There was a rash, a veritable rash of media articles last week about Ed Miliband’s Low Carbon Transition :-
https://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/publications/lc_trans_plan/lc_trans_plan.aspx
It was an overwhelming torrent of fairly helpful and semi-accurate information, and it’s taken me a few days to wade through it to fish out some relevant threads.
First of all, I want to delve into costing issues : see for example the first few paragraphs of this article, published in the print edition of the Daily Telegraph Business section of 16th July 2009 with the headline “Going green is great but it’s not guaranteed to keep the lights on” :-
“Green energy is great, but we need investment to keep the lights on : Transforming Britain into a low-carbon nation is an exciting prospect. Ed Miliband’s White Paper could deliver ecologically as well as economically, given the boost to jobs and investment that a transition on this scale requires. : By Damian Reece : Published: 9:53PM BST 15 Jul 2009 : But such a change in the way our most important piece of national infrastructure works will require vast sums of capital. Those sums need to be committed very soon if we are to make a start in building the wind farms, nuclear power stations and clean coal plants needed to meet Labour’s environmental targets – while still keeping the lights on…”
The idea that the British Public is going to have to grit their teeth and pay up is being promoted in all kinds of communications recently.
There were several speakers on 5th June 2009 who were making the same point, along the lines of : “the British people need to be told the truth : new Energy infrastructure is going to cost.”
https://www.joabbess.com/2009/06/10/cheering-the-truth-regretting-the-twist/
We have also been told by Ed Miliband, no less, that energy prices will have to rise :-
“Household energy bills certain to rise, says Ed Miliband : Household energy bills will have to rise “whatever route we go down”, Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, has admitted. : By Jon Swaine : Published: 4:49PM BST 12 Jul 2009 : Mr Miliband conceded that families face increases in their bills – with some estimating an annual rise of more than £200 – whether or not the Government spends millions of pounds on funding “green” energy production. “There are upward pressures on energy prices, whatever route we go down,” Mr Miliband said…”
https://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article6715592.ece
“July 15, 2009 : Ed Miliband seeks a greener Britain through bigger household bills : Ben Webster, Environment Editor : Household gas and electricity bills will rise by up to £249 a year to pay for a seven-fold increase in energy from low-carbon sources by 2020, according to the Government’s Renewable Energy Strategy. The actual cost per home will depend on how successful the Government is in implementing a series of new measures to improve the energy efficiency of homes and reduce fuel consumption. Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, claimed that these measures would reduce the extra cost to an average of £92 a year per home. He announced only modest extra funding, however, for home insulation and other methods of reducing fuel consumption. Energy companies are expected to invest £100 billion over the next decade in renewable sources, including wind turbines, solar panels and tidal schemes. Yet the Government is increasing the funding for home energy-saving schemes by only £600 million, or 20 per cent…”
https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c49ce7d2-6da5-11de-8b19-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
“UK renewable energy plans spark cost fears : By Ed Crooks, Energy Editor : Published: July 11 2009 02:55 | Last updated: July 11 2009 02:55 : A huge expansion of renewable energy will be launched by the government next week, when it sets out its plans for meeting its commitments to cut carbon dioxide emissions. The plans have raised concerns about their cost, estimated at at least £100bn ($162bn), which will push up energy bills, hitting poor and vulnerable consumers…However, the impact on bills of the huge cost of the investment needed by the energy industry is causing growing concern. Meeting the renewables target alone is expected to cost £100bn, with at least another £100bn needed in the rest of the energy industry…”
Obviously, Energy companies spending capital on new infrastructure will be paid for by their clawing it back from the Energy bills of their customers. But what is this £100 billion of corporate funding going to be spent on exactly ? And is it £100 billion for Renewables and £100 billion for Nuclear and Coal ? Is the Government going to be spending £100 billion of public money and the Companies another £100 billion ? And what is the Government prepared to put forward from the public purse to support its Low Carbon Transition plans ?
A quick scan for the pound sign (“£”, not “#”) in the Executive Strategy is in order :-
“…outstanding opportunities for the UK economy with the potential to create up to half a million more jobs in the UK renewable energy sector resulting from around £100 billion of new investment…”
But that’s private, not public, money, presumably.
