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Telecoms giant slashes its carbon footprint
Vodafone UK has reduced its carbon footprint, saving 100GWh of energy, equivalent to 25,000 tonnes of CO2, in three years. The energy saved could power a town with a population of 65,000 people for a year and represents a financial saving of around £10m.
The energy savings were achieved by optimising heating and cooling systems in offices and managing air flow to keep technical sites cool in the most energy efficient way. Thirdparty energy auditor Energy Efficiency Verification Specialists (EEVS) validated savings.
Vodafone has pledged to power its network using 100 per cent renewable electricity by July 2021 and to help its customers save 350m tonnes of CO2 by 2030 through its connectivity and Internet of Things (IoT) technology.
Working with facilities management company Mitie, and as part of its energy performance contract, Vodafone has so far audited 90 of its buildings, including offices, contact centres, data centres and Mobile Telephone Exchange (MTX) network sites, to assess energy usage and ensure efficiencies.
The audits checked that a building’s lighting, heating and air conditioning systems were operating at the highest energy efficiency rating. At more complex locations, such as data centres and MTX sites, where 24/7 power is essential to keep the network running, sensors providing real-time data were used to identify energy saving opportunities.
For example, temperature sensors in data centres enabled the airflow to be automatically adjusted up or down remotely, ensuring the correct environment for this critical equipment in the most energy efficient way. One of the UK’s largest insulation manufacturers, Rockwool, is facing a legitimacy issue in expounding the environmental benefits of using its products to save energy in buildings, particularly when the manufacture of them is a major source of carbon emissions.
Buildings account for over 40 per cent of the UK’s total energy bill and
INDUSTRIAL SECTOR LEADS THE WAY
UK energy consumption falls again
Energy consumption fell again last year, by 1 per cent overall - and in every sector of the economy. It is now just 142m tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe) - almost 3 per cent lower than fifty years ago. Gross domestic product has grown by three times over the same period, according to the Government’s latest “Energy Consumption in the UK.”
Last year, the industrial sector recorded the largest decrease in consumption, dropping from 22.9mtoe in 2018 to 22.3mtoe in 2019, a fall of 2.8 per cent in a single year. Almost all of this reduction was due to improvements in energy efficiency in industry.
Overall consumption decreased in all industry sub-sectors, except iron and steel where there was a 3.3 per cent increase. The largest decrease in percentage terms was in vehicle manufacturing which fell by 5.0 per cent, followed by mechanical engineering, down by 4.5 per cent. bond offers a yield of 1.7 per cent. innovative energy saving companies. insulation could slash their total energy demand by 50 per cent by 2050 according to the Mineral Wool Manufacturers Association (MIMA).
“Rockwool has so far not been showing climate leadership. Talking about avoided emissions is not enough, and does not excuse it from cutting its own emissions,” says
Practically all subsectors saw a decrease in overall consumption, with the largest falls in chemicals (down by 70ktoe) and mineral products (down by 64ktoe). Consumption in bioenergy and waste did increase slightly (by 25ktoe), though it fell in the food and drinks sector; this was partially due to the volatility associated with a small number of sites, and also ongoing improvements by government statisticians in estimating final consumption levels.
However, when considering impacts at the industrial sub-sector level, there was some variation. Most recorded an increase in output, with improvements in energy intensity Maxfield Weiss from the European office of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). CDP gives Rockwool only a “B” grade in its 2019 climate score.
Weiss argues that, to reduce its emissions in line with climate science, Rockwool’s initiatives should lead to absolute emissions reductions as the company grows its business, not just emissions measured per unit of
more than offsetting any potential increase in consumption due to increases in output.
The most notable success was in the chemicals sector which saw the largest relative impact of intensity improvements. The vehicle sector saw the largest increase in output factor in absolute terms. Although this was more than offset by intensity effects, this was to a lesser extent than in the chemicals sector, relative to actual consumption.
On a longer-term basis, since 2000 the industrial sector has shown decreases in the energy used to produce a unit of output by a third. In other words, during this century efficiency investments are now delivering 33 per cent more output of wealth per unit of fuel consumed. These improvements have been driven particularly by improvements to intensity in the vehicle manufacturing, chemicals, and iron
Green Bond funds aimed at energy-efficient homes
Funds worth £400m raised from Barclays Bank’s 2020 Green Bond will be allocated for mortgages designed to improve homes already deemed to be energy efficient.
Back in 2017, Barclays issued its first ever Green Bond, providing funding for domestic residential assets. More than half the new money now raised is being allocated to refinance Green Homes mortgages issued by Barclays. The bank is offering discounted mortgages for properties that achieve the highest energy efficiency thresholds.
