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Water bills in England and Wales to rise 5.7% in April
January 31st, 2012Average water and sewerage bills in England and Wales will rise by 5.7% from April to about £376 per household.
The average figure disguises variations between water and sewerage firms, with customers at Southern seeing an 8.2% rise and those at Dwr Cymru 3.8%.
In 2009 the industry regulator, Ofwat, announced a five-year plan of annual rises from 2010 to 2015 to help fund £22bn of investments.
Ofwat said it understood that any rises in tough times were unwelcome.
The regulator said that the average rise was made up of November’s retail prices index of 5.2%, plus 0.5%.
To cope with the cost of these projects, Ofwat has allowed some firms to increase prices by more than 5.7%.
“Inflation feeds through into water bills, and this is driving these rises,” said Ms Finn in a statement on Tuesday.
“We understand that any bill rise is unwelcome, particularly in tough economic times. We will make sure customers get value for money,” she said.
She said that by 2015, companies will have spent on average £935 for every property in England and Wales on services improvements, including on cleaning up rivers and beaches.
“If companies don’t deliver on their investment promises, we will take action,” she said.
Consumer groups have reacted with caution to the news.
“If companies benefit financially from this then they need to share that with customers and not just with shareholders,” said Tony Smith, chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water.
“We’ll be making sure that customers get some benefits from this and also that companies step up their help for customers with affordability problems.”
Low carbon Leeds City Region would ’save money and create jobs’
January 11th, 2012
Hopes of turning the Leeds city region into a ‘low carbon area’ have been given useful underpinning by an academic study which shows how cutting energy bills could be both profitable and create jobs.
The two-year project by four universities offers three levels of investment in largely conventional energy-saving measures – everything from park-and-ride schemes to solar panels – which would pay for themselves over terms ranging from four to seven-and-a-half years.
The most modest would cut £1.2 billion from the annual £5.4 billion energy bill for the region, which has a population of 3,000,000 and includes Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds, Selby, Wakefield and York. The most ambitious would cut £1.71 billion but need £13.03 billion investment rather than the £4.9 billion needed for the smallest scheme.
Raising such sums in current circumstances is recognised as the principal challenge by the academics, led by Prof Andy Gouldson of the University of Leeds which collaborates in the Centre for Low Carbon Futures with the universities of York (co-authors of the report), Hull and Sheffield. The report acknowledges:
Transition depends on political and social capital as well as financial capital.The levels of ambition, investment and activity needed to exploit the available potential are very significant indeed. Enormous levels of investment are required, along with major new initiatives with widespread and sustained influence in the domestic, commercial and industrial sectors.
And, of course, we need to think about some major innovations, particularly in stimulating the supply of and the demand for major investment resources. We need to think about innovative financing mechanisms, based on new forms of cost recovery and benefit sharing and new ways of managing risk. And we need to develop new delivery mechanisms that can stimulate and sustain demand for investment in low carbon options by overcoming the many potential barriers to change.
The study makes a start on achieving this aim by using realistically pessimistic data in its economic modelling to show how low carbon status would save money. Paying the current energy bill, for instance, sends ten percent of all locally-generated income out of the region, a sum forecast to grow in the next decade.
Prof Gouldson says:
The business case for major scale investments in energy and carbon management is very strong. If local government can underwrite early stage investments, as is happening in some places, then major flows of private sector investment can be secured. Investments can come from institutional investors such as pension funds, or in the near future through the Green Deal, the Green Investment Bank or Energy Company Obligations. The direct economic reasons for securing investments from sources like these are strong enough – but the wider economic, social and environmental benefits make the business case even more compelling.
Interestingly, the major property development proposed for one of Leeds city centre’s last ‘holes’, the area north of the Lower Headrow around the old Lady Lane Methodist chapel, includes a low-carbon energy centre to power £600 million worth of offices, restaurants and shops.
The chief executive of Leeds city council, Tom Riordan, welcomes the data as realistic ammunition against inevitable sceptics in hard times. He tells the Yorkshire Post:
There’s been a feeling in some quarters that in difficult times we’ve got to forget about ‘nice to do’ things like tackling climate change. But the headlines that come out of this study – basically that we could reduce our carbon emissions by a third through purely profitable activities, and at the same time create 1,000 jobs per year – are very impressive.