“…Put in place the mechanisms to provide financial support for renewable electricity and heat worth around £30 billion between now and 2020: We will extend and expand the Renewables Obligation for large-scale renewable generation; amend or replace the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation to increase use of sustainable biofuels; and introduce a new Renewable Heat Incentive and ‘Feed-In Tariffs’ to provide guaranteed payments to individuals, business and communities for renewable heat and small-scale electricity generation.”
That’s some serious public money.
“Introduce ‘clean energy cash-back’ for households, industry, businesses and communities to use renewable heat and small-scale clean electricity generation, by introducing new guaranteed payments through Feed-In Tariffs from 2010, and a Renewable Heat Incentive by 2011. We have committed a further £45 million of additional grants to cover the interim period before the new incentive schemes take effect. This marks an important extension of our efforts to support non-centralised (or ‘distributed’) renewable energy generation.”
That’s a small amount of money. It’s not even in the billions.
“Deal with immediate pressures resulting from the global financial crisis through facilitating up to £4 billion of lending from the European Investment Bank for renewable and other energy projects. This will help renewables industries to secure the necessary loans for deployment and provide the supply chain with greater confidence to grow their operations and take a share of the developing market.”
That’s money from the European Investment Bank, not our domestic public money.
“More strategic investment in the grid. We have agreed with industry a detailed vision of how the grid must be structured for 2020 and beyond. Ofgem is developing the incentives to encourage grid companies to invest the £4.7 billion required to deliver this, and we will shortly publish for consultation a Grid National Policy Statement to speed up planning approval.”
That’s private capital, again.
“Investment in a new offshore grid. We have launched an entirely new offshore transmission regime to provide clear, cost-effective and co-ordinated delivery of the grid connections needed for our growth in offshore wind. This will present opportunities for investment worth up to £15 billion.”
Use of the word “investment” implies private sources.
“Decide whether to go ahead with a Severn tidal power scheme. Alongside this Strategy, we are publishing the shortlist of potential Severn tidal power projects. Also announced today are the innovative proposals being developed through the Severn Embryonic Technologies Scheme. The Government has committed an additional £500,000 to help develop these new ideas.”
What ? Only half a million pounds ?
“Support investment in key emerging technologies with total funding from DECC of around £450 million over two years and with substantial funding from other parts of Government. We are supporting technologies which could make a significant contribution to our longer-term energy and climate needs. Marine energy is one such technology, which is why we intend to develop a Marine Action Plan and are increasing investment by up to £60 million to help accelerate development and deployment in wave and tidal generation. We are also supporting offshore wind, advanced biofuels and electric vehicles.”
Is that £450 million in total, or £510 million ? Probably the former.
“Bring outstanding business opportunities and enable the UK to restructure into a low-carbon economy, providing around £100 billion of investment opportunities and contribute to the creation of up to half a million more jobs in the UK renewable energy sector.”
Again, private investment implied.
So, in total, the Executive Summary announces very few new things, and only £30.5 billion in public spending.
I must have missed something, surely. I went to the full Low Carbon Transition document :-
See at the bottom of this page for a summary of all mentions of spending money.
It’s not always clear what’s ongoing expenditure and what’s new funding.
It’s also not clear what has already been spent and what is going to be spent.
I’m willing to be corrected, but in total it looks like £17.0 billion or thereabouts in straight handouts, and then annual budgets for things such as the Renewables Obligation, the Renewable Heat Obligation, the car “Scrappage Scheme”, Fuel Poverty, Winter Payments and Warm Front taking it up to a net “lifetime value” of around £25.4 to £28.7 billion (Table 2).
The Power and Heavy Industry sector are going to swinge a total of £48.7 to £53.0 billion, but the savings from Homes, Communities and Transport will bring the total spent downwards.
So, where’s the missing £70.0 billion ?
Ah yes, it’s going to be spent by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority :-
https://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/utilities/article6717198.ece
Great value for money then !
