Monthly Archives: February 2012

Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor

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 programmeCarbon 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 EnergyRE: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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Embodied Carbon Footprints Survey for the GLA

February 2012:  The Greater London Authority (GLA) has commissioned Best Foot Forward to develop a Guide to encourage the wider and more consistent measurement and reporting of embodied (scope 3) carbon from the construction sector. A survey to help inform the study can be undertaken here.

The issue of quantifying indirect – or scope 3 emissions – are discussed in the GLA Climate Change and Mitigation Energy Strategy (CCMES) – released in late 2011. The Strategy sets out that:

“Scope 1 emissions refer to CO2 emissions from the combustionof energy sources within London. Scope 2 emissions refer to CO2 emissions associated with London’s consumption of purchased electricity, irrespective of whether this electricity isgenerated inside or outside of Greater London’s geographic boundaries. CO2 emissions are therefore accounted for at the point of energy use. This avoids double counting of emissions, and savings achieved on them. Scope 3 emissions are not included. Scope 3 emissions refer to all other indirect emissions not covered by scope 2. Examples of scope 3 emissions include those associated with London’s consumption of goods and services, its production of waste, and travel to and from the capital.”

There have been a number of estimates of London’s indirect CO2 emissions. In 2009, a Bioregional and London Sustainable Development Commission report, Capital Consumption, estimated London’s combined Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions to be 90 million tonnes of CO2 (MtCO2) per year based on 2004 data. This compares to 47 MtCO2 per year in 2004 for London’s scope 1 and 2 emissions.

The new study will help inform a specific action in the CCMES which is to expand the number of suppliers included in future measurements of the GLA group’s scope 3 emissions (Action 16.1).

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Update on LEEF

February 2012: A quick update on the London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF)

  • The Fund has £100m to invest in energy efficiency retrofit to public sector-owned / occupied buildings
  • LEEF is also able to invest through private / joint venture entities (such as ESCOs or landlords) delivering energy efficiency works
  • Loan rates and terms are extremely flexible and competitive

You can benefit from LEEF if:

  • You are undertaking a refurbishment programme / retrofit project in a London-located public / voluntary sector building (such as a university, museum, hospital, school, local authority, social housing provider, etc)
  • Your works will deliver in the region of 20% energy saving / carbon benefits
  • Your funding requirement is at least £1m; ideally between £3m and £20m

Further information at www.leef.co.uk

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CERT delivery in London

22 February 2012: Parliamentary question from Tessa Jowell, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood about the delivery of CERT in London.

Tessa Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much expenditure under the (a) Carbon Emissions Reduction Target and (b) Community Energy Saving Programme has been incurred in respect of properties in (i) London and (ii) the UK. [95626]

Gregory Barker: Best estimates of energy companies total costs in meeting their GB-wide Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) and Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) obligations were detailed in the respective impact assessments at the outset of the schemes. Regionally disaggregated cost estimates have not been made. However, in terms of delivery activity, latest figures published by the Energy Saving Trust show that around 2.6 million homes had received insulation measures by March 2011, including almost 132,000 properties in London.

At present, the Government do not have powers to require the obligated energy companies to disclose their CERT and CESP compliance costs. However, we are taking steps to ensure information is available about the cost of delivery under the forthcoming energy company obligation, which is due to replace the existing schemes at the end of 2012.

The latest EST figures for CERT are posted here (they are anticipated to be updated by the EST in early March). The data above once again highlights the low delivery of CERT and CESP in London, with London only achieving a level of around five per cent of all homes treated in the UK

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Households treated under Warm Front in London Constituencies

February 2012: DECC have provided a spreadsheet showing the number of households assisted in each parliamentary constituency under the Government’s Warm Front scheme, for the years 2005/06 to 2011/12. The full list for English constituencies  can be downloaded here. The spreadsheet filtered for London data can be downloaded here.

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Impact of the Green Deal in London

21 February 2012: Angie Bray, MP for Central Ealing and Acton, has asked two Parliamentary Questions about the anticipated impact of the introduction of the Green Deal in London with regard to investment and jobs.

