01/05/24: Grange Association Home Energy Event: 30 Apr.
The further up the ladder of home energy saving you go, the more complicated it becomes and the more help and advice you need. This event was a very useful reminder of that, but it also reinforced the point that the early steps – draught-proofing and easy-to-access insulation – can be quick wins. On this, it’s never too late to make a start and to keep on top of it.
This Grange Association (GA) community get-together was anchored by Edinburgh Building Retrofit and Improvement Collective (EdinBRIC), a non-commercial, independent, member-led enterprise with both a RIAS and a RICS professional at the helm, currently in receipt of support from Edinburgh Community Climate Fund provided by the City of Edinburgh Council. The meeting also covered case-studies illustrating the practical home retrofit experience of three GA members. (For more detail, contact
EdinBRIC is a knowledge and services network for re-shaping domestic energy consumption, in the home and in the community. It hinges on the Resilient Community concept. Take a look here:
About us – Edinburgh Building Retrofit and Improvement Collective (edinbric.scot)
In the same vein, Loco Home Retrofit CIC is a Glasgow-based co-operative (regulated by the Community Interest Company Regulator) with the same focus of improving the existing fabric of household buildings by reducing energy demand and moving on to low-carbon heating sources. Learn more here:
Loco Home Retrofit CIC Limited – Glasgow's Retrofit Co-operative
Both enterprises stand ready to bring together households, tradespeople and professionals to chart the complicated path towards home energy retrofit, leading from problem through knowledge share to solution. Whether the starting point is single household or shared ownership or residents’ association, community groups like EdinBRIC and Loco Home Retrofit begin to open up the ‘How to go about it’ manual.
See if what they have to say has any pointers for you. Check, too, with Home Energy Scotland ( About us · Home Energy Scotland ) and its network of local advice centres. If you have ideas to share with EACC, please get in touch.
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19/01/24: Clean Heat Edinburgh Forum: The shape of the LHEES.
Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy (November 2023)
Summary and assessment by Sarah Mehrabi of Clean Heat Edinburgh Forum
(Received 18 Jan 2024)
The Strategy
The Edinburgh Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) is a long-term strategic framework aimed at improving the energy efficiency of buildings in the local authority's area and reducing greenhouse gas emissions resulting from heating. The strategy aligns with the Scottish Government's target of decarbonizing the heating of all buildings in Scotland by 2045 and the Council's goal of making Edinburgh a net zero carbon city by 2030.
The strategy sets out three central principles: taking a whole-system view, having an inclusive energy transition, and implementing a smarter local energy model. It also establishes two main targets: for 50% of Scotland's energy consumption to be supplied from renewable sources by 2030 and for a 30% increase in energy use productivity across the Scottish economy by 2030.
The strategy identifies key actions to support the transition to a climate-friendly energy system, including boosting advisory services for energy efficiency, providing support to remote and rural off-grid communities, and developing specialist knowledge and skills in retrofitting and zero emissions heating systems.
The document highlights the local policy landscape, with a focus on accelerating energy efficiency in homes and buildings and enabling the development of a citywide program for heat and energy generation and distribution. It also emphasises the importance of retrofitting social housing, developing regional renewable energy solutions, and establishing an Energy Efficient Public Buildings Partnership.
The strategy's findings highlight several challenges specific to Edinburgh's building stock, such as a high proportion of flats and mixed-tenure buildings, existing gas grid connections, an aged housing stock with listed buildings, and a significant number of homes with uninsulated walls. The analysis identifies strategic zones that provide potential pathways for decarbonizing the building stock and areas of pressure in terms of energy efficiency.
Overall, the Edinburgh LHEES aims to drive interventions and mobilise stakeholders to achieve the targets of energy efficiency and decarbonization, recognizing the need for significant resources and collaboration between the public and private sectors.
The Delivery Plan
The key points of the Delivery Plan for the Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy of The City of Edinburgh Council for the years 2024-2028 are as follows:
- The Delivery Plan focuses on actions that can be implemented between 2024 and 2028, with a particular emphasis on "no regrets" or "low regrets" actions that are feasible within the current policy context, funding availability, and existing powers.
- The Delivery Plan identifies three thematic areas aligned with the national priorities of achieving net zero emissions and addressing fuel poverty: improving energy efficiency in areas at high risk of fuel poverty, piloting works to make homes heat pump-ready, and expanding the use of heat networks across Edinburgh.
- The Delivery Plan acknowledges that the funding resources currently available are not sufficient to support the scale of interventions required. It also recognizes the limitations of a grant funding approach.
- The Delivery Plan proposes the establishment of an "LHEES Office" as a dedicated project management office to coordinate the delivery of the Edinburgh LHEES.