A FEW EXTRA PRESS REPORTS
“Climate change measures will cause rise in fuel bills says minister : Households will be forced to install a range of green energy measures over the next decade to avoid a massive hike in fuel bills. : By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent : Published: 12:01AM BST 14 Jul 2009 : :: Pay as you Save: Up to £5 billion will be made available to all households to fit energy efficiency measures like double glazing. Because the energy efficiency measures will cut bills, the Government says the extra costs – to be levied on the bills – will be absorbed over time and ultimately result in a saving. :: Clean Energy Cashback: A “feed in tariff” will pay households for feeding energy back into the grid from micro-renewables like wind turbines. Households could earn hundreds of pounds every year. For example although it costs around £15,000 to install solar panels householders could earn between £800 and £2,500 per annum back from the grid. :: Smart Metres: Every household will have a “smart” metre from the energy companies by 2020 that will tell consumers how much electricity is being used by each appliance and therefore help to make savings…”
https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6684912.ece
“From The Times : July 11, 2009 : Low-carbon strategy will raise household energy bills by £200 a year : The £100 billion strategy for renewable energy includes a plan to invest in 7,000 wind turbines by 2020 : Ben Webster, Environment Editor, and Robin Pagnamenta, Energy Editor : Household energy bills will rise by more than £200 a year under the Government’s low-carbon strategy being announced next week…The Renewable Energy Strategy, to be published on Wednesday, will state that more than £100 billion will have to be invested in renewable energy infrastructure, including 7,000 wind turbines, by 2020.”
“Household energy bills ‘to rise by up to £230 ‘to pay for green revolution’ Household energy bills could rise by up to £230 a year to pay for the new “green revolution” which will be announced by the Government next week : Published: 8:00AM BST 11 Jul 2009 : The Renewable Energy Strategy will state that more than £100 billion needs to be invested in infrastructure, including 7,000 wind turbines, by 2020. It is estimated in the strategy that energy bills will have to rise by about 20 per cent to cover the cost…”
SUMMARY OF LOW CARBON TRANSITION PLAN FINANCING
Carbon Emissions Reduction Target
“Making homes greener by: Channelling about £3.2 billion to help households become more energy efficient by increasing the current programme by 20% between 2008 and 2011 and then extending it to the end of 2012.”
“Increasing the obligation on energy suppliers to help households reduce emissions and save energy, the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, by 20% between April 2008 and March 2011, so that about £3.2bn will be invested. Six million households have already been helped since 2002. But now the obligation will be extended to the end of 2012, which is expected to benefit 1.5 million additional households.”
“The Government has increased by 20% the amount of support energy supply companies will make available through the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT). The scheme has already helped over six million households with significant energy saving measures since 2002. The suppliers will now have to meet an increased level of emissions reductions, meaning that an extra £0.6 billion is likely to be spent, bringing total support between 2008 and 2011 to an estimated £3.2 billion. Of this, it is estimated that around £1.9 billion will be directed at vulnerable households.”
“Under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT), energy suppliers have to achieve 40% of the emissions reduction in a priority group of low-income households and the elderly, who are more likely to be in danger of falling into fuel poverty. The obligation on suppliers is due to increase by 20% from August 2009, meaning an estimated £1.9 billion will be directed at energy savings amongst the priority group in the period to 2011. For the extension period of CERT post-March 2011, the Government is exploring how best to provide help to some of the most vulnerable households.”
Definitely not all new money. Only £0.6 billion is new.
Marine Energy, Tidal, Wave, Geothermal etc
“Helping make the UK a centre of green industry by supporting the development and use of clean technologies, including up to £120
million investment in offshore wind and an additional £60 million to cement the UK’s position as a global leader in marine energy.”
“To help make the UK a world centre of the green economy, the Government is: Investing in research and development of new low carbon technologies, including by using the £405 million announced in April 2009 to deliver a major boost to technologies where the UK has the greatest potential, as described in more detail in the UK Low Carbon Industrial Strategy published in parallel with this Transition Plan. This includes up to £120 million of investment in offshore wind, and investment of up to an additional £60 million to cement the UK’s position as a global leader in marine energy and help develop the South West of England as the UK’s first Low Carbon Economic Area. The plan will also deliver support for a smart electrical grid, ultra-low carbon vehicle infrastructure and exploration of deep geothermal power.”
