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Report shows surge in energy efficiency projects

A surge in the number of energy efficiency projects commissioned has been reported in the latest UK Energy Efficiency Trends report published by EEVS energy analysts and Bloomberg New Energy Finance today.

Over 80% of those responding to the survey confirmed they had authorised new programmes in Q3 of 2015. This is the highest proportion of new projects recorded in a single quarter since the survey began in 2012. It also shows a significant uptick in commissioning, exceeding the long term trend of 70%.

Consumer technologies

Of the technologies being used, lighting continues to outperform other energy saving technologies (Figure 11, below). The specification and use of lighting controls grew, with a noticeable increase during Q3. Boiler controls also experienced growth, perhaps due to seasonal influences, as did projects that included efficiency measures to a building’s fabric. There was a fall in the number of measures specified for heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems.

Click here to download this graph: EET Jan 2016 Figure 11

Consumer finance

Survey responses showed that the capital cost profile of energy efficiency projects remained volatile. Q3 saw a strong volume of smaller scale projects (up to £50k) and large projects (over £500k), but the core mid-range (£50 – 500k) was down, accounting for only one in five projects.

Financing arrangements remained stable, but a trend that has emerged throughout 2015 has been the use of combination funding (a mix of in-house and external finance).

Financial payback periods returned to the long term trend of between three and four years, driven by a growth in longer five to 10-year payback projects.

Supplier landscape

Energy efficiency suppliers reporting rising national orders dropped to an all-time low in Q3, whilst overseas orders picked up for 28% of respondents. Supplier demand however remained the biggest single sectoral concern at 31%. When combined, however, 35% of suppliers were concerned about government impacts on performance, with regulation (14%) and subsidy/policy uncertainty (21%).

Corroborating these findings, Jason Thackray, Head of Energy Services at Bellrock FM, said: “In the last six months there has been significantly more interest in energy reduction technologies across the supply chain. This is a really encouraging sign that organisations are focusing on energy and therefore carbon reduction. Bellrock works closely with the supply chain to ensure our clients get the best possible return on investment.”

David Lewis, marketing manager, energy efficiency, Schneider Electric said “It is clear from this report that uncertainty around subsidies and policies exists and this remains a key challenge for the energy efficiency industry. More than this, however, it supports the argument for greater education of existing personnel within organisations, and improved optimisation of existing energy assets, alongside capital investment in technologies and services. In order to successfully fuel continued growth in energy efficiency projects, suppliers must enable greater use of information across their products and services, ensuring that businesses are equipped to make better decisions of an investment or operational nature when it comes to energy consumption.”

Commenting on the findings, Ian Jeffries, Head of Performance Management at EEVS, said “This set of quarterly market results points to something of a ‘a tale of two sectors’.

“On the one hand we have bullish consumers reporting an upbeat set of results and, in particular, an 82% commissioning rate for new energy saving products and services.”

“On the other hand, this buoyancy has not trickled down to our supplier respondents that posted a largely downbeat set of results driven by flat domestic sales and continued concerns over future demand, alongside what is increasingly felt to be an unsupportive policy and regulatory landscape.”

“Taken together – and bearing in mind the wider macro-economic picture and major global uncertainties that will also influence respondents – it is clear that there is a raft of business uncertainties to deal with. Now could be a good time to be on the consumer side of the tracks.”

Of the consumer opportunity, Michael Rudd, co-head of the International Energy Management Team at Bird & Bird LLP, said “The private sector in the UK is pioneering the delivery of energy management solutions. Funders are creating multiple, increasingly sophisticated funding products – there is good, available money in the energy efficiency space. Together with progress in creating bankable project income streams, bespoke insurance products and commoditisation of contractual documents, we are creating a very accessible energy management industry.”

Compiled from the results of a confidential, quarterly industry survey, the UK Energy Efficiency Trends Report clearly evidences industry trends and has become one of the sector’s leading sources of market intelligence. The report covers both energy suppliers and consumers, providing differentiated results for each market sector.

The report is delivered by a research partnership between EEVS and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, and supported by Bird & Bird, Bellrock and Schneider Electric.

Download the full report here.

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Green Gas plant to inject £60 million into local economy

Britain’s leading green energy company, Ecotricity, has submitted a planning application for a Green Gas Mill at Sparsholt College – a partnership that will inject £60 million into the local economy.