- The Delivery Plan presents a portfolio of projects consisting of 35 Delivery Areas and Heat Network Zones. These areas represent existing or potential projects related to energy efficiency and the transition to heat pumps.
- The Delivery Areas and Heat Network Zones are categorised based on areas with high levels of fuel poverty and deprivation, areas suitable for retrofits to the Council's housing stock, and areas with potential for mixed tenure improvement services and other measures.
- The Delivery Plan acknowledges that the actions outlined in the plan may overlap with those in the Council's 2030 Climate Strategy, but the Delivery Plan has a more specific focus on heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency actions that can be implemented during the specified period.
- The Delivery Plan is subject to ongoing policy and regulatory changes, and future iterations of the plan are expected to have a broader focus as the context for delivery becomes clearer.
14/12/23: Delivering Edinburgh's Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy
1. On 15 December, CEC’s Policy & Sustainability Committee receives the Council’s Draft Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) and the related Draft Delivery Plan. Scot Gov has mandated all Local Authorities to prepare this kind of detailed thinking for the road to Net Zero Emissions by 2045. You’ll find the full set of documents in the Public Document Pack, Agenda Item 5.2, on Page 111. There is a lot of reading here. It is a very commendable piece of work, led by CEC Programme Development Officer, Kyle Drummond.
2. The LHEES papers are preceded (on Page 36) by the submission of the Draft Climate Ready Edinburgh (CRE) Plan 2024-2030, with a public consultation to follow. The CRE Plan updates risk assessments of why and where the city needs to adapt, building on big themes like Planning and the Built Environment, Coastal Adaptation, Sustainable Transport, the Natural Environment, Community Support and Climate Justice. It goes almost without saying that “as this work develops….the need for additional investment will become more acute”.
3. The CRE Plan is strong on concept and has a ‘vision thing’ – “Edinburgh will be a thriving, fair, resilient city and region where people, communities and nature flourish in a changing climate”. By contrast the Edinburgh LHEES and the Delivery Plan which follows (Page 293) are deep on detail, setting out ‘baseline analyses’ of where the city’s building stock falls short on energy efficiency, where it exacerbates fuel poverty and where it runs high on carbon emissions. The Delivery Plan translates analysis into activity and goes on to identify, almost by grid reference, a series of ‘priority areas of focus’ (also termed ‘strategic zones’) where walls and lofts will be insulated, heat pumps installed and heat networks stitched together. (The high-level ‘principles’ governing ‘how to start’ priorities are set out on Page 135. The high level ‘Considerations’ shaping the ‘pathways to decarbonisation’ – ‘how to get there’ – are summarised on Page 163. The mapping starts on Page 249.)
4. All of this goes towards identifying “a portfolio of projects that could potentially be delivered, or at least initiated/progressed, during the Delivery Plan period (2024 to 2028), subject to the necessary resources and powers being available” (Page 308). Note the conditionality. Specified are eight Delivery Areas relating to Energy Efficiency, 10 Delivery Areas relating to Heat Pumps and 17 prospective Heat Network Zones; a total of 35 physical intervention project localities. (Other declared projects include high-rise housing retrofit, old and historic properties retrofit and green heat.)
5. This is detailed drawing-board work (mapped from Page 319). Here are some of the acknowledged limitations. On Energy Efficiency: the interventions will not pay for themselves over time; they would likely need to be partly or wholly subsidised. On Heat Pumps: there are significant obstacles to embarking on any large-scale installation programme. On Heat Network Zones: how to plan and undertake the large-scale excavation which then disrupts almost every other element of city infrastructure.
6. The full Delivery Plan Schedule of Actions to be led by a new “LHEES Office” is set out on Page 390. There is much to be done, all of it hinging on the adoption of core high-level Principles to guide a “20-year journey to decarbonisation”. Here are some of the strands of thinking embodied within these Principles: Behavioural change will be vital. / There has to be a major structural change in electricity pricing. / “The capital costs of implementing the Edinburgh LHEES are vast.” / “…the Council does not currently have a budget in place for the delivery of the Edinburgh LHEES.” / “…additional powers to compel change will be required to deliver heat carbonisation in a timeous manner.” / “…there are significant pressures on the availability of skills associated with heat decarbonisation.”
7. The LHEES Office is on a Scot Gov grant budget of £75k per annum for five years out to 2028. That is more or less all that is in the Council’s kitty so far for this massive decarbonisation project. The Council is currently facing “severe stress on its budget”. In prospect is a long-running programme whose “targets will be extremely challenging”, calling for “large-scale activity by both the public sector and the private sector and the commitment of significant resources”.