“To help make the UK a world centre of the green economy, the Government is: Investing in research and development of new low carbon technologies, including by using the £405 million announced in April 2009 to deliver a major boost to technologies where the UK has the greatest potential. This includes up to £120 million of investment in offshore wind, and investment of up to an additional £60 million to cement the UK’s position as a global leader in marine energy and help develop the South West of England as the UK’s first Low Carbon Economic Area.”
“Using other elements of the £405 million of funding for low carbon investment to deliver up to a further £10 million of support for ultra-low carbon vehicle infrastructure. The Government will also use up to £6 million to accelerate our progress towards a smart electrical grid and up to £6 million to support exploration of deep geothermal power – a new and innovative form of renewable energy.”
“Marine: The Government is allocating up to an additional £60 million for a suite of measures which will help accelerate the development and deployment of wave and tidal energy in the UK and will cement our current position as a global leader in the sector. The Government will double its financial support to Wave Hub – the development of a significant demonstration and testing facility off the Cornish coast – with up to £9.5 million of investment. The Government is also proposing to invest up to £10 million at NaREC, the New and Renewable Energy Centre, in the North East to build on and utilise existing infrastructure to provide an open access facility for marine developers to test and prove designs/components onshore. The Government will also provide up to £10 million to support the South West’s significant potential for wave and tidal energy deployment, research, demonstration and engineering, and up to an additional £8 million from the UK Environmental Transformation Fund to expand the in-sea stage testing facilities at EMEC, the European Marine Energy Centre, in the Orkneys. In addition the Government will launch a Marine Renewables Proving Fund which will provide up to £22 million of grant funding for the testing and demonstration of pre-commercial wave and tidal stream devices. This will accelerate wave and tidal technologies’ move towards commercial demonstration and assist the development of successful projects under the Marine Renewable Deployment Fund. Taken together, these investments will provide the UK with unparalleled testing and demonstration facilities.”
Don’t know why this is £405 million instead of the £450 million of the Executive Summary.
Ultra-Low Carbon Vehicles
“Ultra-low carbon vehicles: The Government is providing up to a further £10 million for the accelerated deployment of electric vehicles charging infrastructure in the UK. And will establish a new cross-Whitehall Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) that will drive policy delivery. This will complement the £20 million for infrastructure, £140 million for research, development and demonstration under the Technology Strategy Board’s Low Carbon Vehicle Innovation Platform, and £230 million for consumer incentives announced earlier this year.”
“The Government wants to make the UK a leading place in the world to develop, demonstrate and manufacture low carbon vehicles (see chapter 5) and has committed around £400 million to encourage development and uptake of ultra-low carbon vehicles. This includes funding for RD&D under the Low Carbon Vehicle Innovation
Platform.”
“Electricity is likely to become a major transport fuel. Current electric road vehicles are more efficient than internal combustion engine vehicles. To help kick-start the new electric charging infrastructure, the Government is providing up to £30 million for electric vehicle charging points in six or so cities and regions, from next year.”
“The UK is a world leader in trying to ensure that biofuels are produced in a sustainable way, and has an ambitious biofuels research and development strategy. The Government is also working internationally to establish voluntary global sustainability criteria. Today’s cars can be run on conventional fuel mixed with biofuel.
“This includes £20 million investment to launch the Sustainable Bioenergy Centre; £6 million for the Advanced Bioenergy Directed Research Accelerator investigating the potential of algae for biofuels; and an intention to provide financial support for the creation by industry of a biofuels demonstration plant, which would use organic waste material to produce bioethanol and renewable power.”
Clean Energy Cash Back
“Introducing “clean energy cash-back” schemes so that people, businesses and communities will be paid if they use low carbon sources to generate heat or electricity. A household with well-sited solar panels could receive over £800, plus bill savings of around £140 a year.”
Not clear if this is going to be managed through the Energy Companies as “Energy Service Providers” or not. Not sure if this is public investment or a kind of loan scheme.
Warm Front
“To help the most vulnerable, Government has already put in place a £20 billion package of support with payments for older and more vulnerable people, and subsidised energy efficiency measures and new heating systems. The Warm Front programme fits or repairs a central heating system every minute of every working day in vulnerable households across England.”