What this report demonstrates very clearly is that rather than being a ‘nice to do’, this is a ‘must do’ for an economy which wants to become more competitive and at the same time help its poorest people into jobs and to cope with very difficult and stretching financial conditions.
Another advantage is that low carbon status has the support of the Government, which included Leeds city region a year ago in a list of nine pilot areas. The others chosen in the aftermath of the Stern Review on climate change are Bristol, Bournemouth Poole and Dorset, Haringey, Manchester, Northumberland, Nottingham, Oxford and Plymouth.
Oil imports fall as consumers turn down the heat
January 10th, 2012
The demand for home heating oil has fallen sharply as cost-conscious consumers take advantage of milder weather to turn down the heating.
The move is reducing the pressure on stretched household budgets.
The Northern Ireland Oil Federation has reported that imports of kerosene have fallen by more than 15%.
A mixture of high energy prices and reduced consumer spend has resulted in the fall-off in orders for home heating oil, the federation said.
“It is a difficult time for both consumers and local distributors, high prices are not good for anybody,” said David Blevings of the Oil Federation.
Faced with difficult economic conditions and high energy costs, many households are trying to make savings.
Reducing room temperature by just 1°C can cut a typical heating bill by up to 10%, the Energy Saving Trust said.
The oil market outlook is far from encouraging for consumers.
Iran has warned the United States and European Union that imposing sanctions on its oil industry would destabilise markets.
World prices have already surged by 4% since the start of the year, reaching an eight-month high earlier this week.
Northern Ireland consumers are now facing higher prices with the typical cost of a 900-litre fill jumping by over 2.5% to £561.
Wind power is expensive and ineffective at cutting CO2 say Civitas
January 9th, 2012Large Scale Wind power could actually produce more CO2 than gas and increase domestic fuel bills because of the need for “back up” power stations, a think tank has warned.
A study in the Netherlands found that turning back-up gas power stations on and off to cover spells when there is little wind actually produces more carbon than a steady supply of energy from an efficient modern gas station.
The research is cited in a new report by the Civitas think tank which warns that Britain is in danger of producing more carbon dioxide (CO2) than necessary if the grid relies too much on wind.
Wind turbines only produce energy around 30 per cent of the time. When the wind is not blowing – or even blowing too fast as in the recent storms – other sources of electricity have to be used, mostly gas and coal.
However it takes a surge of electricity to power up the fossil fuel stations every time they are needed, meaning more carbon emissions are released.
“You keep having to switch these gas fired power stations on and off, whereas if you just have highly efficient modern gas turbines and let it run all the time, it will use less gas,” said Ruth Lea, an economic adviser to Arbuthnot Banking Group and the author of the Civitas report.
UK Boiler grant provides vouchers for biomass and heat pumps
January 4th, 2012Thousands of households will be able to apply for vouchers giving them £400 off the price of a new boiler under a “scrappage” scheme to cut carbon and help people save money on bills.Up to 125,000 households with working boilers with the lowest “G” rating in England can apply for vouchers from the Energy Saving Trust towards “A” rated boilers or renewable heating systems such as a biomass boiler or heat pump.
The Government said the £50 million scheme will save as much carbon as taking 45,000 cars off the roads and will also cut a household’s energy bill by up to £235 a year.
The average cost of a boiler and its installation is around £2,500, according to the heating industry.
Some energy companies are planning to complement and even match the Government offer with money-off initiatives for upgrading to more efficient boilers – so that more householders can take advantage of the scheme.
The Government said the programme would also help sustain work for the 130,000 installers and 25 boiler manufacturers in the UK during the recession.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is launching the scheme with Energy Secretary Ed Miliband on Tuesday, said: “Today’s announcement will slash household energy bills and carbon emissions while providing an important boost for the British heating industry.
“The Government’s new scrappage scheme will help to secure 250,000 jobs across the tens of thousands of small and medium businesses involved in boiler manufacture, sales and installation that form a vital component of Britain’s low carbon economy.”
Mr Miliband said: “The boiler scrappage scheme will save around £200 off heating bills per year for families that are replacing their old boilers, and in total will save the same amount of carbon equivalent to taking around 45,000 cars off the road.
“The scheme will add to the existing package of Government measures to help householders be smarter about the energy they use, leading to permanently reduced fuel bills and cutting emissions.”