As part of the unique partnership, Ecotricity will finance and build the Green Gas Mill, with an initial £10 million investment, and will also help fund the development of a renewable energy centre, where the college can train the workforce necessary to support the green gas revolution coming to Britain.

Ecotricity introduced the concept of making green gas from grass in Britain early last year[i], and if the company’s application to Winchester City Council is accepted, the Green Gas Mill will pump £3 million into the local economy every year for the twenty years of its operation.

Dale Vince, Ecotricity founder, said: “We have to stop burning fossil fuels, and green gas will play a big part in helping us to achieve that in Britain – it’s good for our economy, because we’ll no longer need to import those expensive fossil fuels; it’s good for the environment, because it’s carbon neutral and creates new wildlife habitats; and it’s good for farmers, because it allows them to diversify, rely less on farming livestock, and build a more sustainable future.

“The world signed up to the limiting temperature rise to well below 2 degrees C at the Paris Climate Conference last year – that included a long term goal of being carbon neutral after 2050 and eventually carbon negative, which means taking more carbon out of the atmosphere than we put in. They’re big ambitions – and green gas is essential to that vision.

“Sparsholt is one of the first Green Gas Mills we’re looking to build in Britain – one of the first in what will be a green gas revolution in this country. And what’s particularly special is that, together with Sparsholt, we’ll be helping to train the green gas engineers Britain will need.”

The Sparsholt College Green Gas Mill, fuelled by locally harvested grass, could produce enough clean gas to power the equivalent of 4,000 homes every year.

Tim Jackson, Sparsholt College principal, said: “We’ve carried out public consultation over the past four months with local councils, farmers and residents – and the feedback has been a mix of those who are very positive to those with concerns about the impact on local roads and the visual landscape.

“I am pleased to say that we were able to provide facts and explanations to address most of the concerns and look forward to responding to more of those as these arise.

“The Green Gas Mill is the next step on the journey towards Sparsholt College developing our status as a ‘Centre for the Demonstration of Environmental Technologies’, which is being supported by Ecotricity and through a grant from the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership.

“Creating our own green gas on site will massively cut our environmental impact and reduce our energy bills – which have made up an increasing portion of our budget over the past few years, money that could be better spent on educating our students.

“However, the fact we can share the financial and environmental benefits of this project with the local farming community is a massively positive outcome for the college.”

Up to eight specialist professional jobs will be created to run the Green Gas Mill, while the new supply contracts with farmers – providing the grass and rye feedstock required to supply the anaerobic digestion process – will also reinforce existing jobs.

Feedback from local residents has most frequently focused on concerns about extra traffic and the routes chosen to transport feedstock.

Tim continued: “We have addressed residents concerns in the planning application and can reassure people that the Green Gas Mill will only receive normal farm traffic such as tractors and trailers which are typical of the countryside.

“We will ensure deliveries don’t happen during peak traffic times, tractors stick to main roads wherever possible, do not go through Sparsholt village, and in fact even at the busiest times of year during harvest, feedstock movements would represent a very small proportion of existing college traffic and be well within the capacity of the highway network.

“The Green Gas Mill will be a key component in the College’s development of a Centre of Excellence that will produce specialist professionals to work for the green gas industry, training engineers, plant managers and technicians in what is a growth area across the agriculture, energy, waste, water and food processing sectors.”

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Rinnai space heater excels in energy efficiencies

The Rinnai range of Energysaver fanned convection powered flue gas fired space heaters offers the highest efficiencies on the market.

The range has been designed specifically for use in schools, community centres, libraries, conservatories and churches and other large enclosed spaces where they offer exceptionally high efficiencies in operation and contribute to drastically reduced running costs.

The Energysaver 1004T has an input of 11.6kW and outputs 10.23kW. Its measurements are 670mm x 930mm x 315mm and it has energy efficiencies of 96% under the guidance of Part L 2014. This puts it in the top rank of space heaters in its class.

It provides safe, controllable heat with maximum energy efficiency, combined with flexibility of location.

The heater is also suitable for central timer control. This feature allows the building manager to run any number of Rinnai space heaters off a central time clock providing heat to the large of spaces. The Energysaver Multi controller is not limited to single Energysavers as the flexibility of the system guarantees units can be mixed and matched to satisfy even the most unique of buildings.