The money raised from the latest issuance - reported to have been four times oversubscribed - is also going towards the re-financing of existing mortgages, enabling the homes covered to install more energy efficiency measures. The
The Carbon Trust is acting as assurance provider for the bank’s wider green bond framework. The bank is also providing £175m for investment over the next five years in
Much of this activity is being stimulated by a critical
shareholder resolution tabled this January. This followed research published by the NGO ShareAction. It revealed that Barclays was the single biggest investor in fossil fuel projects in Europe. Sums of over $85bn had been provided for coal, oil and gas companies.
This March Barclays joined several other household name finance companies to reduce its financing emissions to net zero by 2050.
Leading UK insulation manufacturer failing ‘to show climate leadership’
36 per cent of CO2 emissions. Better
and steel sectors. production. Production of mineral fibre insulation is among the most energy-intensive industrial processes.
He has calculated that “companies need to decrease their own carbon footprint by an average of over 4 per cent each year in order to live up to the 1.5°C target. We need companies to achieve absolute decarbonisation,” he warns.
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CRITICISM LEADS TO GREEN HOMES GRANT CHANGES
Changes ahead for £2bn grant scheme
Government ministers are set to make significant changes to the operation of the £2bn Green Homes grant scheme for England. This follows considerable criticisms from MPs and newspapers of the way in which the scheme was initially designed, which is now acknowledged to be acting as a deterrence to potential participants. These apply both to householders and to installers.
Initially, all householders seeking to receive grants in the scheme - which can amount to up to £5,000 per household - were required to have obtained three separate quotations for each measure.
But reluctance by installers to become involved meant that many householders complained this was impossible to do. For instance, by November just 10 per cent of doubleglazing companies had opted to become eligible to participate. Now such consumer comparisons are merely “advisory”, and it is up to the
Vital Energi has been awarded a £6.58m contract to deliver
ThamesWey Energy’s Woking Power
Station project which will create a combined heat and power energy centre providing low-carbon heating and power to local businesses and residents.
When complete, the energy centre will produce enough heat and power to supply the equivalent of 2,500 homes. Its first customers will be the new Hilton hotel, shops and over 400 apartments currently being delivered as part of the Victoria
Square development. The energy centre has been designed to be scalable and highly flexible, capable Local ambition is pushing many councils across the UK to aim for carbon zero twenty years ahead of schedule, according to data compiled by climate change charity Carbon Copy.
It is two years since Bristol City Council became the first council in the UK to declare a climate emergency. Today, almost three-quarters of all
householders to decide themselves whom they wish to employ.
Second, pressure was placed upon the accrediting organisation Trustmark, to widen its scope for eligibility to include innovative insulation schemes like small ventilation “airbrick-style” systems, and insulating “magic” wallpaper.
Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng (above) is also known to be seeking to dissolve the artificial distinction between “primary” and “secondary” measures, which is reckoned to deter those with already well-insulated
The energy centre comprises a local councils across the country have formally declared a climate emergency and over half of them have set a goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions locally by 2030 or even sooner.
As a guide to progress towards this target, Carbon Copy has launched UK Carbon Zero Explorer, an interactive map that lets users explore different homes from participating via installing other measures.
Throughout, there have been complaints that all installation work, plus the relevant paperwork for the entire Green Homes grant scheme, must be completed by March 31 2021. This is in contrast to a parallel scheme created for local authorities, called GHG Local Authority Delivery (LAD 1b), completion of which have now been extended to the end of September.
To get more energy efficiency deliverers motivated to respond longer term to this “huge” (as the Prime Minister describes it) programme, his Government will need to set out details of a far longer-term energy efficiency strategy. In the 2019-2024 Conservative manifesto, a minimum £9.3bn of relevant expenditure was committed. Confirming its go-ahead should help ensure that industry will properly invest in training to deliver
Low-carbon heating to come to heart of Surrey town
of generating up to 10MW of heat, and
adopting progressively lower carbon technologies over the next ten years.
the 140,000 jobs. three-storey building at the junction of Poole Road and Butts Road, with energy plant and equipment based on
the ground and first floors and a new headquarters for ThamesWey on the third floor.
In addition to initial energy production by a CHP engine and generator there will be gas boilers to add resilience and three large thermal stores which will serve the dual purpose of releasing stored heat during peak times of demand and adding an interesting architectural landmark to the development.
low temperature district heating network, delivering low-carbon heat to local buildings. In addition to delivering heat, the energy centre will also provide electricity via an 11kW network within central Woking.
Over half of councils aiming to hit net zero 20 years early
This energy centre will feed a new local areas across the country, offering details about targets, Climate Action Plans and current carbon emissions for each local authority area.
As well as providing this key data, the tool signposts users to success stories from councils, community groups and companies that are implementing high-impact, lowcarbon initiatives locally.