“Warm Front is the Government’s flagship energy efficiency and heating scheme for vulnerable households, with £950 million funding between 2008-2011. It has assisted nearly two million households since 2000 – over half a million households in the last two years alone. On average, each recipient has the potential to save over £350 per year on energy bills.”
Fuel Poverty
“Reducing energy prices for the most vulnerable The measures taken by Ofgem to protect consumers also benefits people living in, or at risk of, fuel poverty, by keeping the price of energy competitive. To further help vulnerable customers unable to afford their bills, the
Government has negotiated a voluntary agreement with energy suppliers to increase their expenditure on social programmes. Under this agreement, the suppliers delivered £100m of spend on social programmes to vulnerable households in 2008-9, rising to £125 million in 2009-10 and £150 million in 2010 – 11.”
European Investment Bank
“Supporting businesses through the global financial crisis and facilitating access to up to £4 billion of new capital for renewable
and other energy projects from the European Investment Bank.”
Same as before.
Small Beer for Public Transport and Zero Carbon Transport
“Investing up to £30 million over the next two years to deliver several hundred low carbon buses.”
Coo ! Extra money (I think).
“Providing help worth about £2,000 to £5,000 per vehicle towards reducing the price of ultra-low carbon cars, from 2011, and up to £30 million to support the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in six or so cities across the UK.”
This is the “Scrappage Scheme” and I’m not sure if there’s an upper limit on this.
“Investing £140 million in promoting cycling in England in 2008-11, and a new £5 million investment in improving cycle storage at rail stations.”
New money ?
“£140 million is being spent between 2008-11 to promote cycling in England. The Government is now developing a National Cycle Plan to further promote cycling; and is making available £5 million over two years to radically improve cycling storage facilities at up to ten major railway stations nationwide; and to help people to integrate rail and cycling.”
“Over £10 billion will be invested in enhancing rail capacity between 2009 and 2014, with overall Government support for the railways totalling £15 billion. The case for more high-speed rail services is being explored. And £2.5 billion per year is invested by the Government on bus services in England, including £1 billion on concessionary fares for older people and those with disabilities.”
Low Carbon Investment
“2009 : Government provides £1.4 billion of targeted support for low carbon industries in the world.”
Net Public Investment
“Table 2 presents today’s value of the costs of the policies set out in this plan including both public and private costs. Total net costs over
the lifetimes of these policies are estimated to lie between £25 and £29 billion. These net costs are significant but are broadly consistent with other estimates of the costs of action on climate change.”
This is interesting because the table shows negative net costs for some items – so spending to save – keeping the total in the £30 billion ballpark. It includes all the measures in all sectors : Power and heavy industry, Transport, Workplaces and jobs, Homes and communities, Farming, land & waste.
Renewables Obligation
“By 2010 the RO along with exemption from the Climate Change Levy (see chapter 5) will be worth around £1 billion a year to the renewable electricity industry. However we need to do more if the UK is to further increase the levels of renewable electricity.”
Clean Coal
“Low carbon coal technologies represent a major future market for UK business estimated to be worth of the order of £2 – 4 billion to the UK by 2030, sustaining 30,000 – 60,000 jobs.”
So they’re expecting new Coal-fired power plant to be built (with “Clean coal technology” attached) to the tune of tops £4 billion. What would that buy ?
“For example, a recent study estimated that carbon capture and storage technology could bring between £2 and 4 billion a year into the UK economy by 2030, and support between 30,000 and 60,000 jobs.”
National Grid investment
“Ofgem has approved £4 – 5 billion of refurbishment and expansion plans to ensure the grid is capable of supplying current and future electricity to our homes, businesses and industry in the next few years.”
Now this investment…not sure who will pay for all this. Plus, some of the National Grid capacity will be used for Fossil Fuel plant, old and new, so it will not all be used for plugging Renewables in.
“The ENSG found that an additional £4.7 billion was needed to develop the onshore grid to support connection of up to 35 GW of renewable generation coming forward by 2020 and accommodate increased flows of electricity across the network.”
Ah, this is the extra for Renewables ?
