Renew On Line (UK) 29

Extracts from the Sept-Oct 2000 edition of Renew
These extracts only represent about 25% of it

Lower Carbon Future

Energy Efficiency and Renewables to fight emissions and Fuel Poverty

The Environmental Change Institute's new ‘Lower Carbon Futures’ report was launched recently together with the DETR's ‘English House Conditions’ Survey 1996- pointing out yet again the low energy efficiency of much of the UK’s housing stock, and the linked problem of fuel poverty. However, as Brenda Boardman from the ECI has suggested, there could be a conflict between dealing with fuel poverty and achieving environmental objectives- like emission reductions. The one problem is that, in many cases, what is urgently needed, given the poor building and heating systems, is more energy, to provide extra heat, not less. So in the short term, given its political sensitivity, it seems that fuel poverty will be dealt with as a priority, and the environmental agenda will be tackled later- people before planet?

In theory, energy conservation could help meet both objectives- using energy more efficiently so as to provide the necessary heat but produce fewer emissions. However, it is also possible that, at least initially, any money saved by improved energy efficiency would be respent on buying more energy to attain livable temperatures, rather than on cutting energy use and reducing emissions.

As Horace Herring from EERU has argued, one way out of this ‘rebound’ problem is to switch over to using renewables- then any extra power bought does not lead to increased emissions. Obviously, once livable temperatures were attained, and more energy efficiency improvement were introduced, then energy use would reduce and emissions would fall - and renewables could then help them fall to zero. However, conservation is usually the easiest to start off with - the ECI say ‘the emphasis on energy efficiency is important now, whilst renewables become cost effective over the medium term’ Even so, the ECI does include some domestic renewables in their new long term ‘low carbon’ scenario- which suggests that, by 2020, 2.8m homes could have PV and solar heating. In addition, the ECI consider fuel switching (i.e. from electricity to gas) to be important and see domestic equipment as a key sector. So, in their scenario 90% of homes are on gas, with the average boiler being 85% efficient and all. lights and appliances are efficient. Overall, 250,000 new homes are built annually and 75,000 dwellings demolished annually. The total package would reduce the average carbon emissions per house from 1.65 tons to 0.93.

The Environmental Change Institute (ne Unit) is based at Oxford University . More details in Renew 128.

Energy and Emissions

The DETR note that the operation of building services such as space heating, domestic hot water, mechanical ventilation, air conditioning, lighting etc. consume energy which causes CO2 emissions amounting to 46% of the national total (27% from housing and 19% from non-domestic buildings). This amounts to about 235 m tonnes of CO2 per year - or, in carbon terms, about 63.5 MtC/year.