The irony of the converging energy crises of the last few months has been their energy-draining effects on our collective consciousness. The spirit-sapping news of war, soaring bills, and a debatable Government response plan has left most of us feeling powerless… but might this chaos be the catalyst for real change? Those powering the transformation tell us more.
Switched
on.
In search of the energy endgame.
POSSIBILITIES
How we generate and consume energy is perhaps the most significant threat to economic and social wellbeing that we face today. Already high energy prices are only predicted to keep rising; the UK’s current use of fossil fuels is unsustainable; and the energy-security crisis – both moral and economic – that Europe is in the grip of, continues.
At home, it’s clear that over-dependency on imported gas has taken us to where we are. Energy insecurity carries a massive social and economic price. The 2003 blackout across the US and Canada affected around 50 million people and had an estimated economic cost of approximately $6.4 billion. The UK, as a whole, is not on the front-line of dependence on Russian gas but neither are we wholly immune from it. And we’re not alone in the soaring cost-of-living crisis: energy prices are rising around the world as industries struck by Covid-19 lockdowns resume operations, and energy supplies still need to ramp up after plunging two years ago during the first lockdowns.
Arguably the imperatives of energy policy must be affordability, security of supply, energy efficiency and carbon reduction. Getting the balance right may involve some compromise on all of them, but the issue lies in pursuing one single-mindedly without acknowledging its impact on the others. Proving warranted are concerns that the war-induced rush to increase oil and gas production (to address the energy price increase) will significantly weaken efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and they are driving debate about the extent of the response required. “The unbelievably high levels of cash flow that fossil fuel companies are currently seeing is certainly pushing people towards viewpoints that may have seemed a little radical for some in the past,” explains Phil Pearson, Associate Director of Energy and Utilities Infrastructure at Hoare Lea. “The lobbying power these companies have is unprecedented and it’s what’s at the heart of the slow government responses we’re seeing.”
A windfall tax on fossil fuel companies has serious backing – even the International Energy Agency, not known for its radicalism, has advocated for it in the EU, with the proceeds to be used to ease energy bills for vulnerable people. At the same time, an increasing number of climate scientists, researchers and activists are calling for nationalisation, resource allocation, resource efficiency measures, and price controls on energy.
Home-grown renewables are cheaper, safer and lower impact…The strategy is right to ‘rebalance’ costs placed on energy bills away from electricity, to provide a level playing field for heat pumps and other emerging tech.
Simon McWhirter, UKGBC (Comms, Policy & Places)
So, taken together, it’s no surprise that progressive political leaders are viewing all this chaos as a sign that clean, domestically produced renewable energy is the only way forward. “It’s frustrating that it takes something like the current energy landscape to provoke this discussion,” notes Phil, “but it’s good to see the conversation changing – we now need collective pressure across industries to challenge the recently released UK energy strategy to go further. It was framed as a route to securing the UK’s energy supplies and try to dampen soaring costs for consumers and industry, but the lack of a joined-up approach, to both tackling the problems and capitalising on the green opportunity, is frustrating. However, those at the coal face (or should I say ‘renewables face’!) must continue our efforts to actually enact proactive change in the meantime.”
Indeed, the built environment industry’s climate-driven voice, led by the UKGBC, has begun to do so. “We’re really trying to hone in on the fact that any credible strategy must include plans firstly to reduce energy demand and then to expand low or zero carbon supply,” explains UKGBC’s Simon McWhirter (Comms, Policy & Places). “The strategy was a chance to insulate the nation’s homes, protect us against future price hikes and tackle the devastating effects of rising energy costs on households across the UK, but it completely misses this opportunity. Ramping up renewable energy is, of course, welcome, but this does nothing to stop heat leaking from every window, wall and roof of the UK’s 29 million homes.”
“Home-grown renewables are cheaper, safer and lower impact,” he adds. “The strategy is right to ‘rebalance’ costs placed on energy bills away from electricity, to provide a level playing field for heat pumps and other emerging tech; but we are conscious we need to work closely with the Government to develop better energy performance standards in tandem with this – measuring real energy use, not based on guesswork at the drawing board stage.”
We’re really trying to hone in on the fact that any credible strategy must include plans firstly to reduce energy demand and then to expand low or zero carbon supply.
