Event: 31 May 2023: Transition Edinburgh / Our Future Edinburgh

Transitioning Edinburgh to Low Carbon Heat Workshop

Facilitated by:

Our Future Edinburgh* – Johanna Carrie: Home - Our Future Edinburgh

Transition Edinburgh* – David Somervell: Transition Edinburgh – Pathways to building a fairer, carbon neutral future

Ben Carter – Vattenfall Edinburgh

John Maslen – Independent renewable energy consultant

Edinburgh Climate Change Institute: Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI) - Edinburgh Earth Initiative

Objective: To bring together key stakeholders from the public, private and community sectors across the Edinburgh city region to discuss how to make the shift to low carbon heating, a key element for any Net Zero plan. 

The main focus was on District Heating networks. Here is a visual indication of the ambition:

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(See https://ramboll.com/energy/district-energy and also

https://netzeroedinburgh.org/turner-townsend-appointed-by-city-of-edinburgh-council-to-drive-decarbonisation-of-buildings-across-the-capital/ )

The Practicalities:

• The technical knowledge is there, with the conceptual ambition. The engineering, science and organisational commitment continue to evolve here in the UK. (It is well established in continental Europe. The Greater Copenhagen District Heating (DH) network is the exemplar. It transmits through 54km of pipelines, supplying 250,000 households with district heating. That shows what could be done, but it has been a 25-year plus endeavour. English - CTR )
• The funding sources, the funding terms, the public-private share of risk, the protocols on how to lead and proceed (delivery partners), and the legislative frameworks are far from settled.
• However, the Scottish Government sees a significant future role for DH and here in Edinburgh there is a live programme and it is picking up pace. (There is a lot of catch-up to do compared to the likes of Aberdeen and Leeds.)
• In broad terms, the ‘bill’ to decarbonise buildings in Scotland is put at £33bn (just for that part of the ‘great transition’). The comprehensive ‘need for innovative funding’ doesn’t begin to describe the challenge. (There are deep fundamental issues: ‘Who are the ‘owners’ of the disparate programmes or ‘bits and pieces’?’: ‘Returns are insufficient to attract private investment.’)
• Edinburgh’s Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES), mandated by the Scottish Government, is due to emerge from CEC late in 2023. It will have a 5-year delivery plan and it needs to be a pathbreaker. Look for ‘consultation’ over the summer on new proposals, new prohibitions and on new alternatives.
• The city’s Net Zero 2030 programme, while widely heralded, needs ‘political leadership, organisational capacity, collaboration, tenacity and transparency’.
• ‘Someone’ has to ‘own the problem’. ‘Someone’ is going to have to take the ‘message’ to communities; to ‘scope and deliver public engagement at the local level.’ (Watch for the risks of misinformation.)
• Who is that to be? CEC officials? Elected Councillors? Community Councils? The private sector? With what support and guidance? What is the message? Who will be held to account?
• Sarah Boyack MSP was in attendance. She spoke with some energy at the end, saying she was going to get on the case at the Scottish Parliament. Let’s watch that space.

Participants and Reference Points:

UK Energy Research Centre - Jan Webb: UKERC | The UK Energy Research Centre

Scottish Futures Trust – Paul Moseley: Home - Scottish Futures Trust

Scot Gov Heat in Buildings Programme - Drew Murphy: Heat in Buildings programme - Energy efficiency - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

City of Edinburgh Council Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) – Kyle Drummond: Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) – The City of Edinburgh Council

Sarah Boyack MSP

Aberdeen Heat & Power Co. Ltd – Michael King: Home-v2 - Aberdeen Heat & Power (aberdeenheatandpower.co.uk)

Midlothian Energy Ltd – Owen McGuire: Midlothian - Vattenfall Heat UK

Midlothian Council joint venture to invest £100m in low-carbon energy projects - Midlothian View

Leeds PIPES – Steve Hunt: Home - Leeds PIPES Heating Network (leeds-pipes.co.uk)

The University of Edinburgh Utilities Supply Company: The University of Edinburgh | CHP Energy Installation (vitalenergi.co.uk)

Ener-Vate Consultants – Steve Hunt: District Heating | Ener-Vate

Loco₂gen: Locogen Homepage

 

More information:

Moving cities to net zero:

https://www.fairopoly.com/

Scot Gov First National Assessment on potential Heat Network Zones (Apr 2022):

Potential heat network zones: first national assessment - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Scot Gov Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), managed by Local Energy Scotland: https://localenergy.scot/

See also Energy Saving Trust: https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/programme/community-and-renewable-energy-scheme/

*Transition Edinburgh and Our Future Edinburgh are in the process of forming a local Climate Action Hub (Community work for a fairer (poverty, inequality) and greener Edinburgh).

There are close links to:

Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Council

EVOC Home - Providing support for Edinburgh's voluntary sector

EVOC Community Climate Forum – Charlie Wright

Community Climate Forum - EVOC

Scottish Communities Climate Action Network (SCCAN – Sarah McArthur) and Transition Scotland Hub:

Scottish Communities Climate Action Network & Transition Scotland Hub – & network of climate action groups (sccan.scot)

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Event: 7 Jun 23: CEC Spatial Policy Unit:

Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) Workshop:

(Ruth White, Placemaking and Mobility Strategy and Development Manager, CEC.)