The units are encased in a low surface temperature (LST) casing to avoid any risk of burns and offer easy on/off operation and intelligent features such as self-diagnostics and a self-learning pre-heat time to maximise heat up time and energy consumption. Warm air is delivered at floor level for greater comfort and coverage of even greater spaces.

Rinnai Energysaver units are very easy to install as there is no need for expensive (and extensive) ductwork, nor do they involve to running heating circuits for radiators or pipework to boilers. This cuts down drastically on cost and time at the point of installation.

The Rinnai Energysaver 1004T delivers energy-efficient and consistent warm air powered by Natural Gas and LPG options via fully modulating burners so heat and energy input is significantly reduced as the space warms up.

“Rinnai energy saver space heaters really do deliver a cost saving on installation, low operational costs and maintenance, lower life cycle costs, lower replacement costs, high energy efficiencies. They are infinitely suitable for refurbishment projects and, due to Rinnai’s confidence in the superiority of its engineering processes, they come with a 15-year warranty on the heat exchanger,” explains Chris Goggin, Associate Director of Rinnai UK.

The Rinnai Energysaver range comprises fanned convection-powered flue models that exceed seasonal thermal heating guidance under Building Regs Part L, while also heating the usable space within buildings, ensuring comfort, efficiency and compliance.

For more information on the RINNAI product range visit www.rinnaiuk.com.

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BREEAM’s significant contribution to carbon reduction detailed in new study

Study shows typical BREEAM Excellent building saves in excess of 30% CO2.

A new briefing paper gives an overview of sustainability standard BREEAM’s contribution to global carbon reduction in buildings. Published during global climate change conference COP21, the paper also gives details of how BREEAM has evolved since the standard was created 25 years ago and how it might develop in future so it continues to challenge the industry to go beyond standard practice.

The paper includes an analysis of assessment data (from 2011 onwards) shows that BREEAM assessed buildings achieve an average 22% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to buildings designed to regulatory minimum performance requirements. BREEAM Excellent buildings save more than 30% and Outstanding rated buildings in excess of 50%. To date over 530,000 building and homes have applied the standard in over 70 countries around the world.

‘On Monday over 150 world leaders gathered in Paris to discuss how to drive down carbon emissions and manage rising temperatures due to climate change. Given that buildings and homes together account for over 40% of the UK’s total carbon emissions, it’s more important than ever that standards like BREEAM are used to drive down emissions and reduce running costs over the life time of a building.’ said Director of BREEAM Gavin Dunn.

The paper says that one of the main aims of the BREEAM energy strategy moving forward is to strengthen the links between schemes covering different life cycle stages, with a particular focus on the relationship between the New Construction and In-Use schemes, and opportunities for addressing the ‘performance gap’.

This week BRE made a pledge to reduce further reduce CO2 emissions over the next 5 years by 900,000 tonnes, by certifying a further 9000 commercial buildings to the BREEAM standard. This pledge, together with other pledges from leading organisations in the built environment, forms part of the “Collective Commitment” created by the World Green Building Council as part of COP21.

Copies of the paper and details of BRE’s BREEAM pledge are available at www.breeam.com/cop21.

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Fabric First Principles – Delivering Optimum Performance

With rising energy costs and a growing requirement for more energy efficient homes and commercial buildings, Fabric First principles are now being widely adopted, particularly within the structural timber sectors.

For the last decade innovators in the construction sector have been developing solutions to address areas of thermal bridging which occur when there is a gap between materials and the structural surfaces. By improving the airtightness of the building fabric and the thermal performance of the structure – cold bridging can be eliminated and thermal performance enhanced – reducing heat loss, carbon emissions and ultimately, offering vast savings on energy consumption.

Numerous technologies looking to maximise offsite manufacturing, have embraced the Fabric First building principles, are now gaining traction with the end users – home owners and developers – particularly in the self-build, education, health care and social housing sectors, where sustainability and ‘whole life costs’ of the building are crucial to the specifying decision process.

The latest technologies will be on show at the Fabric First Event, being held on 18 November 2015 at the Inmarsat Conference Centre, 99 City Road, London, EC1Y 1AX. Tickets cost just £95+VAT and include entry to the conference and exhibition, plus lunch and refreshments throughout the day.

The event brings together distinguished and pioneering speakers from a broad spectrum of the industry drawing upon their considerable experience to deliver a comprehensive programme of policy and regulation presentations, technology and project case studies.

