David Wood
- 1. Newcastle: A green case study
- 2. The Context City with 292,000 inhabitants, with CO2 emissions of 6.7 tons per capita At the forefront of economic growth in the North-East, as part of a change from heavy industry to the knowledge and service sectors UK’s most Sustainable City 2 years running The national agenda is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 34% in 2020, and 80% by 2050. An ambitious Citywide Climate Change Strategy and action plan Developed our carbon reduction scenario constrained by nationally produced emissions data
- 3. Leading change in the Domestic Sector Retrofitted 40,274 houses, and installed 51,514 insulation measures, resulting in a reduction of 31,369 tonnes of CO2 per annum Developing a ‘Green Deal’ successor scheme to provide renewable technologies to residents at no cost Designed a web portal ( www.thebiggreenpledge.org.uk ) to let residents and businesses unlock our data – let them check energy efficiency of their buildings Plans to look at suitability for solar p.v./thermal, grants, and see anticipated bills
- 4. Changing behaviour – encouraged residents to borrow smart meters from libraries Running a social marketing pilot to develop new approaches to take up of Loft Insulation Established a freight quality partnership across the region which aims to create a more efficient and sustainable flow of freight traffic. £1.7 million project to link 4 tower blocks in Riverside Dene to a biomass system, estimated to reduce carbon emissions by 40-80% Run a pilot project in Walker to show how social housing can cut energy demands by up to 80%
- 6. Changing our approach to IT Designed our environment to deliver efficient architectures and reducing energy consumption (e.g. cloud computing) Merging the wide-area networks, working with our partners to take 4 networks down to 1, releasing 500KWh per year Investing in the technology to minimise environmental impact (mobile working, home working)
- 7. Reduced server hardware from 540 servers to 208, releasing 6,400kWh p.a. This will fall to 10 servers over the next 3 years saving a further 1,900 KWh p.a. Installing a power management platform, expected to release 7,000kWh savings each year Consolidating regional data centres, reducing our energy consumption by 1,500 KWh per year
- 8. Transport
- 12. Some of our future plans Rolling out the Green Deal scheme to 15,000 households across the North East We will roll out 1,000 domestic p.v. installations and connecting to National Grid – greening the grid and being paid for it Embedding carbon values into procurement and investment decisions – we currently spend around £400 million p.a. on goods and services alone Better use of I.T. to understand and reduce the problem (e.g. vehicle routing, and spatial distribution of heat, gas and electric use) This will underpin a number of areas, including economic modelling for a district Heat Network, reducing climate impacts on services, and mitigating carbon emissions from fleet transport
Editor's Notes
- #3: In England and Wales the Climate Change Act 2008 adopts an 80% reduction by 2050 from a 1990 baseline. This includes an interim target of 34% by 2020. We have assumed in the Climate Change Strategy that there has been a 14% reduction from 1990 to 2005, mainly associated with a reduction in coal power. Newcastle is also one of 12 authorities to sign up to the EU Covenant of Mayors on Sustainable Energy. This commits us to go beyond a 20% reduction by 2020. As per the requirements of the scheme, we have a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP), which outlines our baseline, and how we intend to make savings, as well as estimated costs. This has then driven development of the action plans.
- #4: Newcastle Warm Zone was set up to make homes across Newcastle affordably warm and energy efficient. Insulating homes delivers a double set of benefits. The primary idea behind Warm Zones was actually to reduce fuel poverty by reducing bills to households but it also has the knock-on effect of reducing CO2 emissions Carbon Routemap – a pioneering project with Newcastle University as part of the Science City Partnership. Aims to understand energy and carbon profiles at a building level. Will help us to understand remaining/ future potential interventions and identify the suitable buildings. The carbon routemap project will also let us take into account factors such as seasonal demand and 24hr periods so that we can understand people loads for developing energy projects In the past, the Green Fleet Strategy has focused on LPG vehicles, but these are gradually being decomissioned as more efficient and environmentally friendly diesel comes online. We’ve also established a vehicle replacement programme which seeks to ensure that we are securing the most fuel efficient, environmentally friendly and effective vehicles available. A large proportion of the fleet has also been fitted with tracking technology. It’s being increasingly used to identify more effective routes, saving carbon and money, whilst also increasing the efficiency of services. We also have 20 electric vehicles ranging from a litter collection vehicle through to a minibus. The programme of retrofitting buildings has £400,000 committed and includes: Fitting automatic lighting so they’re turned off when not in use Replacing hand-driers in toilets in buildings to reduce energy consumption Optimising voltage Automatic heating controls Upgrading lighting to be more efficient Future plans include fitting a power management platform, and replacing the ten most poorly performing heating systems in schools. Started ‘greening the council’ – Green Fleet Strategy, retrofitting buildings.