The draft AQAP sits in the delivery channel of the City Mobility Plan, alongside Active Travel, Public Transport, Road Safety and Parking Action Plans. The five sets of proposals are currently out for consultation until 9 July. ( Item 7.5 - Revision to the Air Quality Action Plan - Draft for Consultation.pdf (edinburgh.gov.uk)

In broad terms, there has been progressive improvement in city air quality standards over the past 15 years, but they are ‘nowhere near’ World Health Organisation standards and some ‘trouble spots’ in the city remain. There is increasingly solid recognition of the damage to environment, personal health and welfare arising from pollution. The main local pollutants of concern are nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), to a lesser extent carbon dioxide (CO₂), and fine airborne particulate matter, PM10 and PM2.5 (measuring less than 10 micrometres in diameter and less than 2.5 micrometres respectively).

The overarching legislative drivers come from the Scot Gov Cleaner Air for Scotland Strategy (CAFS) 2, from National Planning Framework 4 and from the National Transport Strategy (National Transport Strategy | Transport Scotland )

There are eight key themes under the AQAP proposals:

Low Emission Zone (LEZ) • Strategic Transport • Behavioural Change to Active Travel • Public Transport • Low Emission Vehicles • 2030 Climate Strategy • Integrated Policies and Guidance • Domestic Emissions.

There is a close convergence here with the broader City Mobility Plan (City Mobility Plan – The City of Edinburgh Council )

The high-cost elements are:

Implementation of the LEZ;

Incorporating AQ considerations into the Public Transport Action Plan, with support for projects to decarbonise the Edinburgh bus fleet;

Improving the St John’s Road / Drumbrae South corridor;

The development of net zero community heating projects;

The development of a Whole House Retrofit (WHR) programme for social housing in the city.

The ‘difficult’ elements relate to personal behaviour change, essentially in car use and in domestic emissions (open fires and wood-burning stoves and the like).

Set in the context of the Net Zero 2030 Climate Strategy, it is difficult to exaggerate the scale of change envisaged for the city. The easy thing is to be cynical about the intent and the effort. However, the direction of travel is clear. The success of the endeavour will rest on funding, human resource at CEC level, the progressive selection of the right priorities on the way, all alongside the right nudges to induce personal behaviour change.

See this CEC Consultation document: Actions to deliver Edinburgh’s City Mobility Plan - City of Edinburgh Council - Citizen Space

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13 Apr 2023: CEC Waste & Cleansing Key Contacts List

Compiled by Angus Murdoch, Technical Coordinator, CEC Place Directorate: 30 March 2023.

Initial reports or enquiries

Use the website where possible. There are a range of webforms for the most common things that people want to do and that’s the best and quickest way to get to the correct team first time.

www.edinburgh.gov.uk is the council website.

The waste landing page lets you do a range of things from reporting a missed bin or request a replacement bin, to register for the garden waste collection or book a special uplift or visit to a household waste recycling centre.

The recycling landing page also has features such as what to put in each bin and our recycling sorter to look up what to do with common items you’re not sure about.

Important Guidelines

Why is waste a problem? sets out why it’s important to reduce waste and, in really simple terms, why recycling is important.

Our waste prevention page provides links to support people reduce their waste production in the first place.

Our real nappies guide provides advice to people considering alternatives to disposables;

Our home composting guide offers advice on how to get started here.

What goes in each bin links to guides, videos, and stair posters for the different services and different bins,

while getting the most from your recycling gives simple advice about common things we’re often asked about or issues we experience;

What happens to your recycling explains where our main recycling and waste streams go and what happens.

The plastics page looks to ease the confusion that exists around those materials, and be clear what you can put in our collections, It also provides advice about other plastics and the various retailer takeback schemes. The soft plastics page give specific information about the retailer takeback schemes for plastic bags and wrappers;

Note also the national recycleyourelectricals website run by the electricals industry. It has a postcode search which gives methods of recycling different items where you live.

Alternatives to website

For many people and many queries, the website is a great resource but we do recognise that some people can’t do that or don’t want to, and we also provide email and telephone contacts:

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. is the address for all Waste and Cleansing contacts. It goes to the Contact Centre, and they log enquiries and send them to the correct officer or team.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. is the email for enquiries about litter enforcement, fly-tipping and abandoned cars. Please note that “streetenforcement” is one word - it’s slightly different from most Council email addresses in that way.

0131 608 1100 is the phone number for various environmental services (not just waste related enquiries) at the Contact Centre.

Escalated and Formal complaints

The vast majority of enquiries and informal reports and complaints are resolved first time, but sometimes problems persist. The Council also has a two-stage complaints process which lets residents make a formal, logged and reference-numbered complaint.

The contact points for this are: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 0131 200 2300.

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