IN BRIEF
New chair at smart heating specialist
Mixergy, a developer of solutions for domestic water heating, has appointed two new executives to its leadership team.
David Pinder, formerly chief executive of Baxi Heating UK Ltd – the global leader in heating and hot water solutions, joins as Mixergy’s chairman. Martin Allman, who was UK and Ireland country director for sonnen, the global energy storage systems company, joins Mixergy as its chief commercial officer.
Mixergy’s smart hot water tanks use thermal stratification to prevent hot water mixing with cold, Mixergy tanks heat only the water required instead of the whole tank at once.
Partnership for magnetic solution
BMS and energy solutions company BG Energy Solutions has announced a partnership with the creators of the Magnatech System a proven “fit and forget” technology which is claimed to deliver boiler efficiency savings of up to 21 per cent.
BGES has the exclusive rights to install and distribute Magnatech within the UK as a turnkey project or as a licensed product for selfinstallation. Magnatech is based on the discovery that high-powered magnets placed in a particular sequence on fuel feed pipes cause the fuel to burn at a higher temperature, thereby optimising the fuel and increasing boiler efficiency.
Top prize for Danish technology
Humidity Solutions recently won the Sustainable Product of the Year award in the recent HVR Awards, for their desiccant dehumidifier from Danish manufacturer, Cotes A/S.
The submission referred to use of the desiccant dehumidifier in lithium-ion battery production, where ultra-dry conditions of -60°C dew point are required to ensure a problem free manufacturing process. 60 per cent of energy used in a lithium-ion battery production facility is used on power to the dehumidifier. Cotes dehumidifiers have developed a 3 desiccant wheel set up which reduces the energy consumed by as much as 44 per cent.
news update
Heat pumps could help US buildings towards net zero
Replacing gas-burning heating systems in commercial buildings in the United States with efficient electrified heat-pumps could reduce these buildings’ total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 44 per cent, according to a new report by the American Council for an EnergyEfficient Economy (ACEEE).
The conversions would help enable the buildings to ultimately become “zero carbon” as the electric grid moves toward renewable energy sources. But policymakers will need to act to spur a widespread shift to heat pumps.
Buildings are responsible for nearly one-third of GHG emissions in the United States, both from fuel burning on site and the emissions from power plants serving the buildings. The new report models the impacts of replacing several types of gas-based heating systems in existing commercial buildings with various electric heat pump systems.
In some cases, electrifying heating already pays back for building owners. ACEEE found that about 27 per cent of commercial floor space heated with fossil fuel systems can be electrified today with a simple payback of less than ten years. If policymakers enacted a package of public investments, incentives, and carbon pricing policies, the proportion of commercial building space that can be electrified with this payback would increase to 60 per cent. But electrification of remaining buildings would likely require more-aggressive policies or government investments.
“Ultimately, we’re going to need to upgrade most building heating systems to electric heat pumps, running on renewable energy, to get to zero emissions,” said Steven Nadel, ACEEE executive director and co-author of the report. “Heat pumps use less energy and reduce building operating costs, but the upgrade is often a tough sell for building owners when payback periods are long. Policymakers are going to need to make major investments in incentivising the technology to get it adopted widely.”
TRADE ASSOCIATIONS FORM SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP
Group to focus on energy in buildings
The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has established a joint Special Interest Group with the Energy Services Technology Association (ESTA) to promote energy efficiency in buildings to government and industry.
The Energy Efficiency in Buildings Group will include members from both associations. Its focus will be to promote the economic benefits of energy demand reduction, energy efficiency and management to all demand-side users and professionals.
Jason Hemingway, BESA membership director, says: “Our goal in working with ESTA is to raise the energy consciousness of
Energy Services and Technology
Association and the Energy Institute have launched a behaviour change programme to help drive energy efficiency measures.
The programme is aimed at businesses and organisations of all sizes, types and sectors, both public and private. It has a five-pronged approach to expanding the market: • to tackle the climate emergency an approach is required to embrace behaviour change improvements, particularly from an energy perspective. These can be equal to or greater than improvements using technology - which currently receive significant investment; • a short-to-medium-term vision is that Energy Conscious Organisations (EnCOs) will generate 10 per cent Environmental issues are the most important engagement issue for shareholders, but at the same time frustration is building at the failure of some firms to come forward with sufficiently ambitious and quantifiable climate strategies.
That is the headline from an annual survey undertaken by asset managers Schroders, which assesses the views of institutional investors managing $25.9trn across 26 countries.
However, as sustainable investing has become an increasingly mainstream investment building owners and managers. Harnessing smart technology in the built environment will be vital for achieving the UK’s net zero carbon target by 2050. It will also help to ensure that our sector can emerge stronger from 2020 .”