- #5: Run a district heating scheme in Newcastle which powers almost 1,800 homes Embedding adaptation into our Science Central project – considering the future climate impacts There is a fair amount of work going on underneath the freight partnership. This will include Updating the T&W freight maps Installing additional electronic Truck Information Points Producing electronic abnormal load maps Reviewing coach parking and drop-off facilities.
- #6: … it’s the ultimate green house This ordinary terraced house in the area I represent is being transformed into one of the greenest homes in the country. Green experts conducted a series of sophisticated tests before refurbishing the property shown last year, using a grant from the government-funded Technology Strategy Board. The experiment, which aims to reduce the house’s carbon footprint by a whopping 80% shows how technology holds the key to greener social housing. An external shell makes the house air tight so it traps heat from sunlight, body warmth, cooking and even the family’s dog, with no need for conventional heating. Other measures include external insulation panels, triple glazing and smart metering so its energy consumption can be monitored.
- #9: Trial of 44 new electric passenger vehicles in the region, including cars, taxis, executive minibus, two saloon cars and two Range Rovers. Delivering 1,300 EV charging points (worth £7.8m) across the North East - installed 200 to date, with 50 in Newcastle Recently added 26 new Enviro400H Euro 5 Electric Hybrid buses to the fleet, aiming to reduce carbon emissions on these routes by 30 percent Created a 15,000 square ft. Freight Consolidation Centre to significantly reduce HGVs in the city centre. Strategically placed close to the major road network, it serves 2 large retail developments and Newcastle city centre with electric vehicles used to transport the goods to town Retailers can increase store selling space, save on staffing costs, and benefit from flexible delivery patterns as well as packaging removal and recycling. Lower numbers of vehicle journeys and mileage reduce emissions and congestion and improve air quality.
- #10: Trial of 44 new electric passenger vehicles in the region, including cars, taxis, executive minibus, two saloon cars and two Range Rovers. Delivering 1,300 EV charging points (worth £7.8m) across the North East - installed 200 to date, with 50 in Newcastle Recently added 26 new Enviro400H Euro 5 Electric Hybrid buses to the fleet, aiming to reduce carbon emissions on these routes by 30 percent Created a 15,000 square ft. Freight Consolidation Centre to significantly reduce HGVs in the city centre. Strategically placed close to the major road network, it serves 2 large retail developments and Newcastle city centre with electric vehicles used to transport the goods to town Retailers can increase store selling space, save on staffing costs, and benefit from flexible delivery patterns as well as packaging removal and recycling. Lower numbers of vehicle journeys and mileage reduce emissions and congestion and improve air quality. TRANSPORT
- #11: New Smart Card being introduced on the Light Rail system followed by introduction on buses and taxis. Other applications will allow for use in Libraries and Leisure Centres and also personal ID and access to secure areas. In the UK all elderly and disabled residents are entitled to free travel on buses but Tyne and Wear we have expanded the use to include travel on the award winning Light Rail system (Metro).
- #12: New ticket machines being introduced across Tyne and Wear to allow for the most modern access to Transport for residents in the area.
- #13: Some of the uses for GIS/Ariel data: Understanding consumption of heat, gas and electricity (these will be used to find suitable sites for a District Heat Network, and also to target measures to reduce electricity usage) Measuring roof pitches – seeing which roofs are suitable for solar panels Understanding heat leakage – prioritising our own buildings for energy efficiency, targeting measures at the public. Some of the modelling uses: Developing a weather network in partnership with schools to increase climate modelling capacity National Projection models are being used to help understand the likely impacts of Climate Change – such as changes in temperature and rainfall as a result of different levels of emissions, over differing time periods These can help us then plan to provide services. E.g. have we got enough sandbags to help residents with flooding, is there capacity in hospitals to deal with heatwaves etc The 35 passenger electric vehicles include: 15 Nissan cars, 10 Smith electric taxis 5 Smith people carriers A Smith Executive Minibus 2 AVID saloon cars 2 Liberty urban Range Rovers These will be monitored by Newcastle University’s Transport Operations Research Group to model the performance and use of the vehicles. The project will also focus on promoting electric vehicles as a viable sustainable travel option to businesses and private individuals In addition to rolling out 700 charging points, we’re also planning to develop the expertise to roll out installation services on a regional level, enabling us to make a profit whilst helping green the overall infrastructure in the North East. In connecting solar panels to the grid, we’re aiming to take advantage of the feed-in tariffs from National Government. This pay us Other Future Plans Better understanding the relationship between our financial and carbon footprints