of the Greener Vehicle Discount; support for biomethane buses in London; Camden’s biomethane fuelling station; RE:NEW’s support to tackling fuel poverty and the list of non-GLA organisations that have utilised the RE:FIT programme.

Previous months questions to the Mayor can be found here.

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Energy initiatives in the Mayor’s new budget

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Admin

February 2013: Following a short consultation period, the Mayor’s final 2013/14 Budget for the GLA Group has just been agreed at City Hall.  A press release sets out that this budget comprises funding for the the “Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, Transport for London (TfL), the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA), the London Legacy Development Corporation, and the Greater London Authority including the London Assembly. The total budget for GLA Group services is £16.5 billion.“

The final documents are posted here. In terms of funding directed to energy programmes, the background statement to the budget sets out that:

“The Mayor is continuing to work towards improving London’s environment. Energy supply and master-planning is key to delivering sustainable development for London’s economy. Investment will continue through a Decentralised Energy programme (with £1.3 million over the next two years) which provides technical, commercial and financial advisory support to partners to help them bring their decentralised energy projects to the market. This work builds on the mapping of opportunities identified through the London Heat Map. Work will also progress with partners towards a district heating demonstration project, supported by European funds.” [para 5.8]

Also mentioned is that finance will be directed to homes in London through “a fund of up to £300 million with the European Investment Bank to deliver carbon-efficient affordable homes” [para 5.4]. This relates to a loan organised by The Housing Finance Corporation (THFC) and the EIB which should be available to be utilised shortly by London housing associations – see here, here and here for further information. The funding will be managed by THFC.

Though a few other environment-related projects are mentioned in the background statement document, and reference is made to energy efficiency work to be undertaken by LFEPA and also TfL, no mention is made of the Mayor’s RE:NEW home energy efficiency retrofit scheme, or RE:FIT or RE:CONNECT – however, with the budget only just finalised, it may be the case that further information is yet to be released.

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Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Admin

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

the Mayor’s position on nuclear and its role in securing London’s future energy supplies; the number of ‘low carbon generators’ currently helping power Transport for London’; the Mayor’s application to DECC’s  Fuel Poverty and Green Deal Pioneer Places funds; European Investment Bank (EIB) funding for energy efficiency retrofits in housing; the amount of energy consumed by The Shard; the potential for the Green Deal in London; further funding for the Mayor’s RE:NEW home energy efficiency programme; promoting the Green Deal to Londoners over-65; publication of the latest TfL Environment report; GLA environment publications; hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles; the number of fuel poverty households treated under RE:NEW; revised publication date of the RE:NEW evaluation report; the total number of homes treated under RE:NEW; funding and evaluation of the RE:CONNECT Low Carbon Zones programme; zero carbon developments on the Greenwich Penisula; the Mayor’s Low Carbon Prize; the RE:FIT Schools initiative; the number of jobs created under RE:FIT; progress on the LED traffic lights initiative.


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Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Admin

December 2012: This month the Mayor has been asked questions in relation to: the delay in the publication to the Mayor’s evaluation report of his home energy efficiency programme, RE:NEW;  a response to the recent report that London experienced the largest increase in the number of Excess Winter Mortality of any region; the number of low carbon and renewable energy installations installed in fire stations currently threatened with closure; on the Mayor’s recent statement that the “energy policy of the country is in chaos“; the Deputy Mayor’s views on renewable energy; the representation of decentralised energy generators on the Mayor’s High Level Electricity Working Group; the Energy Bill and its support to the attainment of the Mayor’s 25 per cent decentralised energy target

Progress on the Mayor’s DE target; CHP capacity in London; TfL arrangements to secure electricity supply for the London Underground ; TfL energy costs; TfL procurement of electricity from London-based low carbon and renewable energy generators
progress being made under the London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF); the UK’s attractiveness to clean energy investment; discussions with energy companies over recent price hikes; a London target under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO)
job losses in the insulation industry in London; Mayor’s liaison with the Insulation Industry Forum; the slow take up under the Green Deal and the January launch of the Green Deal; London bid to the Green Deal Pioneer Places fund and here.

Energy efficiency improvements linked to home extensions and conversions; the 2018 energy efficiency requirement for the private rented sector (and here); that there will be no zero carbon homes developed on the Greenwich Peninsula; checks on the standard of work completed under the RE:NEW programme; future energy consumption related to London’s future population growth; the anticipated energy output from the 25 decentralised energy schemes currently being supported by the Mayor; funding directed to the Mayor’s decentralised energy programme; papers from future meetings of the Mayor’s High Level Electricity Working Group; and the potential for anaerobic digestion in London and the number of future AD plants in London.