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much private sector investment in energy efficiency in London he expects to result from the Green Deal. [94812]
Gregory Barker: The Department’s estimate of the level of Green Deal private finance is set out in the draft impact assessment published on 23 November 2011. The final impact assessment will be published in the spring. These figures are national and DECC has not carried out an assessment of the private finance requirement on a regional basis. The impact assessment can be seen here.

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many jobs he expects to be created in London as a result of the Green Deal. [94813]
Gregory Barker: It is not possible to provide figures for the number of jobs that will be created in London. It is estimated that by 2015 the number of jobs in Great Britain as a result of the Green Deal and energy company obligation could be up to 65,000.

Reading the 200 page-plus Green Deal and ECO Impact Assessment (IA) is a pretty thankless task at the best of times, filled as it is with endless graphs and tables of the various scenarios envisaged by DECC’s  modellers, but it’s  particularly pointless at the moment as the Minister has previously stated – over a month ago – that the “Green Deal Impact Assessment is already out of date” (see Greg Barker’s response to George Monbiot at 11.04am).

It is difficult to see how many new jobs will in fact be created by the Green Deal as the Government anticipates in the IA a massive reduction in the number of insulation jobs with the introduction of this new flagship environmental programme. This has been picked up by a wide range of diverse commentators (UKERC, CBI, and most importantly a detailed response from the Committee on Climate Change) and many press articles (BBC and Guardian amongst others). However, maybe this will all change in the final IA to be published in the Spring…

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Renewable Heat in London

21 February 2012: Angie Bray, MP for Central Ealing and Acton, asked the following  question in Parliament on the extent of the operation of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) in London:

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many organisations in London have received support from the Renewable Heat Incentive to date. [94815]

Gregory Barker: None of the five installations accredited to date by Ofgem for support from the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme are based in London. Payments under the scheme will be made on a quarterly basis following submission of eligible heat usage data. We expect to make the first payments in March.

The RHI tariffs are paid for 20 years to eligible technologies with payments being made for each unit (kWh) of renewable heat which is produced. The second phase of the RHI scheme will see it expanded to include more technologies as well as support for households. Further information is posted on the DECC website.

The RHI is to be introduced in two phases. The scheme opened for non-domestic applications on  28 November 2011 and, as the answer outlines, only  a few schemes have been accredited to date, none of which are in London.

In the interim to Phase 2 being launched, the Government also introduced a grant funding programme, the Renewable Heat Premium Payment scheme, which will run from 1st August 2011 to 31st March 2012. As detailed previously (here and here), the grants will be focused on ‘non-gas grid’ sites, and hence London will miss out on receiving any support for the installation of technologies such as heat pumps, solar thermal panels and biomass boilers.

The RHPP is managed by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) who produce weekly statistics on the grants given out. Disappointingly they do not provide detail of the  grants given out by county or local authority, only by country. The latest (15 February) statistics can be seen here.  It’s interesting to note that with just over a month of the scheme still to go, only £3.9m of the £15m RHPP funds appear to be allocated.

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‘Ken pledges lower energy bills for Londoners’

21 February 2012: Post on labourmatters.com detailing Ken Livingstone’s pledges to ” cut the cost of living for Londoners through series of new ambitious measures to tackle the rising cost of energy bills.” The article details that:

“Ken will:
1. Secure London’s fair share of national energy efficiency funding to help cut Londoners’ energy bills by £150 a year
2. Prioritise insulating older people’s homes.
3. Establish the first ever London Energy Purchasing Co-operative.
4. Make cutting Londoner’s fuel bills and reducing carbon emissions a Mayoral priority.