Speakers include:

  • Steve Hornblow – A2 Dominion
  • Douglas Drewniak – Bio Regional
  • Ian Loughnane – Kingspan Timber Solutions
  • Christopher Jofeh – Arup
  • Shaun Fitzgerald – Breathing Buildings
  • David Alderson – Climate Energy Homes
  • Paul Rogatzki – Hanson Group
  • Stewart Dalgarno – Stewart Milne
  • Gordon Evans – YOOP Architectural Practice
  • Ross Holleron – Zero Carbon Hub
  • Jon Bootland – Passivhaus Trust
  • Alasdair Donn – Willmott Dixon

To book your place, simply go to: www.fabricfirstevent.co.uk/book.

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Solar farm planning applications almost double with subsidy cuts looming

Planning applications for solar farms have soared since the Government announced it was consulting on plans to end subsidy schemes for solar farms that produce 5 megawatts (MW) of power or below.

The recent data, compiled by construction data experts Barbour ABI for Building magazine, shows that a record 83 applications for solar farms worth a total of £431m were put in for planning in July, 73 of which were for proposed 5MW or below solar farms.

The research goes on to show that almost two thirds of the solar projects put in for planning in July submitted their applications on or after the 22nd of the month, the day DECC launched a consultation on closing the renewables obligation (RO) for solar farms at 5MW or below in capacity.

To make a comparison, 45 applications were submitted for the entire month of June, where as 51 were submitted in just ten days between the 22nd and the 31st of July, immediately after the subsidy cut announcement.

Commenting on the figures, Michael Dall, lead economist at Barbour ABI, said “It was not surprising to see a flood of applicants trying to get projects in the planning pipeline immediately after the announcement of the Government’s solar subsidy clawbacks.”

“The Government’s stance on solar is that falling costs have made it easier for the industry to survive without subsidies, particularly with the drop in prices for wholesale electricity prices. “

“However the risk here is that diminishing subsidies could falter a growing industry, potentially putting it under major jeopardy. Up to 27,000 jobs are at risk over the coming years in solar alone, not mentioning other renewable technologies, if more subsidy cuts are on the way.”

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Lack of green policies damaging UK industry

Following a recent spate of government cuts to renewable incentives and technologies, buildingspecifier hear from an industry expert to understand the impact this has been having on the UK renewables sector as a whole.

It appears that the latter half of 2015 has already seen the death of many earnest eco-friendly practices – first it began with the scrapping of the green deal shortly after an election victory, with no apparent replacement scheme to follow. The Green Deal was far from perfect – but following the subsequent assaults on environmental, ecological and energy matters that followed, such as the U-turn on Zero Carbon Homes building standards, the ending of subsidies for onshore wind farms and a failed attempt to begin fracking in Lancashire despite widespread public opposition, people are beginning to question the seriousness of this government’s commitment to the environment that we all have to live in and the validity of a speech once made by David Cameron where he expressed that he wanted to be “the greenest government ever.”

Most recently, the Department for Energy and Climate Change revealed their intentions to cut subsidies for solar energy by almost 90% from January in a consultation paper that was published earlier this month. This follows George Osborne underlining his determination to get the government’s nuclear energy programme moving by providing a £2bn government guarantee for the delayed Hinkley Point power plant project. So how is this affecting the section of the UK construction industry who specialise in green technology and renewable energy?

Silvio Spiess, founder and CEO of Innasol, the UK’s leading biomass business, comments on the recent green cuts and the uncertainty surrounding the industry.

“Heating constitutes 78% of the average consumer’s energy consumption. It is therefore a no-brainer that heating should be the government’s principal focus over the next few years.”

“The consistent degression of biomass technologies under the government’s Renewable Heat Incentive scheme clearly demonstrates that there is significant appetite in the UK for renewable heating. The tariff for domestic biomass has dropped by 47% over the last nine months, the tariff for small commercial biomass (up to 200kW) has dropped by 53% over the last 15 months – entirely due to consumer popularity. UK home and business owners are calling for affordable, clean energy.”

“The current uncertainty which surrounds renewable heating and other green technologies is only damaging the industry: consumers are less willing to invest in renewable heating technologies and green businesses themselves are less prepared to invest in their staff and infrastructure. By cutting green subsidies, the government is jeopardising the UK’s progression towards cleaner, greener, more affordable energy.”