Previous months questions to the Mayor can be found here.

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London Assembly write to Government about Fuel Poverty

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Admin

December 2012: Following last month’s evidence session (and see here), the London Assembly Health and Environment Committee  has written to the Mayor, Department for Energy and Climate Change and energy companies about fuel poverty and domestic energy efficiency retrofit. The Committee’s correspondence can be seen here.

Writing to Minister for Energy Greg Barker, the Committee say: “The Committee would also like to know what lessons you are taking from the experience of CERT and CESP (and other programmes such as the GLA’s RE:NEW) for the Green Deal and ECO, and in particular for achieving better take-up and delivery in London. These new programmes provide an excellent opportunity to redress the previous imbalance and to show DECC’s commitment to fair delivery in London.”

The Committee quiz the Mayor over future proposals for the RE:NEW programme, asking “the Committee would like information on whether and how the plans it has heard are compatible with any further down-scaling of the annual GLA resource allocated to the programme. Your Deputy referred the Committee to the ECO funding stream but this is, we understand, for the retrofitting work itself. Is it expected to support GLA front-end activity, promotion or pipeline assembly? He also referred to a team of 90 staff within the Housing and Land Directorate, including staff transferring from the Homes and Communities Agency. The Committee would be interested to hear what quantum of staff time, and what other resource, will be allocated to RE:NEW work in 2013/14.”

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Has the Mayor ‘shown enough political leadership to tackle fuel poverty in London’?

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Admin

November 2012: This was the question asked of the Mayor at last week’s Question Time session with the London Assembly in City Hall. The transcript of the discussion has just been posted on the GLA’s website – the fuel poverty section runs from pages 43-46. The Mayor responded with the following points:

  • On recent increases in energy prices the Mayor stated that “We have repeatedly had the energy companies in .  What they are getting away with at the moment is the claim that they are obliged to spend so much on renewables and energy efficiency of one kind or another and their claim is that that is pushing up the cost of providing energy. Whether or not that is true is very, very hard for me to evaluate.”
  • The Mayor has brought up London’s specific energy issues directly with DECC –  “I have been in touch with Greg Barker who is responsible for this and my Office has been in touch with the Department repeatedly for a long time.”
  • That “we are committed to expanding our policy of retrofitting.  I do not pledge that we can do that in all homes and in many cases the housing stock in London does not make it easy for us to do this but we are going ahead, as I say, with a programme that I think not only offers the opportunity for home owners to cut their bills but also offers massive scope for employment. I think it is a shame that successive Governments have not taken this up more vigorously.”
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RE:NEW Green Deal delivery

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Admin

October 2012: Just posted on the GLA website is a Mayoral approval form for the current round of RE:NEW 2012/13 (also called RE:NEW II). The approval form is signed and dated by the Mayor back in April (pre-election) but has only been posted on the GLA website on 16 October. It provides for £3m to be allocated to retrofit a further 24,000 homes (on top of the 64,000 homes treated under RE:NEW I) by the end of this calendar year. An additional £300,000 is being spent on stimulating early Green Deal uptake with  a delivery agent procured (using the RE:NEW framework) to deliver RE:NEW Green Deal to residents in selected areas.

The approval form sets out that “The focus of the RE:NEW Green Deal delivery would be to generate early leads for Green Deal assessments once it becomes available, test different methods for generating this take up (including the creation of local champions and referral fees) and other engagement and education tools.”

“It is expected that through this work stream, 3,500 homes would have signed up for a Green Deal visit by March 2013. As part of the wider engagement, there would also be an element of education and promotion of Green Deal across London as a whole. This would enable any Londoner to sign up to receive a Green Deal survey as soon as available.”

Further information on RE:NEW targets is available in the following post.

