The Merton 10% policy Combating climate change Adrian Hewitt London Borough of Merton Copyright LB of Merton – not to be used or copied without permission Please contact: – 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 5 th 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 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 CO 2 Electricity 10% CO 2 = Y ££££

= 13,50010% = 134,820TOTAL 47,880X ,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 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 ,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 cut 10% = 12,150 kg CO 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 Combined CO2 emissions from heat & electric If some of the business units don’t have heating systems 10 individual business units Additional build cost 3% 16.5% total CO2 reduction 21% total CO2 reduction RIBA Jan 05 First implementation – 4,500 sqm of 10 light commercial units Willow Lane Industrial Estate - Merton

2 nd 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 1,250,00025,000 £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 CenturyB&Q NO - so why are 10% policies and other local initiatives the best approach ? Renewables Toolkit Building Regs Ofgem etc Unst Island hydrogenEdinburgh 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 Hewitt London Borough of Merton Copyright LB of Merton – not to be used or copied without permission Please contact: – The Merton 10% policy Combating climate change

This presentation (or a version of it) has been given at the following conferences and seminars 08/01/06Merton Energy Strategy – Merton Scientific SocietyMerton Adult Education College 12/12/0510% Renewable Policy – Energy Centre for Sustainable CommunitiesHove Town Hall 07/12/05Planning for Climate Change - Friends of the Earth CymruWelsh Assembly 01/12/05Sustainable Architecture - Architects JournalHamilton Place - London 24/11/05Climate Change & PoliticsInstitute of Russian & Slavonic Studies - Oxford University 23/11/05From Paper to Practice (10% Policy) - South West RegionCentre for Sustainable Energy - Taunton 16/11/05Renewable Futures (10% policy) - South West RegionRegensw - Western–Super Mare 27/10/05Building a sustainable future - Construction NewsInstitute of Obstetricians and Gynecologists – London 19/10/05Getting to 10% - Building Services JournalLondon CIBSE - Church House, Westminster, London 15/07/05Sustainable energy economyDTI/DEFRA Sustainable Industries Unit - London 12/07/0510% Policy - Parliamentary Renewable & Sustainable Energy GroupLiberal Club - London 05/07/05Building Integrated Renewables - Solar CenturyRoyal Institute of Chartered Surveyors - London 29/06/05Climate change planning - National Society for Clean AirInstitute of Physics - London 28/06/05Planning & Community Heating - Combined Heat & Power AssociationArmy & Navy Club – Pall Mall, London 08/06/05Sustainable planning - Eastern RegionIpswich 25/05/05Urban sustainable energy technologies - LETIT (EU)Terni - Italy 18/05/05Sustainable planning - Edinburgh & South LothianEdinburgh University 16/04/05Merton Energy Strategy - Merton Environment & Safety ForumMorden Baptist church - Merton 03/03/05Sustainable energy & planning - Sustainable Institutions GroupSaid Business School - Oxford University 21/02/05Low Carbon Building - Government Office for LondonGreater London Authority - City Hall, London 26/01/05Eco-housing - Oxford Brookes UniversityRoyal Institute of British Architects - London 24/01/05Environmental Technologies - Oxford TrustCulham Laboratory - Oxfordshire 21/11/0410% renewable policy - Building Services EngineeringMax Fordham Associates - London 24/08/0510% renewable policy - East Midlands planning conferenceDe Montfort University - Leicester 06/06/04Low Energy Technology Implementation (LETIT) - EU - 6 th FrameworkLondon 29/03/0410% renewable policy - IT PowerGreater London Authority - City Hall - London 29/05/03Sustainable development communication strategies - EU Asia-UrbsThe Energy Research Institute - New Delhi, India 22/09/02Urban Carbon ZoningWorcester Polytechnic Institute - Massachusetts 04/07/02Sustainable urban planning and building design – EU Asia-UrbsBarcelona - Catalonia