The Merton 10% policy

Combating climate change

Adrian HewittLondon Borough of Merton

Copyright LB of Merton – not to be used or copied without permissionPlease contact: 020 8545 3457 – adrian.hewitt@merton.gov.uk

Merton Community Plan target to cut CO2 emissions by 15% by 2015

The power of local government

The power of planning

“All new non-residential development above a threshold of 1,000 sqm will be expected to incorporate renewable energy production equipment to provide at least 10% of predicted energy requirements.”

RIBA - Jan 05

Every borough has a policy that “encourages” the use of renewables…….but the word “encourage” never persuaded a developer to ever actually use them.

Merton’s original policy was only for non-residential development. The revised policy for the Local Development Framework will require all developments with a floor space of 500m2 and all residential units to use renewable energy equipment cut CO2 emissions by at least 10%.

Merton UDP policy PE13 – Adopted Oct 2003

In the meantime the Croydon UDP policy has become the most commonly used example.

Croydon – most common example of 10% policy

“The Council will expect all development (either new build or conversion) with a floor-space of 1000m2 or ten or more residential units to incorporate renewable energy production equipment to provide at least 10% of the predicted energy requirements.”

GOL/GLA - Feb 05

Contains the 8 criteria essential for a prescriptive renewable energy policy:

1. It includes the word “Require” or “Expect”.

2. It states it is for “new build or conversion” – to catch change of use in regeneration areas

3. It is for the combined floor space of commercial and residential.

4. It establishes the floor-space and residential unit number threshold

5. It states it is for on site renewable energy equipment – not buying in green energy from the grid. The rationales of the policy are to stimulate the micro-renewables economy, address fuel poverty, and lower energy bills for businesses.

6. It sets the % target – in this case 10%.

7. It is for the “predicted energy usage” - It is not acceptable to build and then monitor usage and then retrofit the renewables. However, the policy should be implemented in terms of carbon not energy – see following slide.

8. It says to provide “at least” 10% - which means that a higher target can be required if technically feasible and financially reasonable.

London Energy Action Areas – Oct 05

4%

96%

Public support

Question 7

“Would you support the use of sustainable energy generation and distribution systems?”

Mitcham town centre regeneration consultation Question 6

“Would you support the use of renewable energy to generate hot water and electricity?”

16%

84%

MorZED residents consultation Question 3

“To what extent do you agree with on- site renewable energy?” 10%

90%

Some of the authorities that have a 10% policy in their UDPs or are about to - 90

ODPM PPS22 seminar – Mar 04

Barking & Dag

Bexley

Bromley

C of London

Croydon

Ealing

Enfield

Greenwich

Haringey

Havering

Lambeth

Lewisham

Merton

Southwark

Sutton

Tower Hamlets

Waltham Forest

Westminster

Barnsley

Bedford

Belfast

Blackburn

Bracknell F

Bradford

Brighton

Calderdale

Cambridge

Camden

Cantebury

Charnwood

Chester

Chichester

Crawley

Derby

Doncaster

East Riding

Edinburgh

Gateshead

Guildford

Harrogate

Isle of Wight

Hull

Kirklees

Leeds

Leicester

Liverpool

Manchester

Maidstone

Milton Keynes

Newcastle

North Devon

Oldham

Reading

Rotherham

Ryedale

Salford

Sedgefield

Sefton

Sheffield

Southampton

REGIONAL PLANS

London

East

Yorks & Humber

South East

South West

North East

East Midland

Scotland

Wales

St Albans

Surrey Heath

Telford & W

Test Valley

Wakefield

Waveney

York

Aylesbury Vale

Belfast

Bradford

Chester

Cornwall

Craven

Dartford

Doncaster

East Devon

East Riding

Exeter

Hambleton

Harlow

This list only represents about 5th of UK local authorities As of Sept 05

Leeds

Lincolnshire

N. Lincolnshire

N.E.Lincolnshire

Oxfordshire

Richmondshire

S.Gloucestershire

Somerset

Test Valley

Worcestershire

The three main concerns

Planning Policy Statement 22 Section 8 “Local planning authorities may include policies in local development documents that require a percentage of the energy to come from on-site renewable energy developments.”