ESTA is the UK’s leading energy management industry association and has been active for over 30 years in energy management. Both BESA and ESTA are well known for promoting members’ interests in the UK, Europe and internationally. The joint group will help to raise awareness of better energy management with government, business organisations and other relevant trade associations.
Mervyn Pilley (left) , executive director at ESTA, says: “The new joint of energy reduction savings through Behaviour Change by 2025/30; • this target can be exceeded by organisations embracing a more structured, code of practice driven, approach to behaviour change; • the potential is significant as this market is largely untapped. consideration, the study found greenwashing has emerged as a significant challenge for investors. Some 60 percent of investors felt greenwashing - “a lack of clear, agreed sustainable investment definitions” - was the most significant obstacle to delivering on their sustainable investment goals.
In addition, 48 per cent of investors said a lack of transparency and reported data was restricting their ability to invest sustainably.
Indeed, 55 percent of respondents - up from 49 per cent a year ago - Special Interest Group will allow us to share knowledge, while making the most of the two associations’ government and industry contacts to amplify this important message.”
The two associations will retain their independence, but plans for the Energy Efficiency in Buildings Group include a combined newsletter and webinars to share information with a wider audience. The group will also enable the associations to work together on areas such as the Youth Stem Summit and Young People in Engineering.
The Energy Efficiency in Buildings Group will meet quarterly and include a cross-section of ESTA and BESA members. A chair for the group will be
Behaviour change programme to drive efficiency
announced shortly. Furthermore, evidence shows that behaviour change projects are quick payback and low investment; • EnCO provides the methodology and approach for delivering behaviour change programmes as a holistic, robust, best practice approach; • the initial Energy Conscious Organisation vision is to generate 50 to 100 proven case studies using IPMVP in the next three years such that EnCOs become mainstream.
ESTA says that there is now a structure in place to train and accredit registered EnCO consultants and approved EnCO Practitioners. Guidelines will shortly be available on how end user organisations will be able to gain the EnCO accreditation. • Full details can be found at: www.
Greenwashing presented as obstacle to investors’ goals
energyconsciousorganisation.org.uk said data and evidence that proves investing sustainably delivers better returns would encourage them to increase their green investments.
Investors widely regard active engagement with companies as a crucial mechanism for driving climate and environmental action, according to the survey of 650 institutional investors, but asset owners’ efforts to accelerate the adoption of credible decarbonisation strategies are hampered by greenwashing from corporate boardrooms that offer scant details on their sustainability plans.
news update
SEVEN PER CENT REDUCTION IN GLOBAL EMISSIONS POSSIBLE
Five-stage plan for a green recovery
There could be 7 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 if a five-point green recovery plan was implemented, says a new report.
Analysis, commissioned by the We Mean Business coalition and conducted by Cambridge Econometrics, shows that green recovery plans boost income, employment and GDP better than return-to-normal stimulus measures, with the added benefit of reducing emissions.
In all geographies modelled (global, the EU, Germany, Poland, the UK, USA and India), green recovery plans were found to be
more effective than a return to normal stimulus approaches that reduce VAT rates and encourage households to resume spending.
The green recovery plan includes a (smaller) reduction in VAT and: • public investment in energy efficiency; • subsidies for both wind and solar power; • public investment in upgrading electricity grids; • car scrappage schemes in which subsidies are only provided to electric vehicles; and • tree planting programmes.
The green recovery plan in the EU would result in 2m more jobs by 2024 while a green US recovery would deliver nearly 1m more jobs than a return-to-normal plan.
While not enough to be consistent with the Paris Agreement, the reductions delivered by a green recovery plan would provide a starting point for further policy, concludes the analysis.
Campaign to support schools’ efforts to cut emissions
A new campaign has been launched to support UK schools’ efforts to reduce their emissions while calling for government action on greening schools.
Led by climate solutions charity Ashden, Let’s Go Zero will officially launch at the week-long Youth Climate Summit starting 9 November with a series of daily presentations and discussions.
According to Ashden, by joining Let’s Go Zero, schools are stating their ambition to be zero carbon by 2030, agreeing to do more, while acknowledging that they need government help to reach the target.
The aim is for Let’s Go Zero to help schools learn from their peers, share best practice and connect with sources of support.
“Young people are demanding action on climate [change] and we must all get behind them, starting in the UK’s 32,000 schools,” said Harriet Lamb, CEO of Ashden.
Ashden claims radical energy efficiency improvements will make significant carbon savings – 60 per cent of energy used by schools is wasted out of hours, and English schools alone spend £600m per year on energy – the second largest budget item after staff salaries.
For instance, St Francis Xavier School in Richmond, North Yorkshire made energy efficiencies that, reportedly, saved the school over £8,000 per year, which the trust it is part of would like to replicate across its 17 schools.