Simon McWhirter, UKGBC (Comms, Policy & Places)
So, looking to the future, it’s clear that a new energy landscape will have to be carved out. “The ‘Net Zero by 2050’ imperative is, quite rightly, now up there in the public consciousness as energy security and affordability,” says Phil. “We are looking at the biggest change to how customers consume electricity since the National Grid was developed nearly 100 years ago. Energy masterplans in cities like Manchester and Bristol are demonstrating that projected increases in demand far exceed current capacity. Luckily, decentralised energy is a rapidly deployable and efficient way to meet that demand, while improving energy security and sustainability at the same time.”
Decentralised energy, while not yet fully dominant in the mainstream market, is known within the industry as energy generated off the main grid. It encompasses combined heat and power, district heating and cooling, solar, geothermal and biomass energy, or even energy from waste plants. These can serve a single building, whole community, and even rolled out for entire cities.
According to the Energy Saving Trust, more than 17,000 district heating schemes are now in place across the UK, with numbers set to increase over the coming years. For example, London wants to reduce its reliance on national energy infrastructure, with the aim of supplying 25 percent of its energy through decentralised sources by 2025. “The cost savings that district heating can bring are phenomenal,” Phil notes. “If we look to other countries like Denmark – where district heating proved to be so popular that it is now a legal requirement that inhabitants of cities have to connect to their district heating system – it’s a no brainer. Approximately 89 percent of the city’s heating needs are supplied by district heating, and they’re now connecting their district heating systems to renewable energy sources such as wind and hydro.” Knowing that in the not-too-distant future, every city in the country is going to be heated by a zero-carbon source means that Denmark is on track to meet its commitment to fossil-free heating and electricity by 2035.
By comparison, the UK’s discovery of vast resources of natural gas in the 1960s led to the approach we now find ourselves dealing with. The vast majority of the country was connected to gas. Now, as a net importer of natural gas, district heating is a promising route out of our issues.
The cost savings that district heating can bring are phenomenal. If we look to other countries like Denmark – where district heating proved to be so popular that it is now a legal requirement that inhabitants of cities have to connect to their district heating system – it’s a no brainer.
Phil Pearson, Associate Director of Energy and Utilities, Hoare Lea
“A very cool example of real innovation taking place is how we’re now using the heat of the London Underground to heat the homes of Londoners,” Phil enthuses. Similarly, the heat network at King’s Cross in London supplies space and water heating to more than 800 nearby apartments. Each passenger passing through the station releases more than 100 watts of energy in body heat. Add to this all the trains and electrical equipment and you end up with very high temperatures – and therefore a massive amount of heat that previously would have had to be reduced to maintain safe environments. Instead, it’s now being redirected to where it’s needed. “These are all simple systems thinking concepts that are at the heart of sustainable strategies, and which the industry is now waking up to the myriad benefits of,” notes Phil.
So why aren’t more decentralised energy projects happening in the UK? The barriers to mass take-up are not technical nor even primarily financial. The major obstacle to mass take-up of decentralised energy is simply limited experience and expertise in the public sector, which is a purely institutional issue. Many organisations struggle to be fully clear on the part that they can play in developing and implementing such projects. But while there is a lack of experience, luckily this is not the case when it comes vision and enthusiasm to grasp the opportunity.
Certainly, it’s easy to see how a shift in public consciousness, fuelled by climate awareness and warranted fury and frustration regarding the surge in energy prices, could take place. It aligns with a trend that’s already being seen post-pandemic for thinking locally and more communally. And, with support for the energy transformation coming from high-profile people, it feels like an inevitable evolution for society.
As Kevin McCloud so articulately puts it: “In the UK we understand what it is to share a meal, to work an allotment and share produce, to co-own a community asset like a park or join a car club. We are, perhaps, no longer a society hooked on the idea of ownership and we are ready for the joys and the affordability of more shared stuff… By which I mean heat networks.”
So, although decentralised energy is certainly not the only solution, it offers an already-established route and a realistic view of how energy will work in 20 or even 50 years’ time. Ultimately, ethically meeting the three tests – affordability, carbon reduction, energy efficiency, and security of supply – is a balance that can be met; even more excitingly, the spirit in which it can be done sends a message of cooperation and community-led collaboration that extends to some of the biggest challenges that lie ahead.
LET’S TALK