Energy-materials linkage

This looks like an interesting new book, published out of the engineering faculty at Cambridge University: Sustainable Materials - With Both Eyes Open. It is accompanied by a website at www. withbotheyesopen.com. The central premise is the need to rethink how we use materials in order to cut our carbon emissions. As well as switching to renewable energies, the authors set out three key principles concerning how we design the use of materials:

1) make lighter products with less materials in them

2) keep products for longer making more use of the embodied carbon within them

3) use them more intensively.

In addition they suggest the reduction of wastage in production processes and better reuse of components in old products.

So taking the case of steel-frame commercial buildings, they propose lighter-weight designs with less scrap during production, greater reuse of steel, buildings planned for a longer life and more people per sq.m. within the buildings.

In bits, we know all these things but it is interesting to see it all put together.

Yvonne Rydin

CLUES project presented in Sweden

The CLUES project was presented this week at the Swedish Energy Outlook Congress held at the Swedish Exhibition Centre in Gothenburg. This is the major annual event for the energy sector in Sweden to come together and discuss policy, see new technology and generally just network. Extending over three days, the Congress saw a major exhibition from the many companies, universities and consultancies working on energy in Sweden. The CLUES project had been invited by Tengbom to present an analysis of centralisation/decentralisation in a very different context to Sweden. The influence of local authorities and the heavy use of all kinds of renewables sets a very different framework for pursuing a more sustainable energy path. However it was interesting to see some familiar concerns from the UK being aired: the limitations of regulations, the need to engage with local stakeholders and the problem of low housebuilding rates putting the emphasis on retrofitting.

Community Energy event

UEA and Sussex Universities hosted a lively debate on community energy at UEA London yesterday. Speakers included Chris Church of the Low Carbon Communities Network, Rebecca Willis who has recently co-authored a guide to 'Cooperative Renewable Energy in the UK', Rufus Ford of Scottish and Southern Energy, Patrick Allcorn from DECC and Damian Tow, founder member and Director of Brighton Energy Co-operative. Among the many issues raised were:
- the importance of a sound business case for community energy
- the need to invest in skills and capacity building as well as technology
- the potential dangers in the grant system of a) over-reliance on subsidies and b) inherent bias as past winners of grants succeed time and again, and
- the need to recognise equity issues in making any grants.
The aim has to be to create a self-sustaining community energy sector, which is currently proving difficult. The complexity of the policy landscape does not help and some suggested that the community sector was treated rather patronisingly, rather than recognising the way that - collectively - it is a major player in the energy field. In the managed market for energy, a separate Community Feed in Tariff would be a good way forward, establishing the basis for community enterprises to scale up and function as businesses. Normalisation of community energy should be the ambition which many argued was within reach.

Energy and People Conference in Oxford

The Environmental Change Unit at Oxford and UKERC Meeting Place organised an excellent conference 20-21 September. It kicked of with an illuminating and very funny opening lecture by Elizabeth Shove on different ways of conceptualising energy and people: attitudes/behaviour/choice (ABC) or systems of provision and infrastructure or social practices - no prizes for guessing she favoured the latter although her main message was to be aware of your theoretisation and argue for it. Amongst the multiple workshops, I chose the communities and energy one for the first day. We heard about a new complexity based project from Leeds, the work of the HCA and (an impromptu but excellent mini-talk) the PACE scheme from USA which is the model for the UK Green Deal (but coming out of the private not the public sector). There was a reality check about energy crises in Ghana and environmental justice and energy in the UK, details of the UNLOC project from Surry and some interesting ideas on reflexive governance from Denmark. But the community theme did not seem to be where the core interests of this conference lay. Despite Elizabeth Shove's opening cautionary words about the ABC approach, the behavioural theme raised the most interest in the workshops I attended. The one on energy behaviour in non-domestic buildings and in urban development was very lively with talks on the role of investors, tenants, lawyers and letting agents in shaping this behaviour (ECI), identification of different pathways in zero-carbon housebuilding (Manchester) and the impact of Green Building Councils worldwide (Maastricht). The Green Gauge Trust provided warnings about the lack of capacity in the refurb market and ECI identified that this market was worth £28 b.p.a. of which about 45% could be oriented towards low carbon retrofit, an interesting figure to ponder.

From the Planning Research Conference

Energy was not a big theme at the Planning Research Conference recently held at University of Birmingham, but there were a couple of papers of interest. The EPSRC CALEBRE project was highlighted. This looks at retroffiting 'hard to treat' housing stock and one conclusion was strongly emphasised: the lack of skills in the UK SME sector. Loss of insulation at service entry points was often exacerbated by retrofitting and poor installation of energy saving equipment sometimes led to higher energy consumption. Their research showed that consumers are worried about poor workmanship and on this basis they are right! One way forward is for local authorities or NGOs to work on a neighbourhood or street basis and monitor work standards as part of their procurement role.
Another interesting paper came from Germany and looked at cooperatives. Apparently two new energy cooperatives were opening every month in Germany last year. These organisations have climate protection written into their founding charters and can be used for a variety of urban development projects. One advantage is that such cooperatives can access finance, both public and private. An example can be found at www.moeckernkiez.de.

Carbon Capture and Storage event at UCL

You might be interested in the following:

IEEP in collaboration with the Energy Research Centre in the
Netherlands, Cambridge University, the Tyndall Centre, the Fraunhofer
Institute, and CIEMAT are organizing a workshop investigating the public
perception of carbon capture and storage. The conference will be held at the University College of London on June 23rd . For more information, please see:
www.communicationnearco2.eu
or contact Richard Foulsham on:
t. +44 (0)207 679 1511
e. r.foulsham@ucl.ac.uk

Yvonne Rydin