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A backbench Bill to let councils decide how much renewable energy developers should include in their schemes has won cross-party support when it was debated by the Lords for the first time today.

The Planning and Energy Bill cleared the Commons and gained an unopposed second reading after its introduction by Tory former minister Michael Fallon.

The legislation would allow councils in England and Wales to require a proportion of the energy used in developments come from renewable sources. They would also be able to set higher energy efficiency standards than current rules demand.

Tory Lord Hanningfield, who introduced the Bill, said it follows a pioneering initiative by the London Borough of Merton.

Merton requires at least 10 per cent of the energy needed for new housing developments to come from renewable or low carbon sources.

Lord Hanningfield told peers that the Bill was "permissive, localist and green" and "allows councils to act quickly without waiting years for other legislation to come into effect".

In the Commons ministers initially opposed the proposal, but later backed it after amendments were made to ensure councils did not take actions in conflict with national policies.

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Labels: Green housing, Planning and Energy Bill, property development

The property boss wants the government to encourage firms to focus on green issues.

Sitting in the boardroom of Grant Management’s head office in Edinburgh’s West End, the last thing that comes to mind is the plight of Cambodian fishermen.

But not for Peter Grant, who used redundancy money to found the property management and investment firm with his wife Collette more than a decade ago.

Grant Management has grown from owning a few properties bought for his pension to managing some 1,800 in the UK. Last year, it turned over £12m, generating more than £1m in profits.

Its fund management arm, Grant Fund Management, runs three institutional property funds with Bank of Scotland, Sir Tom Hunter’s West Coast Capital and Buccleuch Property. These have a combined value of more than £200m.

Recently, weightier matters have taken up some of his time. Inspired by Bill Clinton’s visit to Glasgow in 2006, when the former US president spoke of global warming as the “number one priority”, Grant set up Global Trees, an environmental charity.

It has now planted more than 300,000 trees worldwide. But Grant wants that figure to run into tens of millions. The charity has no paid staff and every pound donated goes towards the planting and maintenance of trees, as well as a programme to ensure they are not quickly cut down.

His company is itself now carbon neutral, either by reducing its impact on the environment or offsetting.

“You have to use energy to run a business but ensuring that light bulbs are low-energy or computers are switched off plays its part,” he said.

“A few years ago, it was simply a box to be ticked by business when talking about corporate governance but I detect there has been a major change. When a company the size of Wal-Mart says it wants to know the carbon footprint of its suppliers, then you have some idea of how this affects everyone.”

Clinton got to hear of Grant’s efforts and invited him to New York for dinner.

“It was fascinating and inspiring,” said Grant.

“We have now planted 300,000 trees in many places around the world. In Cambodia, for example, we planted mangrove trees which help the fishermen in the swamps by improving the storm barriers.

“In the UK a lot is being done too. It is great when you see a company such as Stagecoach going carbon neutral along its Fife to Edinburgh bus route by planting thousands of trees.”

The Global Trees website has a carbon calculator. “People are surprised at how much CO2 we generate individually,” said Grant. “Things like rising fuel prices have an effect because people have to use their energy more efficiently and it means clever ideas about generating energy from other sources become more cost-effective.”

Running Grant Management still takes up most of Grant’s time. His company buys, renovates, lets and manages residential property, mainly in university towns, for private and institutional clients. Is he worried about the property slowdown?

“It would be foolish to suggest anyone is immune but it does not fundamentally affect our business plan,” he said “If anything, it opens up opportunities. We are in places with demand. We are in university towns, we do not buy new-build, two-bedroom flats, of which there is a glut, and on top of that, if prices come down, we are in a strong position to take advantage.

“The tougher conditions will also shake out some of the competition. However, investors are becoming more wary. Some people are waiting to see what happens but, in some ways, there has never been a better time to invest.”

Economic conditions, though, have hit Grant’s plans to float the company. He had targeted this year, or 2009 for a listing but, while entering the stock market remains an aim, it has been put on hold.

Green concerns are not so easily put aside. He believes governments should do much more to encourage companies and people to focus on environmental issues.

“The prime minister spoke last week about the need to boost oil production and I understand why, but I would also like to see the UK government commit just £50m to planting trees in the Third World countries,” he said. “It is not a lot of money, would show we were committed and would make a substantial difference.”