Cornwall issues tender for Solar Power Plants
January 4th, 2012Forget the Sahara. Is Cornwall the new solar power capital? A solar goldrush may be just about to emerge as the Cornwall Council has issued a Public Tender Notice for a series of solar power plant plans. The Council says it has posted this notice to advertise its intention to establish a framework agreement for contractors to be appointed for the design, build, operation and maintenance of solar energy generation projects located within the UK regions of Cornwall, Plymouth and Devon.
The general scope of works will involve the design and construction of the entire solar energy generation system, including the associated works to ensure it is connected to the electricity grid and/or any consumer connections. The works will also include the operation and maintenance of the solar energy generation projects to ensure they are kept in working order and maintain their expected energy generation outputs.
The type and range of projects intended to be procured under this framework agreement will range from large-scale solar parks to smaller scale commercial and or domestic installations. The projects called-off under this framework will vary in terms of their electricity generation outputs from an estimated 0.01MW to 5MW.
The first project, named the Kernow Solar Park, to be procured under the Framework will be a ground-based photovoltaic installation, located within close proximity to Newquay Airport in Cornwall, capable of achieving a maximum 5MW output.
Full details of the solar energy generation projects framework agreement will be disseminated to the shortlisted tenderers as part of the Invitation to Tender stage.
In mid-November, Cornwall Council leader Alec Robertson wrote to Energy Minister, Greg Barker to reaffirm the area’s commitment to renewable energy generation. The letter describes the potential problems which could be caused by cutting the feed-in tariffs and also outlines the council’s argument for large-scale solar.
“As part of our ambitious and innovative approach to renewable energy we have developed separate and specific teams responsible for our regulatory function and the facilitation of Cornwall’s green ambitions,” said Robertson.
“It is the council’s belief that the development of ground-based solar PV will provide substantial opportunities to drive the market price down for PV in the UK.”
LEDs offer a brighter future, says report
December 20th, 2011A field trial of LED light fittings in social housing says the new technology can deliver huge energy savings, reduce costs and makes residents feel safer.
The study, carried out by the Energy Saving Trust (EST), measured the performance of more than 4,250 LED light fittings installed at 35 sites.
The EST said it carried out the trial because an increasing number of LED lights were now commercially available.
It is predicted the technology could dominate the lighting market by 2015.
“We like to test things in-situ in order to understand their real performance rather than rely on manufacturers’ claims,” explained James Russill, EST’s technical development manager.
But, he added: “We are at one of those rare times when there is a revolution, I think it is fair to say, within the lighting sector.
“LEDs promise to be the way forward for the whole sector, to be honest. There are so many benefits: they can be smaller, brighter; it is one of those rare technologies where the trial has shown it performs better than the lighting systems it is replacing but, at the same time, using less energy.”
LED appreciation
At the 35 sites in the field trial, the authors of the Lit Up report calculated that the LED fittings saved more than three million kilowatt hours (kWh) each year when compared with the previous lighting.
Continue reading the main story
What is LED lighting?
Communal area with standard lighting (left) and LED fittings (right) (Image: Energy Saving Trust)
Light-emitting diodes have been around for years.
Traditionally, they have been used as indicators on electrical devices, such as standby lights on TVs. This was because LEDs were only available in red, but recent advances means that other colours are now available, and the light emitted is much brighter.
White light (used for general lighting) using LEDs can be created via a number of techniques. One example is mixing red, green and blue LEDs.
It is suggested that LEDs can last for up to 100,000 hours, compared with the 1,000 hours of traditional incandescent light-bulbs and compact fluorescent lamps’ (CFLs) 15,000 hours.
The technology is also much more energy efficient, using up to 90% less energy than incandescent bulbs.
The long lifespans and low energy use make LEDs economically attractive because even though the fittings cost more, the running and maintenance bills are lower.
“The trial has shown that the installation of LED light fittings can be used to maintain or enhance light levels, and in both cases can generate energy savings,” the report’s authors wrote.
They added: “The increase in colour temperature typically produced by LEDs also improved the environments monitored in the field trial, a factor much appreciated by the social housing tenants.
“With the rising price of electricity, the high efficiencies of LED lighting technology will make it an even more attractive investment in the years ahead.”
Mr Russill said that he thought that there would be a natural take-up for the new lighting systems.
“I am already aware of many people that have bought LEDs without any subsidy or incentive,” He told BBC News.
“As with any new technology, there is a higher initial cost – these products are new to market – but people seem to be looking beyond that and seeing they last much longer.
