Leicester:
Energy saving policy as part of the environmental agenda
Leicester:
| |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Type: | Projects, Policies |
| Area: | Entire City |
| Actors: | Local Gov., Private |
| Funding: | Local Gov. |
| Topics: | Built environment |
| Energy | |
| Information and participation | |
| Mobility | |
| Objectives: | Improve access to information |
| Increase cogeneration | |
| Increase district heating | |
| Increase use of public transport | |
| Increase use of renewable resources | |
| Reduce energy consumption | |
| Instruments: | Demonstration and pilot project |
| Integrated planning approach |
The City of Leicester has set itself an ambitious environmental target. It aims to reduce its CO2 emissions and energy consumption to half their 1990 level by 2025. Long-term projections have shown that this aim can be achieved by an integration of technical and behavioural changes.
Leicester's approach to sustainable urban development gives high priority to increase the quality of life through environmental improvements. Therefore energy policy has to be integrated into social and economic urban initiatives. This is interpreted as providing affordable warmth in well insulated houses and creating new jobs in energy management.
In July 1990, Leicester was designated Britain's first Environment City. The aim of the Environment City scheme is to promote sustainable urban development through the effective co-operation of statutory bodies, businesses, voluntary organisations and individuals. It seeks to challenge entrenched attitudes and to form new partnerships in order to improve the urban environment. The Environment City programme is developed around eight themes, with each theme being the responsibility of a Specialist Working Group:
A fundamental principle of the programme is the partnership approach in policies, plans and programmes. As Britain's First Environment City, Leicester has an ideal opportunity to work towards sustainability using this partnership approach to deliver Leicester's Local Agenda 21 (Blueprint for Leicester).
Integrating sustainability goals into an energy policy means that in the first place energy supply should be via renewable energy resources and other forms of heat and power, provided through the co-generation of electricity and heat in a city-wide Combined Heat and Power/District Heating network. In order to achieve this aim, the City Council needs to have a major strategic involvement with the local energy supply utilities. In the longer term the energy supply utility should be encouraged to diversify into integrated utilities as this would create the opportunity to become energy service companies, i.e. companies that supply heat, light and power, rather than kilowatt hours of energy.
Leicester's energy saving approach is characterised by a close examination of the areas of energy supply and energy demand under environmental aspects. The scrutiny of monitoring and implementation activities is essential for the consideration of green scenarios and measures. Integral to each area is working in partnership with other organisations, and providing advice and information to all sectors. The good practice cases are the most efficient assets of local urban policy, particularly to develop the concept of energy services.
In consequence, the improvement of the energy performance of buildings is considered the most important single aspect of Leicester's energy strategy. Council houses offer a direct target for public initiatives, whereas private dwellings can be influenced indirectly by information and financial assistance as well as conditioned sale of public land. Municipal energy management serves to bring about energy efficiency improvements to their buildings, lighting schemes, transport systems and waste disposal systems.
During the 1980s Leicester has also become the British pioneer in the area of environmentally friendly energy supply as it was forcefully promoting the development of Combined Heat and Power (CHP). However, within the now privatised British energy industries, public corporations face a difficult situation. Leicester's scheme to install city-wide district heating therefore has not been very successful. Nevertheless, the city currently concentrates on small-scale CHP projects that offer promising results in such facilities as public administrations, leisure centres, schools and hospitals. In the field of energy demand the City Council is also trying to consider ecological aspects in the domestic and non-domestic sector as well as in transport policy.
Energy supply activities are mainly concentrated on the generation of energy via CHP and district heating. In Leicester the CHP sector can be divided into the areas of city-wide CHP and small-scale CHP. The city-wide work involved not only the Government but also the City Council and other public and private sector companies. Over a number of years research was undertaken to ascertain the potential for Combined Heat and Power in the city. The study concluded that CHP was indeed viable in Leicester. This then resulted in the establishment of a company, the Leicester Energy Limited, which was charged with the task of developing a Combined Heat and Power scheme for the city. This company operated successfully for a number of years, but was unable to agree on a power sales contract with the local regional electricity company. This happened at the time when the electricity supply industry was being privatised and it appears that the uncertainties due to the privatisation of the electricity supply industry prevented the project from going ahead. However, the regulatory regime and the government policy meant that a city-wide CHP scheme is not feasible. Since the failure of the Leicester Energy Limited CHP Scheme, several other schemes have been investigated. Unfortunately the current economics of the UK energy supply industries have resulted in little further progress to date.