8. This is, in essence, a city redesign project. “The total cost of delivering the Edinburgh LHEES – i.e. of improving the energy efficiency and decarbonising the heat of every building in Edinburgh – will be in the order of several billion pounds over the next 20+ years.” “A wide variety of stakeholders will require to be mobilised towards these goals.” Note that last verb. Be prepared to be disturbed.
Appendix
Energy Efficiency Delivery Areas
Restalrig & Lochend / Bingham & Magdalene / Restalrig & Craigentinny
The Calders / Granton, Wardieburn & Royston / Niddrie & Craigmillar
Clovenstone & Wester Hailes / Muirhouse
Heat Pump Delivery Areas
Lochend Butterfly Way / Waterfront Park / Robertson Avenue
Fountainbridge / Oxgangs Avenue / West Pilton Grove
Craigour Place / Elgin Street / Morrison Crescent
Craighouse Gardens
Heat Network Zones
New Town / Leith Walk / Old Town & Southside / Gorgie & Dalry
Craigleith / Granton / Leith / Portobello & Seafield
Morningside / South East Edinburgh / Colinton Mains
South West Edinburgh / Heriot-Watt / Sighthill & Gyle / Ingliston
South Queensferry / Second New Town
Reference:
Policy & Sustainability Committee Papers, 15 December 2023
Agenda Item 5.2
Edinburgh Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy and Delivery Plan
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31/10/23: District Heating Networks - an Edinburgh perspective.
Bill Rodger (Trinity CC) looks at the DHN role in local energy strategy:
Background
Still rare in the UK, District Heating Networks (DHN) are common in Europe. Well over a century old, the technology has seen several generations of improvement. DHNs move heat around using warm water rather than fuel and generally share a common heat source. That may be waste heat, a large boiler or an industrial scale heat pump. The greenness of their output is largely determined by the greenness of the heat source but because upgrading the heat source immediately upgrades potentially hundreds of individual homes DHN offers future proofing while technological change advances.
Modern materials have hugely improved DHN efficiency (5% heat loss over 40 km is claimed). This means that a diverse portfolio of heat sources can be incorporated and continually upgraded.
Inside the house, making the switch to DHN generally means replacing your (almost certainly gas) boiler with a (slightly smaller) heat exchanger. Your radiators continue to function.
Looking forward
Scottish Government requires all 32 LA’s to produce a Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES). Edinburgh’s will shortly go to consultation. In setting out the framework for LHEES Scottish Government listed 3 broad technology groups - Energy Efficiency, Heat Pumps and DHN.
Scotland already has some DHNs but they are small scale. Aberdeen Heat & Power operates 5 small networks mostly introduced to combat fuel poverty. Edinburgh has around 150 sites where individual buildings share a common boiler but only a single network connecting several Edinburgh University buildings. However there are well advanced plans for DHN at Granton Waterfront and Shawfair.
Scotland’s targets imply a sevenfold increase over the next 7 years. In cities, where potential is greatest, this will be much higher. Early indications from Edinburgh's LHEES suggest that DHNs have the potential to cover over 50% of Edinburgh's population. Commercial arrangements will need to be struck for investment in the areas with greatest potential and the ongoing provision of the service. Scottish Futures Trust is backing DHN.
Experience from Scandinavia highlights that network benefits increase exponentially with scale implying a discussion about investment in infrastructure to hasten DHN take-up and keep individual connection costs low. Private investment will need to be leveraged. Government regulation is needed to avoid market abuse and to harmonise technical standards so that the full advantages of an integrated network can be achieved.
The future for heating the UK’s homes will not remain as it is now with a single dominant fuel. For the individual householder, DHN should be seen as one of several tools to reach Net Zero. It will therefore be important for Edinburgh’s residents to be aware of the likelihood and timescales for DHN to be introduced into their area so that they can take an informed decision when it comes to replacing their boiler.
Nor should DHN be seen in isolation. Rather it needs considered in conjunction with other measures – as should heat pumps. Improving the insulation in your home will also be advisable and brings immediate benefits in lower fuel bills.
Role for Community Councils and EACC
EACC will continue working with other organisations to keep CCs informed and, through them, individual families. DHN implies some disruption including roadworks. It will help if people understand what the purpose of the disruption is.
So far as we can we will seek to influence CEC and SG to ensure that options are maximised for the people of Edinburgh and that people are aware of the timelines for their area.
Important to both the above will be good two-way engagement with the LHEES output. That should be seen as a dialogue not as an inflexible plan.
27 Oct 2023
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30/08/23: Heat Pump Use in Scotland - an evidence review (Oct 2021)
Climate X Change (CXC), based at the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute at High School Yards, Edinburgh, is a Scottish Government-funded centre of expertise on climate change. CXC 'commissions research and analysis to support the Scottish Government as it develops policies on adapting to the changing climate and transitioning to net zero'.
