Memorandum submitted by the Micropower
Council
GENERAL STATEMENTS
i. The Micropower Council is the coordinated
voice of the microgeneration industry in the UK. We welcome the
current inquiry being conducted by the Environmental Audit Committee
into the environmental analysis of the Government's house-building
programme. New housing is in short supply across the United Kingdom
and the Government's announcement to build three million new homes
by 2020 is a promising step towards dealing with these shortages.
ii. Existing housing stock is responsible
for 27% of the UKs carbon emissions, a figure that has risen by
five percent since 19971. It is therefore crucial that new
properties are built to the highest levels of energy efficiency
and are able to source their energy from low and zero carbon technologies.
Housing stock is expected to last for many decades and needs to
be "future-proofed" as much as possible to avoid problems
for policy makers and occupiers in the future. New houses, including
those by definition within the proposed Eco-towns, must be exemplary
in demonstrating that properties can be constructed to high levels
of sustainability and eco-friendliness.
iii. New housing stock needs to be affordable
to buy but also affordable to run. Low and zero carbon technologies
and building techniques must be central to the planning and construction
of new houses—reducing dependency on the national grid and
gas distribution networks and thus minimising exposure to increasing
fuel costs. Using low and zero carbon technologies increases energy
security and can help reduce fuel poverty in "at risk"
households. Energy from microgeneration and district schemes is
produced more efficiently than, for example, centralised electricity
which encounters high transmission and distribution losses.
iv. A number of energy solutions will be
required for different situations. These solutions include the
use of microgeneration technologies installed onsite, and the
use of community schemes that serve more than one dwelling. Appropriate
technologies should be deployed in the correct situation.
v. Greater efforts need to be taken to address
the practicalities of widespread incorporation of microgeneration
technologies into new homes—and action must be swift. The
microgeneration industry needs hard statutory targets set by Government
Ministers to increase installations and provide confidence to
investors. In the future, both the Government and the house building
sector need to engage more pro-actively with major energy suppliers
and technology manufacturers if targets for housing and energy
use are going to be met.
REFERENCE
1. Home Truths—A Low-carbon strategy to
reduce UK housing emissions by 80% by 2050, Oxford University
Environmental Change Institute, 2007
April 2008
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
The Micropower Council would like to see a number
of new policies developed by government to encourage the deployment
of microgeneration in new build properties, including:
— Statutory targets for the number
of microgeneration installations, to provide the stimulus for
investment in the sector that will help reduce the cost of technologies
to construction companies.
— A comprehensive and accessible financial
and fiscal incentives strategy that incentivises the incorporation
of microgeneration to make zero carbon homes a reality.
— Investment in skills and training
for microgeneration installers through a Government subsidised
accreditation scheme to train installers—as worked successfully
in the home boiler industry for condensing boiler installers.
APPENDIX A
EXAMPLES OF INSTALLATION IN NEW BUILD PROJECTS
AROUND THE UK
MANCHESTER
Work began in November 2007 on a 440-property
development expected to be a major catalyst for regeneration in
Moss Side, Manchester. The project, run by Lowry homes, will use
state-of-the-art technology to reduce energy use within the new
homes. Solar panels will be used to heat water in the properties,
while wind turbines and biomass boilers will also help put the
estate at the forefront of ecological living.
NOTTINGHAM
A luxury apartment complex at River Crescent,
Nottingham, will include geothermal heat pumps and wind turbines
within the design. These technologies will be used to heat and
light shared areas within the properties and help keep service
charges down for the occupants.
BARNET
Genesis Housing Group is set to develop over
200 homes at the site of a former Zenith camera company in Barnet.
The homes have been designed by European Urban Architecture and
are highly sustainable using a combination of quiet revolution
vertical axis turbines and solar thermal heating panels.
CROYDON
Queens Gate, Croydon, is a large scale, low
carbon development from Fairview New Homes. A mixed-use site of
360 residential units, the high density housing project is designed
to minimise carbon emissions in the built environment whilst maximise
the use of available land. The development is a nationwide first,
demonstrating the simplicity of providing low carbon, high density
housing with a new solar solution from Solarcentury—using
photovoltaic and solar thermal panels and photovoltaic roof tiles.
CHORLEY
Just over one third of the 390 acre Buckshaw
Village in Lancashire will be developed for housing by Barratt
homes, many properties being built with small-scale renewable
technologies incorporated. These will include eco features including
solar thermal collectors, geothermal technology, wind turbines,
micro combined heat and power, rainwater harvesting and double-glazed
timber-framed windows.
APPENDIX B
WHY MICROGENERATION?
Microgeneration is the production of heat or
electricity on a very small scale by technologies that are typically
installed within the fabric of a building—generating energy
for use onsite or within a community. Microgeneration technologies
are environmentally friendly, typically using renewable energy
sources such as wind or solar or using existing fuel sources more
efficiently.
Microgeneration comes in various forms:
— There are two categories of solar
powered technologies; photovoltaic (PV) systems, that produce
electricity, and solar thermal systems to provide hot-water and
sometimes space heating.
— Ground Source and Air Source Heat
Pumps use energy stored in the ground or the air for space heating.
— Micro-Combined Heat and Power (micro-CHP)
look and operate similar to gas boilers whilst providing electricity
as well as heat.
— Micro turbines provide electricity,
either powered by the wind or naturally flowing water and the
latest development is the roof or wall mounted wind turbine.
— Hydrogen powered fuel cells to provide
heat and electricity at the commercial level are currently being
developed and are expected to emerge in the next few years.
Microgeneration of renewable electricity and
heat will, given the right policy framework, play an important
role in addressing the key goals of energy policy in the UK. The
five principal benefits of microgeneration are:
1. Reducing carbon emissions, thanks to the direct
impact of the technology in producing heat and electricity from
low or zero carbon sources. Indirect emissions reductions are
also achieved by the effect that microgeneration has on encouraging
consumers to be more energy efficient.
2. Tackling fuel poverty, by providing cost effective
power to off-grid properties and in the potential to reduce fuel
bills for vulnerable groups.
3. Improving energy security, by reducing reliance
on centralised electricity generation and gas supply networks,
which are becoming increasingly reliant on imported fossil fuels.
4. Economic benefits brought about by use of
microgeneration, at the cutting edge of new "green"
technologies. Continued progress in the sector will help to increase
high skilled manufacturing capability and employment throughout
the United Kingdom, especially in those areas which best accommodate
and promote these technologies.
5. Engaging consumers as active participants
in the "green agenda". There are wider benefits than
just cost and carbon reductions. Households that install microgeneration
technologies tend to reduce their energy consumption significantly,
whilst consumers whose interest might have been raised by the
idea of microgeneration often decide to take other energy efficiency
measures such as insulating their lofts.
| 