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Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Admin

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

a London-specific target under the Government’s forthcoming Energy Company Obligation (ECO) programme; progressing in achieving the Mayor’s Hydrogen Powered Vehicles strategy; the provision of energy efficiency support to SMEs in London; work being undertaken under the Mayor’s Decentralised Energy Project Delivery Unit; support for Cooperative Renewable Energy projects; how London will benefit under Energy Company Obligation (ECO); a list of all current Decentralised Energy projects supported; the roll out of the Green Deal in London; work to support the support the non-domestic Green Deal programme in London; the scale of the Mayor’s Green Deal programme in London; Guidance on low carbon cooling systems; low/zero carbon measures secured through the GLA’s planning process;  GLA review of the potential for low and zero carbon microgeneration technologies; future carbon emissions related to new infrastructure projects; work by the GLA with ICLEI, C40 and Eurocities on climate mitigation and adapation; and update on Low Carbon Skills Forum; planned budgets for future carbon mitigation programmes; carbon savings achieved by the Mayor’s programmes; the success of the Feed in Tariff (FIT) programme in London; an update on the London Thames Gateway Heat Network; the publication date of the Mayor’s Technical Guide for District Heating; and progress on the development of district heating commercial templates and a London Heat Charter. Planning guidance on sustainable design and construction; progress under the RE:FIT programme; targets under the RE:NEW 2 programme; annual progress report on the Mayor’s climate programme; an update on the London greenhouse gas inventory (LEGGI). Publication of the London Environment Strategy (see here for the answer referred to); the number of Solid Wall Insulation companies in London; Mayoral action on tackling Fuel Poverty; energy efficiency of new homes in the Olympic park; proposal for a zero carbon development around the Olympic site; energy consumption of superfast broadband; and future plans for Edmonton incinerator.

A series of questions (below) were asked in relation to RE:NEW – all of which were directed to a question asked earlier this year pointing to the November 2012 publication of the evaluation of the RE:NEW programme.

How many pensioner households treated under the RE:NEW programme; number of solid wall homes treated under RE:NEW; fuel poor households treated under RE:NEW; flats treatedunder RE:NEW; private rented homes treated under RE:NEW; the number of solid wall installations undertaken under RE:NEW; the number of cavity wall insulation installations undertaken under RE:NEW; the number of loft insulation installations under RE:NEW; the number of benefit checks undertaken through RE:NEW; and how RE:NEW has helped drive up the CERT and Warm Front programmes in London.

Previous questions to the Mayor can be found here.

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‘Plans for London green deal model’

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Admin

July 2012: Inside Housing exclusively reports that the Mayor has “instructed the Greater London Authority to explore creating a pan-London green deal procurement framework and promotion and referrals organisation which councils could use to deliver energy saving measures across their housing stock.  The GLA aims to retrofit 2.4 million homes in London by 2020 at a potential cost of £10 billion…

Richard Blakeway, London deputy mayor for housing, land and property, said: ‘The mayor has tasked City Hall officers to scope out a range of proposals for how we can make the government’s green deal work best for the capital.
‘No final approach has been decided, but we want to maximise the value of the green deal for Londoners by presenting the most powerful case for funds and to reverse the historic poor uptake of predecessor schemes in London, such as the carbon emissions reductions target.” Read the full story here. More on the Mayor’s RE:NEW programme here.

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Additional support for RE:NEW

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Admin

June 2012: The Mayor has released information highlighting that he is procuring additional consultancy support from the Energy Saving Trust (EST) for the delivery of his home energy efficiency retrofit schemes, RE:NEW.

The Mayoral approval form states that:

“Between April 2009 and the end of  March 2012 64,000 homes have been retrofitted, 17,543 tonnes CO2 per annum will have been saved and £7.3 million additional funding levered in. The budget for this programme was £7.8 million. Approval has recently been received to continue this work (with £3.3 million allocated in the GLA budget) in 2012-13. This would see RE:NEW delivery continue while funding remains to be levered in. In addition to this, it would start building up a pipeline of Green Deal assessments.

The approval highlights the shortfall in funding to London from the main national energy efficiency programme, the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT):

“The fundamental barriers to greater retrofitting activity in London are the inherent costs of retrofitting and the number of hard to treat properties in London. This makes it difficult to attract London’s fair-share of activity through the current national delivery model (CERT), let alone the level of activity needed to meet the 60% carbon reduction target by 2025. The latest data, 2009-2011, highlights how little activity London receives compared to other regions (see table below). As London represents 12.8 per cent of the UK population London lost out on an estimated £100 million in energy efficiency funding over the period.”

Cavity Wall Insulation Loft Insulation Number of homes treated Percentage of homes treated
London 54,533 89,957 131,952 4.2%
England, Scotland and Wales 1,372,307 1,727,392 2,615,980 10.0%
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