“LEDs will take over the market in due course because I think they are such better products, but I do think introducing them into a subsidy scheme would be a real benefit to speed things up,” he added.
As well as the technical benefits, Mr Russill said feedback from tenants involved in the trial highlighted social benefits too.
“Some of the comments we had was that the light was fresher, brighter and more like daylight,” he said.
“Generally, the feedback was that the lighting make it a nicer place to live.”
The brighter light levels also had a positive impact on people’s sense of security, he observed.
“We also did fit some lighting in external area, such as balcony areas and car parks.
“People also did comment and did make the areas outside feel like a safer environment because it was better lit.
“That also applied to stairwells as well which could be perceived to be an area where shadowy figures like to hang out.”
2010-2011 CRC League Table
December 8th, 2011Manchester United Tops CRC Performance League Table while Virgin Atlantic is amongst worst performers.
The Environment Agency has published its first Carbon Reduction Commitment Performance League Table (CRC League Table) ranking 2,000 registered organisations on how they manage their business electricity usage and carbon emissions. According to EA’s data more than 60% of the registered companies have installed smart meters or gained good energy management and Carbon Trust accreditation.
2010-2011 CRC League Table
Out of the 2,000 organisations 22 ranked joint first with a weighted score of 202.95 while 800 organisations ranked in the lowest possible position of the CRC League Table with a weighted score of 402.
At the top highlights to Red Football Limited, popularly known as Manchester United, energy regulator OFGEM, UBS, British American Tabacco and the Department of Energy & Climate Change.
On the opposite side of the table there are well known organisations that failed to improve their business energy efficiency or cut down on their carbon emissions. They include Centrica, Virgin Atlantic, Peugeot, the Zoological Society and London and Zurich Financial Services.
The Environment Agency did not disclose information on those organisations that failed to comply with the legislation and will now face fines starting from £45,000.
How the PLT is compiled
The Performance League Table (PLT) ranks the relative performance of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme participant against the three weighted metrics: Early Action Metric, Absolute Metric and Growth Metric. Participants with the same weighted score are sorted alphabetically.
Weighted Score – The sum of the score for each metric multiplied by the weighting for that metric. The weighting applied to each metric is dependent on the compliance year to which the Performance League Table relates. The higher the score the better the ranking in the PLT.
Emissions (Tonnes of CO2) – Your “CRC Emissions”. These are the CO2 emissions associated with the CRC supplies of a participant for an annual reporting year.
Early Action Metric (%) – The average percentage of i) the proportion of non-mandatory CRC electricity or gas supplies which are measured through voluntarily installed “automatic meter reading” meters or dynamic supply in year 1 and ii) CRC emission coverage by the Carbon Trust Standard or equivalent.
Absolute Emissions Metric (%) – The percentage change in the CRC Emissions of a participant (not applicable for the first reporting year).
Growth Metric (%) – The percentage change in CRC Emissions per unit turnover or revenue expenditure for an annual reporting year (not applicable for the first reporting year).
Those interested in the CRC League Table can download the PLT here.
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Industrial pollution ‘costs UK billions each year’
November 24th, 2011Air pollution from industry costs Britain €4-11bn a year in health and environmental damage according to the European environment agency. When CO2 costs are included, the figure rises to between €11-18bn – more than what the government spends each year on the arts, environment, transport and security and intelligence combined.
Air pollution from industry in the EU costs the UK up to €18bn a year, says the European environment agency. Photograph: John Giles/PA
In a first attempt to link financial costs to emissions from large power stations, refineries, waste plants and factories, the Copenhagen-based agency calculates that air pollution cost Europe €100-169bn in 2009. It has used government figures and has arrived at the costs by factoring in population densities, health costs, building damage and crop losses from pollutants such as low-level ozione. By far the biggest single pollutant is CO2, one of the main climate change gases. Costs have been calculated by using the British government’s “marginal abatement costs” – an estimate of what it expects it will cost to cut CO2 emissions in 2020.
Emissions from power plants made up the largest share of the damage costs at €66–112bn. Production processes cost €23–28bn and manufacturing combustion €8–21bn. Sectors excluded from the EEA analysis include transport, households and most farming activities. If these were included the cost of pollution would almost certainly be more than doubled. Half of the total damage cost (between €51bn and €85bn) was caused by just 191 facilities.
