Heat News

Friday 19 February 2010

The Sustainable Infrastructure Task Group has outlined how sustainable community schemes could help towards zero carbon homes targets

Utilising waste and biomass to generate energy for distribution at a community level could help the UK to achieve its target of all new homes being zero-carbon by 2016, as well as contributing towards the 2020 renewables targets, according to a report published yesterday (February 18).

The 'Sustainable Community Infrastructure - campaign for a sustainable built environment' report was produced by the UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) and Zero Carbon Hub's Sustainable Infrastructure Task Group. The group was established to determine the green infrastructure required to deliver the government's 2016 target.

The report gives considerable weighting to the benefits of using waste and biomass to generate energy in an overall renewable energy strategy providing for periods when other renewable generation (mainly from wind and solar sources) is low.

According to the Task Group, local waste could be fed into an energy-from-waste (EfW) plant serving the local energy network, with such an arrangement securing a sustainable supply of energy and heat for as long as the community generates waste.

It adds that, in the medium term, there is a need for harnessing support of indigenous renewable resources at a community scale to help contribute to meeting 2020 renewables targets.

Heating schemes

One suggestion included in the report is that setting up local heat networks could provide a long term strategic investment for transporting renewables around communities and the Task Group calls on the government to support such schemes by signing up its own buildings in future.

Commenting on this, Graham Meeks, director of the Combined Heat and Power Association (CHPA), which represents community heating schemes in the UK, said: "The message is clear. To achieve green buildings there must be more community heating schemes for new developments to join.

"If the government wants green buildings it has to take the lead in expanding the present small number of community heating schemes in the UK to northern European levels of coverage. At the very least this means a commitment to join its own buildings to good schemes."

He added that this could be a "marriage made in heaven", as the government has carbon emission targets for its 50,000 buildings which is it is failing to achieve and low-carbon community heating schemes need a core of large customers to thrive.

Mr Meeks said: "The government has buildings in virtually every town and city in the UK. If the government made a commitment to join - it could set the terms - it makes community heating schemes more attractive for investment. And larger schemes means greater efficiency and lower costs to all consumers."

Collaboration

The Sustainable Infrastructure Task Group's report notes that to make community schemes viable there is a need for: "Greater collaboration and a common language between policy makers, planners and developers as well as local infrastructure providers, who will need to work together to provide the infrastructure solutions".

It adds that in an ideal infrastructure framework, synergies between energy and heat, water and waste services could result in an even more efficient supply and use of local resources.

Commenting on the report, David Adams, director of the Zero Carbon Hub, said: "Community energy systems are an important component of delivering low carbon energy on larger developments. This report reinforces the key role that government can play, both providing demand as a client and enabling provision of heat infrastructure through allowable solutions.

"The recommendations represent a timely contribution to the decentralised energy debate and will help as we develop our understanding of the most cost-effective and carbon-effective way to build zero carbon homes. However, the acid test is whether these recommendations will turn community scale energy schemes currently on the drawing board into viable reality."