Peter Grant is the key speaker at the first in this year’s series of Albion Dinners, hosted by the Marketing Society Scotland in conjunction with The Sunday Times, which takes place on June 5 at Lloyds TSB Scotland’s headquarters in Edinburgh. The topic for the evening is how business can embrace and profit from the challenges of global warming.

Original story here.

Labels: Global Trees, Grant management, Green housing, Peter Grant, zero carbon housing

The zero-carbon homes of the future should self-generate the vast majority of the energy they use, but a small amount of near-site or off-site renewable generation will also be allowed, a report says today.

The UK Green Building Council's (GBC) new report, The Definition of Zero Carbon, was thrashed out by a range of stakeholders trying to work out a blueprint for the provision of zero-carbon homes from 2016 mandated by the government.

The GBC's zero-carbon task force was chaired by Mark Clare of Barratt Developments. The company will this week unveil what it claims is the country's first zero-carbon house from a volume housebuilder.

Environmentalists and construction firms have been debating how to define zero carbon, with greens wanting each house to be zero carbon while the housebuilders argue that could be too expensive or impracticable. They want the flexibility to invest in offshore wind farms, for instance, as part of their commitment to renewable energy on their developments.

The GBC report rules that out, but does say some district heating schemes could be allowed or housebuilders could, in certain circumstances, pay into a community energy pot to fund local projects.

GBC chief executive Paul King said: "The government's level of ambition is spot on and should be supported 100%. This is not about dumbing down or abandoning the concept of zero carbon. This is about ensuring the same high level of carbon savings, but allowing developers more flexibility."

He stressed that near-site schemes could be approved but only if there was proof that the project was a genuine addition to the country's renewable-energy provision, and that the energy would be used to power that specific development. Failing that, the developer could pay into a community fund that would ensure equal or greater net carbon savings through new installations.

"The price of paying into the fund should be set at a margin above the cost of community-scale solutions so as to clearly incentivise the installation of on-site or local measures first," says the report.

The report, which will feed into the government's consultation on the definition of zero-carbon homes this year, is likely to be approved as it has been agreed by a range of different interests. Clare said: "The value of this report is reflected in the high degree of consensus reached by many different stakeholders."

WWF, the charity that has been a key driver behind the government's zero-carbon homes initiative, said the 2016 target was "eminently achievable".

Simon McWhirter, WWF's homes campaign manager, said: "WWF is optimistic that the findings from the Task Group will dispel confusion over the definition of zero carbon, investing more developers with the confidence to build to the very highest levels of sustainability. We hope this will help deliver practical zero-carbon homes well ahead of the 2016 deadlines."

Zero-carbon homes will be so well insulated they will require very little heating. They would have appliances consuming minimum electricity to be provided by installations such as solar photovoltaic panels or combined heat and power (CHP) plants. The report's definitions will allow for a single CHP plant to power several adjacent homes.

Original article here.

Labels: Barratt Developments, Green housing, UK GBC, WWF, zero carbon housing

E.ON, one of Britain's big six energy suppliers, is teaming up with the University of Nottingham to build a replica 1930s house which will be used to test technologies aimed at improving the energy performance of Britain's ageing housing stock.

The three-bedroomed semi-detached house, on the university's "Green Close", will replicate what the partners describe as "many of the ageing and energy inefficient domestic properties" in the UK.

The government has set a target for new houses to be zero carbon by 2016 but industry experts acknowledge big efforts will be needed to improve the energy performance of the existing housing stock.

"Homes are big contributors to the causes of climate change as they account for almost a third of the carbon dioxide emitted in the UK," said E.ON's head of research and development, Dave Clarke. "Even with the government's target for all homes to be zero carbon from 2016, we'll need to retro-fit low carbon measures to existing homes in order to significantly reduce our carbon emissions."

The house will use low-carbon technology to generate and manage energy within the house and will have an extension designed to make the maximum use of solar panels.

Students will live in the house which is one of six being built on the campus.

"It will be lived in. We want to show the real savings, to get real data, from real people," said Dr Mark Gillott, research and project manager for creative homes at the university.

Gillott said that more than 21m current homes - about 86% of the total - will still be in use in 2050.

"It's vitally important that we identify and research technologies that are aimed at reducing the energy consumption associated with existing homes," he said.

Original article from Guardian Business.

Labels: energy efficiency, EON, Green Close, Green housing, Nottingham University