In the absence of a city-wide CHP scheme, the City Council has been installing smaller gas-fired units in its Leisure Centres and in its District Heating schemes. The total installed capacity is 700 kWel and 1,200 kWth. Other organisations within the city have also installed CHP units (e.g. in the health service or in schools). There is potential to link these together as part of a future city-wide CHP scheme. Similarly, there is potential to harness the waste heat from various industries in the city, and heat generated from renewable resources, into these heat distribution networks. The establishment of a city-wide heat distribution network is seen as an essential step in establishing large-scale CHP in the city, so moving to a more sustainable energy supply situation.
District heating improvement measures have continued as part of an urban regeneration scheme. The city council owns some 3,000 dwellings that are supplied with heat by the five district heating schemes. These improvements have included replacement of the primary heat distribution network with pre-insulated pipework that has a 20-year life; installation of improved hot water storage facilities; improved tenant heating control; and improved monitoring and control of the boiler houses. A number of small-scale CHP units have now been installed in the district heating scheme and there are proposals to interconnect the schemes to form the first phase of a city-wide CHP network.
In contrast, energy demand activities offer a wider range for environmentally compatible measures. Demand side management has been considered in the domestic sector, the non-domestic sector and the transport sector.
To date, the Council's activities in the domestic sector have concentrated on making sure that its own buildings are energy efficient and ensuring that the houses it controls or has influence over are energy efficient as well. The domestic sector accounts for approximately 30% of total energy consumption in Leicester. The majority of this energy is in the form of gas used for space and water heating. Gas is also used for cooking, and electricity is used for space and water heating, as well as for cooking and appliances. There is little oil or coal used for heating within the city. The total number of dwellings in the city in 1994 was 112,000, of which 30,000 are owned by the City Council.
Energy efficiency stock profiles have been prepared for the domestic sector. This has involved undertaking sample surveys of the entire housing stock of the City of Leicester, and calculating the National Home Energy Rating (NHER) using stock profile software. An NHER profile of the Council's housing stock has enabled the Housing Department to prioritise the measures that needed to be undertaken to further improve the energy efficiency of its stock. These measures have resulted in substantial improvements and have included insulating all the cavity-walled dwellings, loft insulation, boiler replacements, double-glazed windows and on a limited number of houses, external wall insulation. The NHER scale was also used to measure the energy performance of the Council's new build housing. Originally a standard of a NHER of at least 8 was adopted and this was subsequently raised to an NHER of at least 9. During 1992 and 1993 several houses were rebuilt to a NHER standard of 9.9. This makes these dwellings amongst the most energy efficient homes in the UK. However, due to restrictions imposed by the UK Central Government, the City Council has built only 12 new houses.
Private housing within Leicester can be divided into three distinct groups. These are the pre-war houses that benefit from the City's renewal strategies, the housing in the "City Challenge" area (an urban regeneration area) and the rest of the private sector. A home energy strategy has been developed to improve the energy efficiency of the dwellings in all these areas. This provides advice, promotion, specification of works, supervision of contractors, financial information and, in some cases, grants towards the cost of the energy efficiency improvement works. The City Council has limited control over the standards to which private developers build their houses. However, it can insist on high energy efficiency standards if it owns the land on which the dwellings are being built. It thus sets the standard of requiring an NHER of at least 8, but preferably 9, for new houses built on land it is selling. In addition, housing associations working within Leicester have adopted similar standards. Experience from the City Council, and other organisations, suggests that it is relatively straightforward to achieve an NHER in excess of 9 on new build houses.
Two areas of the city are currently being developed for housing and employment. In 1992, a design study was commenced to establish the most environmentally friendly form of development in these peripheral zones. It is only through comprehensive planning (e.g. the house design, the land use plan, and transportation planning etc.) that the largest reductions in energy use and CO2 emissions will be made possible.
Grants are given by the City Council to some owner-occupiers in the City. Housing renewal grants are given on the basis of national fitness standards, but unfortunately these standards do not take full account of the benefits of energy efficiency. In order to improve the energy efficiency of homes to help owners achieve affordable warmth, the Council has provided additional grant aid towards the costs of an energy efficiency package. Another inner City area, the "City Challenge" area, benefits from a package of energy efficiency improvements. The same standards as those in House Renovation Grants are applied. The City Challenge housing is predominantly pre-war, solid brick wall housing with gas central heating. Homes in Renewal Areas are also solid brick wall construction. They typically achieve 1 to 3 on the NHER scale before any energy efficiency improvements. Following energy efficiency improvement measures they can reach up to 7 on the NHER scale, through a combination of loft insulation, heating control improvements and heating system improvements. Such a package of measures has been offered as discretionary grant to the mandatory housing renovation grant. These measures do not include wall insulation, because of its relatively high cost.
One of the initial problems encountered with the energy efficiency house renovation work was that building workers and heating technicians were unaware of the new advances in materials and components. They thus required training in these new methods, which was provided in training courses the City Council arranged. The trainees are also able to use the skills gained during the training to help them with other installation work within the city.
