Renewable Energy Association

Fri, 26 May 2006 06:38:24 -0700

^{From their homepage:}

"The Renewable Energy Association was established in 2001 to represent British renewable energy producers and promote the use of sustainable energy in the UK. The REA was originally called the Renewable Power Association until October 2005.

The REA’s main objective is to secure the best legislative and regulatory framework for expanding renewable energy production in the UK. We undertake policy development and provide input to government departments, agencies, regulators, NGOs and others. Read more about us.

Environment Agency Red Kite House

Fri, 19 May 2006 09:38:34 -0700

Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK

Background:
The Environment Agency recognise that sustainable construction can reduce our demand on natural resources, boost the local economy and provide a better environment for people to live and work.

Spitalfields Bishops Square

Thu, 18 May 2006 09:01:01 -0700

London, UK

Background
Bishops Square, developed by Hammerson plc and the Corporation of London, was designed by award winning architects Foster and Partners. The project partners worked with solarcentury, who provided specialised PV knowledge and design expertise to develop an optimal, cost effective solution for the new offices. The PV replaced louvres that were included in the original design, to provide the added benefit of shading to the plant deck area. The offices are to be let to international law firm Allen and Overy who will benefit from a considerable reduction in their energy bills as a result of the PV installation.

Case Studies

Thu, 18 May 2006 03:34:48 -0700

Read the following Technical Case Studies to find out how renewables energy systems can be incorporated into your development.

Planning Renewables

Thu, 18 May 2006 01:28:53 -0700

This website arose out of the on-going series of workshops on renewable energy for councillors and planning officers that was launched in 2004 as part of the DTI's It's only Natural campaign.

The purpose of the workshops is to support the local authority planning community in dealing with the increasing number of planning applications for renewable energy schemes, some of which, like wind farms and biomass plants, generate considerable local controversy.

Manchester College of Arts and Technology (MANCAT)

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 06:14:09 -0700

Manchester, UK

Background

Manchester College of Arts and Technology (MANCAT) have incorporated pioneering design and building innovation in their brand new North Manchester Sixth Form Centre in the Harpurhey area of the city. The new building is a redevelopment of a brownfield site, which used to house the public baths. In a major project the original Grade 2 listed Victorian building has been retained and restored, whilst a futuristic extension has been added, to create a sixth form college, library and exhibition hall incorporating the latest building integrated solar technology.

Croydon Centrale

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 06:17:41 -0700

Croydon, London, UK

The integration of solar photovoltaics and a wind turbine into the plant deck on the top floor of the Croydon Centrale shopping centre, was a retrofit solution. The PV and wind turbine are located above the car park and are visible to the public using the centre.

The solar photovoltaic (PV) array installed onto the plant deck on is made up of a total of 45 Sharp 80W modules supplied by solarcentury (although one of which is not electrically connected). The modules cover a total area of 28.6m2 and are capable of producing a total peak DC power of 3.52 kilowatts under Standard Test conditions (STC). The arrays will provide approximately 1,765 kilowatt hours of energy each year.

Willow Lane, Mitcham

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 05:25:52 -0700

Mitcham, Surrey, UK

The project consisted of the installation of a solar PV system onto the profiled steel sheet roof of a new business park development in Mitcham, South London, and electrical connection into the existing system.

The solar photovoltaic (PV) array installed onto the Willow Lane Development is made up of a total of 28 Sanyo 190W PV modules supplied by solarcentury. The array covers a total area of 33m² and is capable of producing a total peak DC power of 5.32 kilowatts under Standard Test Conditions (STC). The estimated annual energy yield for the array is 4,700 kilowatt hours (units of electricity).

As more detailed case study can be found in First Implementation under The Merton Rule

Date commissioned

2005.06.22

Technology

Solar PV

Background

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 08:52:51 -0800

1. BACKGROUND

1.1. Every borough has a policy that “encourages” the use of renewable energy in new developments – but simple encouragement rarely delivers results. Climate change is a major threat to the security and well-being of people around the globe, and protecting the environment for future generations is of paramount concern. In order to combat this threat there needs to be a change in the collective approach from the “cottage industry” to a fully mobilized mindset. There are four key rationales behind Merton’s UDP (and the revised LDF) renewable energy policy:

As a Global to Local initiative for helping the UK to meet it’s Kyoto commitments and domestic CO2 reduction targets.
As a way of addressing fuel poverty, and making Merton businesses more competitive by lowering their monthly energy bills.
As a mechanism for expanding the renewable and sustainable energy economy.
As a way of raising the profile of renewable energy and combating climate change in Merton, and stimulating the debate on establishing secure and sustainable energy sources for the future.

1.2. Planning outline
The local planning paradigm is evolving from a prosaic, site-specific, discipline towards a more sophisticated spatial planning approach, and as such, boroughs will no longer produce that cumbersome and inflexible local rule book called the Unitary Development Plans every ten years – but will, by 2008, have a collection of updateable policy specific “pamphlets” that will collectively be known as the Local Development Framework.

Until then however, we are caught in something of a no-mans-land between the old and the new where planning authorities are engaged in the twin tasks of “getting their heads around” the LDF while simultaneously bolting together their final UDP’s – which in many cases will be obsolete almost as soon as the ink is dry on the paper.

It is inevitable that this no-mans-land syndrome, exacerbated by the advent of other national and regional planning influences, has created a degree of uncertainty and blurring between the UDP and LDF - but of course where there is uncertainty there is also opportunity, and this very uncertainty provided the incubator for the Merton 10% policy. Although it was written into its UDP, it is in character more of an LDF policy in as much as it is a planning response to new CO2 reduction targets, fluctuating fossil fuel prices, fuel poverty, technological innovation, ever changing Government policy initiatives, and the growing collective awareness of climate change in general.