1. Is it legal – YES – As soon as the ODPM Planning Dept agreed to the Merton policy then the legal precedent was set + PPS22 clearly confirms the right of LAs to have a prescriptive policy of their own.

3. Will it overload my Development Control officers? – POSSIBLY

DC officers should not be expected to become experts in renewable energy. They only need to be able to calculate what the 10% target is and confirm that the proposal meets it. Energy consultants should be used in complex cases - see slides below

South West Region – Nov 05

2. Will it lower land values and scare developers away? – NO

Don’t be fooled by a developer who tells you it will…….

kW hours of Energy

Electricity

Gas/water

10% kWh=

X ££

3. Carbon NOT energy Policy should be written so that renewable energy is used to cut CO2 emissions rather than generate 10% of energy needs. This is to discourage house-builders from installing electric heating. Electric heating is cheaper to install but is more expensive for the end user and is a far less CO2 efficient way of providing heating.

1. Residential thresholds Policy should be for all residential units

– the additional capital cost is only £2K for solar thermal panels

For local authorities revising a 10% policy for their LDF - 3 issues to note

2. “Expect” vs “Require” – use of the word “require” is justified by PS22

East Region - June 05

CO2 Electricity10% CO2

=

Y ££££

= 13,50010%

= 134,820TOTAL

47,880X 0.19252,000X 3,50072Heating (gas)

Electricity

Naturally ventilated open plan office

86,940

Total kg CO2 pa

X 0.46

kWh to CO2

189,000

Total kWh pa

X 3,500

Size of building m2

54

kWh pa per m2

Implementation for DC officers

Identify kilowatt hours per annum (kWhpa) for electricity and kWhpa for heating for the particular type of development (see London Renewables Toolkit p107 below) and then multiply by the m2 of the building.

The London Renewables Toolkit was commissioned by the London Energy Partnership and covers all the relevant areas for implementing the policy. http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/environment/energy/docs/renewables_toolkit.pdf

1. Determining how much the 10% is

Institute of Physics - June 05

There are companies that can help both developers and LAs in implementing the 10% policy. They will calculate CO2 emission footprints and percentage targets, and advise on equipment options.

CIBSE - Oct 05

http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/environment/energy/docs/renewables_toolkit.pdf

3,500kg

Total CO2 cut

1,445 kg

7,200g

2. Confirming if the developers proposal meets the 10%

10% = 13,500 kg CO2

3,500 m2 office = Energy efficiency =

10% CO2 cut10% = 12,150

kg CO2

17

10

6

Number of devises

1m2 Solar thermal panel

Technology

1 kWp Photovoltaic

Micro-wind turbine

85 kg

350 kg

1,200 kg

CO2 cut p/a

12,145 kg CO2

In order to minimize the number of solar panels or wind turbines etc needed to meet the 10% target, the developer will inevitably try to keep the predicted energy/CO2 emissions as low as possible by incorporating energy efficiency measures into the building.

Development Control Condition

“Before any unit is occupied the renewable energy equipment shall have been installed and the local planning authority shall be satisfied that their day to day operation will provide energy for the development.

Enforcement

Edinburgh & South Lothian - May 05

108,200 kgCO2

97,700 kgCO2

10% = 9,700 KgCO2

condensing boilers & intelligent lighting = 9% Lower CO2 footprint of

67,300 kgCO2

condensing boilers & intelligent lighting = 9%

60,000 kgCO2

10% = 6,000 Kg CO2

12.0%7.5%10 micro-turbines, 5kWp photovoltaics

& water saving taps & toilets = 7,250 kgCO2

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10 individual business units

Additional build cost 3%

16.5% total CO2 reduction

21% total CO2 reduction

RIBA Jan 05First implementation – 4,500 sqm of 10 light commercial units Willow Lane Industrial Estate - Merton

2nd Implementation – B&Q – 10K m2 = 11.4%

Renewable energy visitors centre

Ground source heat piles

Micro-turbines

Building Service Journal – Oct 05

Solar thermal Photovoltaics

Vertical axis wind turbine

Exponential growth in the industry

x by 250 biggest LAs in UK

m2 Solar thermal

5,000

PV kWp

100

Micro-wind

100

1,250,00025,00025,000

£400 (sqm)

£500,000,000

£5,000 (kWp)

£125,000,000

£5,000 (unit)

£125,000,000

£750,000,000

And jobs in - BSE, Architecture, Marketing, R&D, Planning, Legal, etc

Said Business School, Oxford University - Feb 05

Current value of installed renewables

£35m

£750m

Below is an estimate of how many renewable energy devises it takes to meet the 10% policy each year in Merton or Croydon – if 250 other boroughs adopt a similar policy then it will trigger an exponential growth in the RE industry

Wouldn’t it be better to do this through the Building Regs ?