“Innasol calls on the government to recognise this demand, and to commit to investing in renewable heating past Q1 2016. By reallocating budget to further invest in subsidies (like the Renewable Heat Incentive) to promote renewable heating, the government will propel the UK towards carbon emissions reductions and closer to the EU 2020 targets. Now is the time to act.”

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New scheme launches to power office buildings… with coffee!

Coffee shops fuelling Londoners’ morning caffeine fix will also be helping to power office buildings and supermarkets, under a new capital-wide scheme.

The innovative coffee ground collection service is the brainchild of advanced biofuel company bio-bean, previous winners of the Mayor of London’s inaugural green technology Low Carbon Entrepreneur Award. They will turn the waste coffee grounds collected from London baristas into advanced biomass pellets, which will then be used to power energy networks with the capacity to heat up to 15,000 homes. The support and funding from the award has helped to turn founder and chief executive Arthur Kay’s green idea into a viable, now nation-wide business, employing over 20 people.

Mayor Boris Johnson called on more students to get involved in London’s thriving green economy and submit green business ideas as he launched the 2016 Low Carbon Entrepreneur Award with a top prize of £20,000. He was joined by Mr Kay at independent coffee shop Workshop Coffee in Clerkenwell, one of hundreds of coffee shops, office blocks and transport hubs in London now part of the daily coffee ground collection service run in collaboration with recycling company First Mile.

The competition has helped many university students launch green businesses including SolarBox, which turns disused telephone boxes into solar-powered mobile phone stations, and online clothes-swapping website Clotho London. The value of the green industry to the city is already as much as £30 billion a year and it employs 160,000 people, growing throughout the recession and now at a rate of six per cent a year.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said “Our green economy is booming and I want the next generation of Low Carbon Entrepreneurs to help make London the greenest, most sustainable innovative city on earth. The roaring success of previous winners like Bio-bean demonstrates the huge market for green technology ideas. They’ve done the hard grind and Londoners can now enjoy their daily coffee fix in the safe knowledge that as well as their own caffeine kick the energy levels of as many as 15,000 homes are being boosted!”

Bio-bean is the first company in the world to industrialise the process of recycling waste coffee grounds into advanced biofuels. Their factory has the capacity to process 50,000 tonnes of waste coffee grounds each year, the equivalent of one in every ten cups of coffee drunk in the UK, and at full capacity turn these into enough power to heat the equivalent of over 15,000 homes. Furthermore, as well as saving money for customers, each tonne recycled through bio-bean’s process saves up to 6.8 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Bio-bean has already secured a deal with Network Rail to collect waste coffee grounds from London’s seven largest train stations and has plans for even greater expansion.

Bio-bean chief executive Arthur Kay said “The first ever Low Carbon Entrepreneur Award gave me (and bio-bean) a great start. The London collection service marks a milestone in our UK development, as we collect waste coffee grounds at every scale, saving money on waste disposal fees and creating sustainability advantages for each of our clients.”

This year’s awards will be sponsored by Citi, the global banking group, and will offer £20,000 and paid internships at Citi in the UK, where the bank employs almost 10,000 people. 10 finalists will pitch to a panel of well-known judges in ‘Dragon’s Den’ style and the winners will receive funding to put towards their business idea. The competition is an important part of the Mayor’s vision to make London the European capital for green technology and to also nourish young entrepreneurship. Awards are open from today until February 2016. Entries can be made in a number of different categories, including transport, energy efficiency, product design and food waste.

Michael Lavelle, head of Corporate and Investment Banking, UK at Citi, said “We’re thrilled to be the new sponsor of this important initiative in London. At Citi, we are committed to developing innovative ways of financing projects that lead to sustainable growth. We recently announced that Citi will lend, invest and facilitate a total of $100 billion within the next 10 years to finance activities that reduce the impacts of climate change and create environmental solutions that benefit people and communities.”

The Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation is currently exploring how it could deliver the Mayor’s aspiration for a clean tech cluster to be developed on site, which could allow businesses in the sector to work together in close proximity similar to the ‘silicon roundabout’ for tech companies in east London. This could support businesses to maximise the benefits generated by the new High Speed 2 (HS2), Crossrail and Great West Main Line interchange, which will be situated in the area.

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