The non-domestic services are another important area for demand side management. Large businesses in Leicester have been targeted through the Leicester Energy and Environment Group. These groups were formed nationally, on a regional basis, by the Government's Energy Efficiency Office in the 1980s. They bring together representatives of major businesses in their appropriate region to look at energy efficiency. The original driving force was to make British industry become more competitive by reducing their energy costs. However, as part of the national plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, they are being used as a way to both improve competitiveness and reduce CO2 emissions. Membership is drawn predominantly from the larger energy consuming businesses within the city, together with the City Council, Health Authority and universities. They provide a forum for exchange of experience between different members and also an opportunity for new technology and new practices to be presented to the group. The Energy and Environment Group thus addresses the city's larger companies, with small businesses being targeted through the Local Energy Advice Centre.
Information, education and training in energy efficiency is a crucial part of the success of any urban energy management policy. This also includes the information capacity of the local authority itself. The City Council provides advice, information and support for businesses in the City. Part of this work consists of informing businesses of the potential for energy efficiency or environmental improvement grants. Advice and information are given through the Council's Business Link Initiative. In addition, a "Business Line", operated by a local environmental charity, Environ, provides advice on how to bring green issues to local businesses. Small shops are being targeted for energy advice by the Local Energy Advice Centre.
Information and advice have proved to be absolutely vital to conduct all environmental areas. Leicester has an Energy Advice Centre located in the Consumer Advice Centre, which has a shopfront office in the city centre. People wishing to enquire about energy efficiency can either visit the Energy Advice Centre or ring the free telephone number. The computerised system incorporates a questionnaire that determines which energy efficient measures would be most suitable for the property concerned. The advice given includes details of the estimated costs and savings, and names and addresses of local suppliers. This information is given over the phone and also posted to the caller.
In addition, the Eco House at Western Park provides information on energy efficiency and other aspects of the environment. An Eco Roadshow takes the message to those unable to visit the Eco House. The Save Energy at Home campaign encourages people to read their electricity and gas meters on a weekly basis and so measure the benefits of installing low energy blubs and other energy efficiency measures.
Finally, transport should be an equally important energy-saving sector an integrated strategy. Until the 1960s, most through traffic had to negotiate the city centre. The resultant daily congestion brought forth the inner ring, a four-lane circuit close to the centre, which enabled closure of some of the central area to through traffic. Whilst some of the road was built as an underpass, in most circumstances the pedestrian is presented with a choice of subways, four-lane crossings, or limited over-bridges. Many of these choices have now been enhanced as part of a retrospective improvement of the pedestrian and cyclists environment. Despite regular traffic management, road investment, junction improvements, signal controls (including one of the U.K.'s first computer controlled signal systems), the congestion, pollution and general intrusion of vehicles has continued to increase.
There is a recognised need to reduce dependence on the individual vehicle as a means of transport. A comprehensive study on access and mobility was undertaken and a comprehensive set of measures are currently being planned to address the issue. Conclusions from the work could include proposals for a light rapid transit scheme, more pedestrianisation and cycle facilities, improved public transport and congestion charging. Examples of initiatives in the city include: cycle-ways, pedestrianisation, proposals for compressed natural gas vehicles and plans for employee-trip reduction schemes.Currently, an integrated transport study is under way to address these issues.
OECD, (ed.) 1995: Urban Energy Handbook. Good Local Practice, Paris
Fleming, Paul 1996: Leicestercomprehensive approach to energy saving and CO2 reduction, in: EA.UE, (ed.), Facing the Challenge. Successful Climate Policies in European Cities, Berlin, pp. 187- 193
| Name | : | Dodd |
| Firstname | : | Anna |
| Telefon | : | ++44 / 116 / 54 99 22 |
| Telefax | : | ++ 44 / 116 / 255 38 09 |
| Address | : | Environmental Policy |
| Co-ordinator | ||
| Leicester City Council, New | ||
| Walk Centre | ||
| GB - Leicester LE 1 6 ZG | ||
The City of Leicester is one of the largest cities in the East Midlands of Great Britain. In 1991, the population of Leicester stood at 272,000, covering an area of approximately 73 square kilometres. About 28% of the population are of Asian or West Indian origin, giving Leicester the largest Indian community in the whole of Great Britain.
There are 2,000 industrial companies in Leicester employing over 45,000 people. In terms of employment, the size of these companies ranges from only a few workers to over 1,000 employees. In 1987, industry accounted for 61% of the total workforce in Leicester. Almost half of the companies produce textiles, and this is also the largest sub-sector in terms of employment. Other sub-sectors well-represented within Leicester include the engineering industry and the paper industry.
Project was added at 25.06.96
Project was changed at 27.06.96