Britain emerges as Europe’s third greatest industrial polluter, behind Germany and Poland, which depends almost entirely on coal for power. Britain’s largest, and most costly polluter is Drax power station which, says the EEA, emits 20.5m tonnes of CO2 a year and costs the economy over 1 billion Euros a year. Drax emerges as Europe’s fifth most polluting plant.
Britain has 16 of Europe’s top 100 polluting plants, second only to Germany with 17. Longannet, Cottam, Ratcliffe on Soar and West Burton power stations together emit more than over 30m tonnes of CO2 and other pollutants and cost the economy up to €2.7bn a year.
While there are stringent laws on air pollution, European governments have found it difficult to cut emissions in areas such as transport, and are mostly in breach of EU laws.
The report is published following a plan announced in March by EU environment commissioner Janez Potočnik to make 2013 the “year of air”. Potočnik says he wants stronger air quality laws across the European Union but many member states are already failing to enforce current rules. The European commission has begun a comprehensive review of existing laws that could lead within a year to changes in the 2008 air quality directive.
“It’s very clear we’ve been able to reduce emissions but that those emissions have not translated into ambient air quality,” said Jacqueline McGlade, who heads the Copenhagen-based EEA.
The EEA’s 2011 report on air quality, released this month, shows broad historical improvements, levels of nitrogen oxide (NO2), ozone and particulate matter have risen, fuelling concerns about overall air quality especially in urban “hot spots”.
Poor air quality has been shown in some studies to lead to nearly 500,000 deaths a year in the EU, while the EEA’s upper estimates show that anti-pollution measures could cut prematuyre deaths to 230,000 in 2020.
Germany, with its large industrial facilities and large power plants, is the biggest polluter Europe-wide – resulting in a cost of €21.5bn – €33.8bn of the overall €100-€169bn bill. Five of the top 10 emitters are German.
The two biggest polluters, which are in Poland and Bulgaria, are followed by the largest German brown coal power plant, a 3,000 megawatt power plant in Jaenschwalde, in the federal state of Brandenburg, which is owned by Vattenfall Europe. It was taken into operation in the 1980s, and modernised in the 1990s, but has been a target of environmentalists for years. This month activists from Greenpeace and Oxfam protested in front of the plant, claiming that brown coal is a “climate killer” and its mining should be stopped.
Vattenfall plans to open five new mines and to build a carbon capture and storage demonstration plant in Jaenschwalde. The other four big Geman polluters are power plants owned by the German energy company RWE.
‘Green deal’ to bring energy efficiency to 14m homes
November 23rd, 2011The greatest refurbishment of Britain’s homes since world war two will be revealed on Wednesday by Chris Huhne. The “green deal” aims to retrofit 14m homes to increase their energy efficiency by the early 2020s, according to ministers.
The programme is at the heart of the coalition government’s plan to meet the UK’s legally binding carbon emission cuts, and focuses on an area seen by many as the cheapest and easiest way to tackle climate change. Of the UK’s carbon emissions, 29% come from homes. Improving the warmth of people’s homes will also help tackle rising fuel poverty – there are over 25,000 excess winter deaths a year – and the politically toxic issue of soaring home energy bills, driven upwards by rising wholesale gas prices. Fuel poverty campaigners protested on Monday outside EDF Energy’s headquarters in London.
The green deal will offer homeowners a loan for insulation and other measures that will meet the so-called golden rule: that the energy savings delivered by the measures will be bigger than the loan repayments.
But there has been widespread concern from businesses, consumer groups, environmental campaigners and opposition politicians that the policy, due to be revealed in a consultation by Chris Huhne today, will be unable to meet ministers’ high ambitions.
Getting homeowners to install energy saving measures is notoriously hard, even when provided for free. A cashback incentive of £150 has been discussed but some fear this will be insufficient. The rate of interest charged on the loan is also key: the higher the rate, the less can be done while still meeting the golden rule. A green deal finance company has been proposed to group together loans, and therefore reduce interest rate, but it lacks start-up finance. Ministers had initially talked about household names such as B&Q and Tesco being involved as providers, but as yet none have pledged to take part.
The UK’s ageing homes are far less energy efficient than European counterparts, with, for example, energy bills for Norwegian homes being lower than those in the UK. In Britain, 10m (43%) of all lofts remain unlagged or very poorly lagged, and 8m houses with cavity walls (42%) have yet to be insulated.