“Ofgem has approved up to £43 million of pre-construction work on projects identified in the ENSG vision and by summer 2010 will finalise new incentives for network.”
“The Government and Ofgem have developed a new regulatory framework for offshore electricity transmission to provide clear, cost effective and co-ordinated delivery of £15 billion worth of grid connections needed for radical offshore wind growth. This regime went active in June 2009.”
Who’s paying ?
Smart Meters – Smart Grid
“Smart meters: A programme to roll out smart meters to every home by end 2020 – an £8bn private sector investment. This is one of the building blocks for creating a smart grid (see Chapter 4).”
“‘Smart’ electrical grid : To accelerate the UK’s progress towards a smart electrical grid capable of integrating generation and consumption of energy more effectively than ever before, the Government will provide up to £6 million to complement other funding for network innovation such as Ofgem’s Innovation Funding Initiative amongst other sources. Government funding for smart grids will be used to support early stage development of trials of key technologies consistent with a vision for smart grid in the UK to be published later in 2009 (See chapter 3 for further details on the development of a smart grid).”
Energy Technologies Institute
“Developing new technologies: Providing direct funding for innovation through the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) which aims to invest up to £1bn over the next 10 years in low carbon energy technologies, including networks. The Government is engaging with the recently established ETI networks panel that is scoping the objectives they set for a call for projects.”
OK, this is public money, being channelled into the ETI and then handed out in contracts…I’ve overheard some very interesting conversations between IT salesmen, which I think were about how they intend to carve up this market…
Small beer for Research
“Funding research: Providing direct funding, through the Research Councils, of over £30m for collaborative research in networks involving academia and industry. Providing complementary funding of £6m to supplement other funding for network innovation such as Ofgem’s Innovation Funding Incentive amongst other sources. Government funding for smart grids will be used to support early stage development of trials of key technologies consistent with a vision for a smart grid in the UK to be published later this year.”
New public money.
Small beer for Greening Communities
Now some small beer to be carved up amongst the charities and non-governmental organisations :-
“Announcing £10m for ‘Green villages, towns and cities’, a challenge for communities to be at the forefront of pioneering green initiatives, with 15 or so ‘test hub’ areas.”
“The Government wants to take community transition to the next level, announcing £10 million for ‘Green villages, towns and cities’–
a challenge for communities to be at the forefront of pioneering green initiatives. Around fifteen communities will be selected to participate as ‘test hubs’, with local residents, businesses, and the public sector playing a leading role, and eco-towns will be invited to participate. Participants will work together to develop community-wide plans for their neighbourhoods and learn how different initiatives – for example in energy and water conservation, or travel – work together in practice. They will be encouraged to explore new approaches to delivering to vulnerable groups by overcoming the particular barriers they face; and to share learning between the ‘hubs’ as part of a wider citizen-led pilot.”
Energy Saving Programme
“In September 2008, the Prime Minister announced the ambitious £1 billion Home Energy Saving Programme, to help families permanently cut their energy bills and to increase the rate of energy saving and carbon reduction, committing to insulate six million homes by the end of 2011. Reducing demand for energy will also reduce our need to import gas.”
Not sure if this is all new or not.
Great British Refurb
Some more small beer :-
“The Government will work with the Energy Saving Trust, energy companies, Local Authorities, the Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) and others to test uptake of this innovative financing, as well as householder interest in the ‘whole house’ approach. The Government will spend £4 million on these pilots and there is potential for match funding from a number of partners.”
Feed-In Tariffs
“The Government is consulting on the detailed design and proposed tariff levels for Feedin Tariffs alongside this Transition Plan. A
household with a well-sited photovoltaic installation could receive over £800 plus bill savings of around £140 a year.”
Community Energy Saving Programme
“The Government is introducing a new community-based approach to delivering treatments to homes in low-income areas, the Community Energy Saving Programme, from Autumn 2009. This £350 million, three-year, programme will be funded by a new obligation on energy suppliers and electricity generators. This will see the energy companies working in partnership with local authorities and community organisations to deliver energy efficiency measures to around 90,000 homes across approximately 100 low-income areas across Great Britain.”