1.3. Merton policy history
Merton first included the 10% policy in its UDP second deposit draft in 2000 (prior to the inception of the GLA). It read: “Require all new industrial, warehousing and office development outside conservation areas and above a threshold of 1,000 sqm to incorporate renewable power generation equipment to provide at least 10% of predicted energy requirements.”

There were two objections to the proposed policy.

The Government Office for London: “Government advice on renewable energy (PPG22) gives no specific guidance on the acceptability of policies requiring distributed renewable power generation. Such a policy should not be included, unless it has been demonstrated to be a reasonable and feasible requirement.”
Chartered Institute of Professional Development: “Criterion (vii – the relevant section of the policy) makes unacceptable and unjustified requirements. These are not land use matters and could impose significant additional costs on development. The policy should encourage rather than require.” - (which would in effect render the policy impotent – AH).

1.3.1. In her final report (August 2002) the ODPM Inspector’s Reasoning and Conclusions on this were as follows: “As the Council (Merton) rightly points out, PPG22 was published some years ago. Since then the Government has published its Climate Change Programme, which sets a target for 10% of the UK’s electricity requirements to be met from renewable energy sources by 2010. RPG9 advises authorities to use their development control and building regulations processes to seek to influence incorporation of appropriate renewable energy heating or power systems in the design of new developments.

There is therefore unambiguous national and regional support for the approach adopted in criterion (vii) of policy E13, which cannot be achieved under current Building Regulations alone. (this is the key legal issue for allowing the policy – AH). It would be up to the developers to demonstrate how the requirement would render a particular development unviable.”

1.3.2. In light of the Inspectors report Merton rewrote the policy with 3 amendments:

Substituting the word “expect” for the word “require”.
Making it for all non-residential development rather than exclusively commercial/industrial, and in so doing catching schools, hospitals, doctors surgeries and community buildings etc.
Removing the conservation area exemption. The simple premise being that aesthetics is clearly subordinate to protecting the environment (and buildings) for future generations. The increasing severity of storms across the UK as a result of climate change will disproportionately damage older buildings likely to be in conservation areas - aesthetics is therefore being sacrificed (for a period) in the interests of long term protection.

In September 2003 Merton submitted its final draft UDP to the ODPM Planning Department for final scrutiny. The revised policy (PE13) read: “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.”

1.4. Targets and Thresholds
The 10% target and 1,000m2 figures emerged from a combination of financial appraisals that showed it would not be an undue burden for developers, and a concern for smaller businesses. The first borough to propose a residential threshold was Croydon and it settled on 10. Nearly all emulating boroughs have the same target and thresholds, though recently some have considered higher percentage targets.

1.5. Renewable energy definition
From the London Renewables Toolkit (2004)
(Claire Bonham-Carter, Faber Maunsell)

The following renewable energy technologies are described in detail (section 3.3-3.10 of the London Renewables Toolkit) and are used in the tables in Section 4.12 and 4.13 of the toolkit:

The Merton Rule

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 08:41:09 -0800

NOTE: This text needs updating
The most recent version of this briefing can currently be found attached to the bottom of this page

The Merton 10% (+) policy

Unitary Development Plan policy PE13
10%(+) Renewable energy policy briefing

In October 2003 Merton became the first local authority in the UK to include a policy in its Unitary Development Plan that requires new non-residential developments to generate at least 10% of their energy needs from renewable energy equipment such as solar panels and wind turbines.

The actual policy reads: “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.”

Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA)

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 02:54:27 -0800

The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) is an independent charity working to improve the art and science of town planning. The TCPA puts social justice and the environment at the heart of policy debate and inspires government, industry and campaigners to take a fresh perspective on major issues, including planning policy, housing regeneration and climate change.

Their objectives are to:

Secure decent, well designed homes for everyone, in a human scale environment combining th best features of town and country
Empower people and communities to influ

London Renewables steering group

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 02:49:13 -0800

Operating from spring 2003 to spring 2005, the London Renewables steering group worked with the London Energy Partnership to enable London to meet its renewable energy targets, as set in the Mayor's Energy Strategy. The London Renewables programme promoted the uptake of renewable energy technology in the capital. In particular, its programme focused on increasing the amount of renewabl

Renewable Devices

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 02:43:57 -0800

Renewable Devices have developed the Swift Rooftop Wind Energy System™, the worlds first silent, building-mountable wind turbine.

Renewable Devices Energy Solutions provides a wide range of services to industry, commercial renewables developers, communities and the public sector and aims to promote the sensitive and appropriate use of renewable energy in the UK and abroad, making it accessible and affordable.

Windsave

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 02:40:27 -0800

Windsave Ltd. was formed in January 2002 to develop a Commercial and Domestic small wind turbine generator system using low wind speeds to create electricity, avoiding the use of batteries. The Windsave System can be roof or wall mounted and feeds electricity directly into the property on the consumer side of the meter, reducing the consumption and cost of electricity from the Grid.

Sharp Solar Power Generation Systems

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 02:34:45 -0800

Forty years of looking to the future have made Sharp Solar Power Generation Systems the leading edge.

Sharp was one of the first companies to realize the potential benefits of solar power. The technology the company has developed, with the future of the global environment in mind, is now among the most advanced available.

TheMertonRule.org - renewable