ROOF Blog

Meanwhile, Scotland would be 100 per cent renewable in the 20 years, according to a report The power of Scotland renewed. Renewable energy could meet between 60 and 143 per cent of Scotland’s annual electricity demand by 2030 by investing in grid upgrades, interconnections and electricity storage, the report says.

The Confederation of Business Industry has said that delays in the planning system are discouraging major investment in renewable energy. It said little progress has been made in quickening up the planning process and that business was being prevented from investing in the new low-carbon technology. It wants the government to publish national policy statements to boost investor confidence.

Two London regeneration projects – Albert Basin and Elephant & Castle – have been named as two of the 16 founding projects of the international climate positive development programme, launched by Bill Clinton at an environmental summit in South Korea today. The project aims to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by having developers and local government work in partnership to come up with innovations for clean energy and waste management.

Meanwhile the House of Commons has backed a second reading of the Green Energy Bill, which will allow people to provide their own sustainable heat and power. The Bill requires the government to produce further strategy on the growth of the microregeneration sector and to get rid of red tape surrounding planning permissions for things like heat pumps and wind turbines.

Up to seven million homes in the UK will be offered a complete eco-makeover in a scheme to cut a third of greenhouse gas emissions from households by 2020 and slash fuel bills. Householders would also be encouraged to install small-scale renewable and low-carbon hearing systems such as solar panels and wood-burning boilers. Critics say that the targets will only be met if the insulation was good enough, the financial incentives big enough, and if people on low incomes had the work paid for to tackle fuel poverty. An announcement is expected in the next couple of days.

Housing minister Margaret Beckett today established the government consultation process for making all new homes zero carbon from 2016, adding the government was ‘absolutely committed’ to the 2016 target. The proposals include setting a minimum level of carbon reduction that developers must achieve through, for example improved insulation or providing onsite renewable energy; requiring a greatly increased level of energy efficiency in new homes; allowing developers to tackle carbon emissions by choosing from a list of ‘allowable solutions’ such as providing energy efficient appliances; and setting a limit on the amount expected to be spent on these allowable solutions. Consultation runs until March next year.

Tens of thousands of tenants could benefit from an EU decision to fund a massive programme of green measures to improve social housing. The proposals will provide 1 billion euros to fund energy efficient building initiatives and renewable energy measures including insulating walls, roofing and windows, using solar panels and replacing old boilers with more efficient ones. The proposals will be targeted towards low-income households.

The Committee on Climate Change has called for a cut of more than a third in greenhouse gases compared with 1990 levels by 2020. The committee said there was a very strong case to adopt a tougher target of an 80 per cent cut against 1990 levels rather than a 60 per cent cut recommended in the 2003 Energy White Paper because evidence showed more radical action was needed. Nuclear, low carbon and renewable energy technologies should all be expanded the committee’s report said, and Lord Adair, chair of the committee added: ‘The reductions required can be achieved at a very low cost to out economy; the cost of not achieving the reductions will be far greater’.

But the tough new targets tackling climate change will cost British households up to £500 a year more in utility bills, or a rise of 25 per cent for the average family, pushing as many as 1.7 million people into fuel poverty. The report also priced the move to a ‘low carbon economy’ at 1 per cent of national GDP, or the equivalent of £500 a year per household by 2020. Sceptics have dismissed the targets as ‘wishful thinking’, as the UK has only managed to reduce carbon emissions by just 3.6 per cent since 1990, and there is doubt over other countries following the British lead.

The Environment Agency has announced plans to generate enough renewable energy on its own land to power a city the size of York. Up to 80 turbines could be built on the agency’s property generating enough energy to save 200,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and making up to £2.4 million in revenue each year. The news comes as chairman of the agency called on the government to follow Barack Obama’s example and launch a ‘green new deal’ for the UK economy to produce a long-term strategy for investing in renewable energy, environmental technology, energy efficiency and carbon capture and storage, including coal-fired power stations, and more use of wind, solar and tidal energy. Such a strategy will create jobs in renewable energy and green technology as we face a recession, where there will be ‘pressure to weaken environmental targets’.