“The new Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP), to be launched this autumn, is designed to be focused on areas of low income, where households are likely to have a greater propensity for entering fuel poverty than average. This new £350 million programme will improve energy efficiency and lower household fuel bills, and the partnership approach with local authorities and other community representative organisations, should help to reach some of the most vulnerable households.”
Decent Homes Programme
“Social sector housing is already more energy efficient than housing generally. The Government has made major investment in improving social housing – more than £22 billion since 2001, including through the Decent Homes programme.”
“By 2010, about 95% of social housing stock in England is expected to meet the Decent Homes standard, and following the last Budget, an additional £84 million will be invested in cavity wall insulation in English social housing.”
Code for Sustainable Homes (Social Housing)
“The Government is supporting the Zero Carbon Hub; to help home builders prepare through the Technology Strategy Board’s Low Impact Buildings Innovation Platform it will assist business to harness the growing market for environmentally sustainable new buildings; and the Homes and Communities Agency is funding exemplar projects. Budget 2009 announced £100 million funding for local authorities to deliver new energy efficient homes, and Building Britain’s Future announced up to £250 million for direct development by local authorities of around 3,000 new energy efficient homes.”
Greener Living Fund
“In this vein, the Government has supported a number of initiatives. These include the Greener Living Fund, a £6.1 million fund for Third Sector delivery partners to help people live more sustainably; the Climate Challenge Fund, a £8.5 million fund to help communities raise awareness of climate change;”
The Big Green Challenge
“the Big Green Challenge from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, a £1 million prize to galvanise community-led innovation in response to climate change. The Big Green Challenge is the first prize of its scale for the not-for-profit
sector. Given the number and quality of the proposals, the Government has now provided £600,000 to expand the Challenge and fund a new round of projects drawn from the top 100 unfunded proposals.
Local Authorities
“Working with local and regional government The local government performance framework gives an opportunity for local government and partners to reflect their priorities through the Local Area Agreements. Within this framework, around 97% of areas have already chosen to set targets against at least one of three climate change indicators. In addition, over 340 local authorities have signed the Nottingham Declaration on climate change. Local government and its partners are clearly choosing to respond positively to the opportunity to agree targets on addressing climate change. £3 million has been provided under the Best Practice Programme, which has helped local authorities take action by building capacity and spreading good practice.”
Change Planning Policy Statement
“In Budget 2009, it announced £25 million to help to fund community heating infrastructure including at least 10 exemplar schemes across the UK”
Winter Fuel Payments
“This winter, the Winter Fuel Payments and additional support will provide £250 for households with someone aged 60-79 and £400 for households with someone aged 80 and over (up from £20 when the Winter Fuel Payment was introduced in 1997). The Government also offers Cold Weather Payments for the most vulnerable people during very cold weather. Cold Weather Payments in Britain in 2008-09 amounted to around £210 million.”
Combined Heat and Power (CHP)
“The Government announced in Budget 2009 that the current exemption from the Climate Change Levy for good quality CHP electricity sold to the grid will be extended by a further 10 years to 2023, subject to further state aid approval. It is estimated that this long-term market signal will help to unlock an additional £2.5 billion of investment in large-scale CHP projects.”
Carbon Trust Loans
“Small and medium-sized businesses find securing financing particularly difficult, especially in the current economic context.
In 2007/08 over 700 Government-backed interest free loans through the Carbon Trust helped businesses save around £9 million a year. In April 2009 the Government announced a further £100 million of available funding to enable up to 2,600 more businesses in England to save money over the next two years.”
London District Heating
“The Government will be using up to £1.75 million of low carbon investment funding to support the creation of a flagship district
heating scheme for London in partnership with the London Development Agency. The Government will fund the installation
of a new heat main and combined heat and power plant, to create an integrated scheme with the potential to deliver annual savings
of 10,000 tonnes of CO2, and savings to heating bills for those connected.”
Local Authority Loan Scheme
“Making finance easy for public sector organisations. Just like private businesses, public sector bodies can have difficulty paying for energy efficient improvements up front. To address this, loans for the public sector are available through a scheme operated by Salix Finance. In April 2009 an additional £54.5 million was made available to, among other organisations, schools, leisure centres, Local Authorities and central Government departments in England.”
