Monthly Archives: October 2011

National Grid’s London power tunnels project

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Admin

17 October 2011: “Deep beneath the busy streets of north London, one of the largest engineering projects that the capital has seen in the last 50 years has reached a major milestone…”. Read the full article from The Engineer here.

Further information  on this major London energy infrastructure project can be read on this previous post.

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Councils to kickstart Green Deal revolution

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Admin

17 October 2011: New local authority-backed financing model aims to scale up Green Deal programme. Read the full Business Green article here.

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“Energy Retrofit Will Save Billions”

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Admin

14 October 2011: Speaking at the CBI London Annual Dinner, the Mayor laid out the economic and environmental opportunities for private sector businesses if they commit to retrofitting their premises and invest in retrofitting goods and services. The news release states that the “Mayor has funded RE:NEW, a homes energy efficiency programme which is currently retrofitting 55,000 homes across the capital by May 2012. In addition, his RE:FIT programme is set to help hundreds of public sector buildings retrofit their premises using a hassle-free template that guarantees money-back on the capital investment from predicted energy savings. The Mayor has also diverted public money into the London Green Fund which is leveraging in hundreds of millions in private sector money to provide cheap loans for public organisations enabling them to access upfront money for retrofitting. The 42 city buildings that trialled RE:FIT saw savings of up to 40 per cent in energy usage and collectively are saving the city one million pounds a year off energy bills.”
Read the full news release here.

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Three schemes bid to generate heat and power from North London’s waste

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Admin

October 2011: Three bids have been submitted to the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) to generate energy from the 300,000 tonnes of solid recovered fuel (SRF)  created from the 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes of North London’s waste that cannot be recycled  or composted.
The NWLA is a statutory waste authority managing the disposal of municipal waste from seven London local authorities (Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Islington, Hackney, Haringey and Waltham Forest) and this procurement is one of two that NLWA is running to provide a “long term and sustainable waste management solution for North London”.  A separate procurement is being run that will involve recycling or composting half of North London’s waste, producing the fuel and minimising the landfilling of municipal waste.
The contract for the use of SRF will be available from 2015 for up to 25 years and the NLWA states that it “is striving to achieve the most efficient form of energy recovery. This could be with the fuel being used in a Combined Heat and Power (‘CHP’) plant, located close to where the energy demand is.”
The NWLA have provided updated details of the three bids, all of which utilise CHP technology  on the following news release.

  • Covanta Energy project is the only one based in London and is proposing a Combined Heat and Power plant at the Tate & Lyle sugar refinery site at Silvertown, East London. The Covanta proposal involves the transport by barge of SRF from Edmonton to Silvertown and this will support the further development of London rivers for freight transport use. Covanta will shortly begin consultations with the local community and relevant authorities ahead of a planning application in mid 2012.
  • E.ON/Wheelabrator Technologies is proposing a CHP plant at DS Smith Paper’s site at Kemsley Mill, Sittingbourne, Kent.
  • Veolia Environmental Services (UK) wants a CHP enabled power plant at an existing industrial site in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.

The winning proposal will be selected from one of the three shortlisted candidates during the next 12 months using an evaluation framework that focuses on the quality and cost of the solution.
Further information on how SRF is produced is set out by the NWLA here.

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Survey finds that 99% of councils say using sustainable energy would help reduce their energy costs

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Admin

October 2011: The authors of some  valuable new research have outlined in the following article the huge potential for councils to link efforts to combat climate change with the need to kick-start economic growth and create decent employment. The new green team: Local government, sustainable energy, jobs and skills was launched last week, produced by the Association for Public Service Excellence (Apse) for Unison.

The report presents a survey of officers and elected members in councils across the UK and found that a hugely positive attitude towards sustainable energy projects exists in local government.

An overwhelming 99% of respondents said this would reduce their energy costs and 94% think there is an urgent need for such projects. And 82% believe the public in their area would be supportive of a high profile emphasis on sustainability and jobs growth through renewable energy and energy efficiency schemes.

There are a number of all too real obstacles to achieving the full potential of sustainable energy at present however. For a start, the majority of respondents do not believe sufficient skills exist to respond to sustainable energy opportunities – and only 12% think the national skills development programme is moving rapidly enough to equip people to meet green economy opportunities.

Local government leadership is also crucial. A total of 79% of survey respondents believe councils should have a direct delivery as well as a facilitation role in sustainable energy projects.

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LEEF Drop In Session

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Admin

October 2011: The London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF) is holding a drop in session at the offices of Arup (8 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 4BJ) between 12-4pm on 9 November where potential projects can meet the team for an informal session. A LEEF pre-application spreadsheet has also been posted online which will help start the process to determine whether a project is eligible for LEEF and to provide any indicative funding terms. The spreadsheet also lists a number of the energy solutions that are applicable for funding, including energy metering systems, efficient lighting installations, insulation, and also decentralised energy systems such as biomass boilers, CHP and photovoltaics.

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First Solar panels power Hackney estate

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Admin

October 2011: Hackney Homes has installed the first solar panels as part of its Green Estate pilot in a 50 property block in Haggerston. Further information on news release here.

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London and Los Angeles Share Knowledge on Outdoor Lighting Retrofit

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Admin

October 2011: As part of the C40 cities initiative, Ed Ebrahimian, Director of the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting, came over to London to speak about a major public works project in Los Angeles to retrofit the city’s street lighting with energy-efficient LED (light-emitting diode) fixture – the largest LED street lighting retrofit ever undertaken globally. Further details of the talk are posted on the C40 website here which includes links to efforts currently being undertaken to increase the use of high energy efficiency LED lighting in London.

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London’s first council owned energy company

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Admin

8 October 2011:  The Islington Gazette reports that “The Bunhill Energy Centre, in Central Street, Clerkenwell, is due to be ready for the start of winter next year and will provide cheaper energy for more than 700 homes in the south of the borough.” Read full article here.

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Islington council warns of deaths over fuel policy

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Admin

7 October 2011: More people could die this winter in Islington as a direct result of government fuel policy, the town hall’s energy chief said in a stark warning this week. Also mentioned were the Islington’s plans for London’s first council-owned energy company, which will be set up in Central Street, Clerkenwell. Read full article in the Islington Gazette here.

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Islington Fuel Poverty Update

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Admin

6 October 2011: Islington Council paper providing an update on initiatives being undertaken in the borough to help combat fuel poverty.

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Pitch Pledge for Energise Barnet!

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Admin

6 October 2011: A London community energy project has been selected to put forward its proposals to an innovative new fund raising experiment for low carbon schemes. Launched by carbon campaign 10:10, Pitch Pledge Party is aimed to link 10:10 participants with donors looking to support practical carbon-cutting ideas.

Out of the many projects submitted to 10:10, Energise Barnet is one of only three schemes which will be pitching at Party, which is to be held at The Guardian’s offices on Monday 10 October. Further details of the pitch made by Energise Barnet can be found here – where you can also vote to support the project!

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