“Alongside my pledges to cut the fares and campaign for lower rents, cutting Londoner’s fuel bills is at the very top of my agenda. If I am elected I pledge to:

“Firstly, take personal charge of an unprecedented drive to insulate hundreds of thousands of homes which will save Londoners hundreds of pounds. It’s astonishing that London has missed out on over £400 million home insulation funding. I will put the full resources of the GLA behind a drive to ensure every single penny of insulation funding that is available to the capital is used to cut Londoners’ fuel bills.

“Secondly, I believe the Mayor must act when the big energy companies impose huge hikes to Londoners’ fuel bills. I will establish the first ever London Energy Purchasing Co-operative to provide a cheaper alternative to the big energy companies and save Londoners money.

“And finally I will make energy costs a Mayoral priority. If I’m elected I will call an immediate Energy Summit of all the main domestic energy suppliers and chair a ‘Warm Green Homes’ task force to provide leadership and take action to cut Londoner’s fuel bills.”

The average cost of keeping a home warm has risen by over £300 a year since 2008. The Citizens’ Advice Bureau has reported 45% of Londoners are worried that they will not be able to pay their next heating and electricity bills.”

Read the full detail on the pledges here.

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Brixton Energy share offer

February 2012:  An exciting initiative for London – community group Repowering South London, has announced a share offer for its first project: Brixton Energy Solar 1. The project will look to install several hundred square metres of solar panels on the roofs of the Loughborough Estate in Brixton.

Funding is to be provided by a £75,000 community share offer, providing a return to investors of up to 3% p.a. Part of the income generated will be reinvested in energy-saving improvements in the local area such as insulation and education on energy efficiency.

The share offer form can be downloaded here. Keep uptodate on news from Brixton Energy by signing up to their Twitter feed.

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London’s largest solar array

20 February 2012:

After a three year refurbishment, Blackfriars station has re-opened. As part of the station’s refit, Network Rail has installed 4,400 solar panels on the roof of Blackfriars station. Accounting for 50% of the station’s energy needs, they will form London’s largest solar array. Further information here and here.

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Lessons from the Community Sustainable Energy Programme (CSEP)

February 2012: BRE are holding a series of events on ‘Lessons from the Community Sustainable Energy Programme (CSEP)’ – not to be confused with CESP!

CSEP provided Big Lottery Funding for community-based energy efficiency and renewable projects (NOTE: the programme closed in 2010 – however very recently a new funding round has opened with a deadline for applications of 29 February 2012).

No specific London workshop took place, however, a session earlier this month at BRE’s HQ includes a detailed (8MB) presentation on CSEP, and also a case study presentation on the Brixton Solar project. Download both here.

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The Green Deal in London: Borough Challenges

February 2012: Future of London are holding a series of events on the challenges boroughs face in implementing the Green Deal and ECO in London. The first of these “focused on how London Boroughs can be “Green Deal Friendly” and drive demand for the mechanism in their area.” Presentations from the session from local authority representatives from Croydon, Merton and others are available to view as well as a summary of the workshop – Borough Challenges Briefing Paper.

The session was well attended  by 12 London boroughs and makes interesting reading. Included amongst the comments:

1) Participants from across the majority of participant Boroughs were concerned about the feasibility of the Green Deal – particularly relating to levels of local demand and the costs of implementing retro-fit programmes in London

1) General doubts over feasibility of the Green Deal
a) Several doubts were expressed from a number of different sources about whether Green Deal will work under current arrangements
b) In particular, concerns were raised about levels of demand locally for the Green Deal, the impact this could have on the Golden Rule, and the particular costs associated with delivering energy efficiency in London.
c) One borough noted a free eco-refurbishment scheme had only been successfully completed on one property
d) It was felt that further incentives are likely to be required to boost participation.

d) At the moment there is a reluctance amongst the majority of Boroughs represented at this seminar to act as Green Deal providers – there is too much uncertainty surrounding the mechanism
e) There is a risk that Boroughs who don’t take on a meaningful role in the delivery of Green Deal will disengage from the Green Deal altogether, because they have less stake in its success

The Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) consultation finished a few weeks ago and  Government are now considering the 600+ responses. Further updates on the Green Deal are available here.

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