Low Carbon Buildings Programme
“In April 2009, the Government announced an additional £45 million to provide grants for small-scale renewable technologies through
the Low Carbon Buildings Programme, helping homes, charities, businesses and the public sector to invest in renewable
energy technologies.”
Innovation Investment Fund
“The UK Innovation Investment Fund announced in Building Britain’s Future, was set up to invest in technology-based businesses with high growth potential, including low carbon. The Government will invest £150 million to leverage equal private sector investment, which the Government believes could build this into a fund of up to £1 billion over the next ten years.”
Sustainable Travel City
“Raising awareness of alternatives to car travel can cut emissions and reduce the UK’s oil needs. Large urban areas are now competing to become England’s first Sustainable Travel City. The Government announced in May that the winning area will get up to £29 million to invest over three years.”
Farming Loans
“Support for energy efficient and low carbon farming. Within the limits imposed by the current EU rules on state aid, the Government and the Carbon Trust will work to make farming businesses eligible for its interest-free loans for lowcarbon activity (see chapter 5). The exact size of the loans available to farmers will depend on interest rates in the economy and whether they have received any other
state aid, but the Government estimates that the maximum loan will be in the region of £30,000.”
Soil Science
“Looking after our soils : To fill gaps in our scientific knowledge – including whether the UK is losing or gaining soil carbon – the Government is spending £1.5 million each year on soil research.”
Welsh Power
“Against the background of the joint Assembly Government / UK Government / South West England Severn tidal power feasibility study, Wales’ renewable energy route map and the associated Welsh Assembly Government bio-energy action plan and Ministerial marine energy statement of intent, investments in renewable electricity
production of up to £40 billion are in prospect.”
Energy Saving Scotland
“The Energy Saving Scotland advice network provides a one-stop-shop offering support on a range of sustainable living issues, including energy efficiency, microgeneration, transport and waste. The network is managed by the Energy Saving Trust. The Scottish Government is introducing an area-based Home Insulation Scheme, to increase the take up of energy advice and insulation measures in selected areas, to reduce emissions, tackle fuel poverty, reduce household bills and sustain jobs. This is supported by £15 million of investment in 2009-10, with matching investment being sought from other sources.”
Northern Ireland
“Northern Ireland’s Public Sector Energy Campaign sets carbon reduction, energy efficiency and electricity consumption targets
for public sector estate buildings in Northern Ireland, which are measured annually in published reports. To support delivery of these targets, the Department of Finance and Personnel currently makes available £2 million annually in grant assistance via the Central Energy Efficiency Fund. Successful projects may receive a grant that will cover up to 100% of the capital cost of the project.”
Scottish Business in the Community
“To promote awareness, the Scottish Government is funding Scottish Business in the Community (2008-2010) to support the May Day Network which encourages businesses to make climate change pledges and take energy efficiency measures. A further £2 million has been invested in the loan scheme for small and medium sized enterprises to improve their energy efficiency, specifically for microgeneration support. This takes the total amount invested in this scheme to £5 million.”
Scottish Central Energy Efficiency Fund
“The Scottish Government continues to support the public sector through the Central Energy Efficiency Fund, which has seen £20
million provided to Scottish Local Authorities, the NHS Scotland and Scottish Water. Through interest free loans, these bodies use the scheme for capital investment in energy efficiency projects and, as of 2009, also for renewables technologies. In 2008 the Scottish Government also awarded a further £4 million, managed through Salix Finance, for the further and higher education sector in Scotland.”
Scotland’s Smart
“Smarter Choices, Smarter Places is a partnership project which makes up to £15 million available, over three years, for seven
Local Authorities to improve public transport services, walking and cycling infrastructure, and roll out intensive marketing and awareness campaigns.”
Scottish Freight
“The Scottish Government is investing over £500,000 in 2008-11 in extending the Freight Best Practice Programme into Scotland as
part of its support for the freight industry. As part of the UK-wide Sustainable Rail Programme, the Scottish Government is
planning a rolling programme of electrification of Scotland’s railways and greater efficiency from the whole of the rail sector.”