Foster healthy competition between boroughs

Create pride and recognition at a local level

BRs are inflexible and only give the minimum

Preserve imagination and initiative at a local level

Building Service Journal – Oct 05

Can’t explore the frontier from behind a policy desk.!! Urban turbines -

Windsave, Swift, XCO2

Solar Century

B&Q

NO - so why are 10% policies and other local initiatives the best approach ?

Renewables Toolkit

Building Regs Ofgem etc

Unst Island hydrogen

Edinburgh Univ tri-gen BedZED

Merton 10%

Woking DHP

Local DHP

Architects Journal – Dec 05

The energy that families and businesses will want in the future will be the cheapest energy

– which will be that which they have some ownership or control of

Future energy requirements

Turbines

Design and retrofit the building

Solar thermal

Solar PV

Micro-CHP

Renewable energy supply

companies and

retailers

Adrian HewittLondon Borough of Merton

Copyright LB of Merton – not to be used or copied without permissionPlease contact: 020 8545 3457 – adrian.hewitt@merton.gov.uk

The Merton 10% policy

Combating climate change

This presentation (or a version of it) has been given at the following conferences and seminars

08/01/06 Merton Energy Strategy – Merton Scientific Society Merton Adult Education College

12/12/05 10% Renewable Policy – Energy Centre for Sustainable Communities Hove Town Hall

07/12/05 Planning for Climate Change - Friends of the Earth Cymru Welsh Assembly

01/12/05 Sustainable Architecture - Architects Journal Hamilton Place - London

24/11/05 Climate Change & Politics Institute of Russian & Slavonic Studies - Oxford University

23/11/05 From Paper to Practice (10% Policy) - South West Region Centre for Sustainable Energy - Taunton

16/11/05 Renewable Futures (10% policy) - South West Region Regensw - Western–Super Mare

27/10/05 Building a sustainable future - Construction News Institute of Obstetricians and Gynecologists – London

19/10/05 Getting to 10% - Building Services Journal London CIBSE - Church House, Westminster, London

15/07/05 Sustainable energy economy DTI/DEFRA Sustainable Industries Unit - London

12/07/05 10% Policy - Parliamentary Renewable & Sustainable Energy Group Liberal Club - London

05/07/05 Building Integrated Renewables - Solar Century Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors - London

29/06/05 Climate change planning - National Society for Clean Air Institute of Physics - London

28/06/05 Planning & Community Heating - Combined Heat & Power Association Army & Navy Club – Pall Mall, London

08/06/05 Sustainable planning - Eastern Region Ipswich

25/05/05 Urban sustainable energy technologies - LETIT (EU) Terni - Italy

18/05/05 Sustainable planning - Edinburgh & South Lothian Edinburgh University

16/04/05 Merton Energy Strategy - Merton Environment & Safety Forum Morden Baptist church - Merton

03/03/05 Sustainable energy & planning - Sustainable Institutions Group Said Business School - Oxford University

21/02/05 Low Carbon Building - Government Office for London Greater London Authority - City Hall, London

26/01/05 Eco-housing - Oxford Brookes University Royal Institute of British Architects - London

24/01/05 Environmental Technologies - Oxford Trust Culham Laboratory - Oxfordshire

21/11/04 10% renewable policy - Building Services Engineering Max Fordham Associates - London

24/08/05 10% renewable policy - East Midlands planning conference De Montfort University - Leicester

06/06/04 Low Energy Technology Implementation (LETIT) - EU - 6th Framework London

29/03/04 10% renewable policy - IT Power Greater London Authority - City Hall - London

29/05/03 Sustainable development communication strategies - EU Asia-Urbs The Energy Research Institute - New Delhi, India

22/09/02 Urban Carbon Zoning Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Massachusetts

04/07/02 Sustainable urban planning and building design – EU Asia-Urbs Barcelona - Catalonia