I came across this October 2021 paper* (55pp) which offers a detailed assessment of where and why heat pump efficiency can vary widely across the heating season and in different buildings, domestic as well as non-domestic. One standout is that weak user understanding of how to operate heat pumps and weak or imprecise installation design, specification and commissioning can really impair how well they perform, albeit that heat pumps are a mature heating technology.
Poor performance, of course, hits user levels of satisfaction and user behaviour. Amongst the conclusions (at the time) from this piece of work; customer expectations need managed; strong customer support is needed from pre-sale to after-sale; the supply chain needs to focus more on tailored specification and installation, case-by-case.
Here is the Link to the CXC paper, which carries a very useful primer on heat pump technologies.
* Courtesy of the Grange Association, Edinburgh.
END / KR
14/07/23: Opinion: The Communal Bin Hub Programme
'Don't let it sneak up on you', says Bill Rodger, Trinity CC.
The Communal Bin Hub (CBH) project is rolling out in phases, skirting an earlier failed attempt to introduce it within the World Heritage site.
The core objectives of increasing effective recycling capacity and our overall recycling efficiency requires that each CBH carry twice as many bins. That means combining two sites into one larger site approximately 30ft long.
“Phase 1” covers the north east including Trinity. Phases 2 and 3 are underway and Phase 4 is under ‘consultation’ The following draws on Trinity’s experience. Despite having relatively few tenements and communal bins, the issues arising have prompted a significant response, have absorbed much Community Council and Elected Councillor time and have proved intractable.
Implementation started in December 2022 with bull bars installed in the roadway outside the new locations. Bins were combined inside the bars shortly thereafter. Deeply felt concerns were soon reported.
Complaints included:
- Lack of advance notice: Many residents claim that the sight of the bull bars was the first they know of the scheme.
- Consultation: Inadequate and, for some, non-existent. Benefits emphasised but with little acknowledgement of potential issues. Detailed maps were only available if a resident attended one of three in-person sessions.
- Noise: Especially acute where a bedroom faces the roadway with only a small garden. Sleep deprivation is an issue. Glass recycling is the worst especially with steel bins.
- Road safety: If a narrow street is also a thoroughfare, at peak times stressed drivers sometimes mount the opposite pavement to drive around a collection truck.
- Visual intrusion: Affects those residents facing a CBH, worsening their outlook and sometimes removing what had been an open view. Locations are determined objectively by algorithm but those directly impacted can feel arbitrarily unfairly affected, with particular concerns about their property’s market value.
- On-road parking compromised: A real issue if the residents are ageing and have mobility issues.
- Fly-tipping on the rise: The perception that a “communal bin”, now twice its previous size, is effectively a mini city dump is easily formed. Locations with a convenient stop, such as a disabled space, are especially prone.
Solutions might be found through practical conversations with CEC. However, Trinity residents have not found the project to be easily opened up to discussion and to solutions utilising local knowledge. The CEC process followed appears rigidly obstructive. A limited opportunity afforded in late 2022 to local Councillors to facilitate discussion, which did allow some progress to be made, was subsequently constrained by a report in 2023.
The main lesson to be learned by other CC areas ahead of CBH rollout is this: it's essential that those residents likely to be affected engage early with the consultation and look to understand properly their own situation. Urge them to do so and to take a close look. They should not take ‘general reassurances’ as being sufficient and all they need to know. Of course. it can be a challenge to engage those most affected ahead of problems emerging.
In this programme, CEC’s real objective shouldn’t be the principle behind the CBH project (which is commendable) but rather the search for practical solutions through proper engagement, so as to allow programme completion while minimising the impact on quality- of-life for those unfortunate individual residents staring out at their CBH.
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03/07/23: Clean Cities Campaign 2023 European rankings.
The Clean Cities Campaign is hosted by Transport & Environment, 'Europe's leading NGO campaigning for cleaner transport'.
A City Ranking survey across 42 major European cities ('the state of shared and zero-emission mobility) ranks on shared bikes and e-scooters, shared electric cars, publicly-available EV charging infrastructure (all per 1000 inhabitants, in Q1 2023) and the percentage of the city's urban bus fleet that is zero emission (data gathered ranges from 2021 to 2023.)
Copenhagen ranks 1/42 with a score of 87% and a grade A. Edinburgh ranked 38/42 with '12% and E', on a par with Birmingham. Glasgow ranked '30% and D'. (Edinburgh was 31/36 in 2022.)
UK city investment in zero emissions is lagging. The UK Climate Change Committee on 28 June rated government action on emissions 'worryingly slow'; 23% of all UK emissions comes from surface transport.
See City Ranking - 2023 focused edition - Clean Cities Campaign and Publications - Climate Change Committee (theccc.org.uk)
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