INDUSTRY NEWS
FLEXIBLE THINKING IN NET ZERO ‘PLAYBOOK’ WELCOMED
N
ew guidance from the Cabinet Offi ce aimed at decarbonising the UK’s largest property estate has been welcomed in the industry.
In its ‘Net Zero Estate Playbook’, the Government has set out advice for public sector organisations and procurers about how they can substantially lower their carbon footprint in line with its policy to deliver a 78% reduction in emissions from government buildings by 2035. The public sector accounts for 9% of the country’s total building-related carbon emissions and, as the largest built environment client, steps taken by the government can also have a profound knock-on eff ect throughout the sector. Its guidance for improving the performance of
schools, hospitals, prisons, offi ces, and other public buildings, including listed and historic structures, provides advice on how to update energy and emissions audits, monitor in use performance and how to secure the necessary funding for building upgrades. The Playbook takes a technology neutral approach
because it notes that diff erent buildings need diff erent solutions. Therefore, it provides advice on a
wide range of building engineering options including heat pumps, solar, low carbon heating, energy effi ciency, LED lighting etc. It also urges developers to carry out detailed assessments to ensure they use the right solution for the building in question, including whether they can be connected to heat networks and the potential for alternative energy sources like renewables, hydrogen, and biofuels. “The clarity of purpose set out in this new
Playbook is extremely helpful,” said BESA’s head of technical Graeme Fox. “Setting down some of the technical detail needed to deliver the Government’s Net Zero ambitions is the best way to focus eff ort in the right direction and drive practical action.” “Hopefully, the new Playbook with its detailed
plan for upgrading and retrofi tting the UK’s largest property estate will provide welcome impetus for a truly nationwide programme of building upgrades that put energy effi ciency, low carbon heating and cooling, and improved building fabric at its heart,” said Mr Fox.
He added that a “technology agnostic approach” was sensible to discourage people from
PROGRAMME TO CREATE HYDROGEN AND CUT CARBON EMISSIONS
R
esource management company, Veolia, is advancing its programme to create the hydrogen gas supply infrastructure and
decarbonise the UK energy supply. Believed to be the fi rst application of its type in
the UK, the company’s latest development is now managing projects which incorporate electrolyser technology to derive hydrogen from water, and powering these using the low carbon electricity from its Energy Recovery Facilities (ERF). Future use of the hydrogen could include both replacing the use of fossil fuel on the gas grid and alternative
zero carbon fuel for commercial vehicles. For many years, methane gas has been used to heat homes and businesses, and used in power stations to generate electricity. As a result currently 85% of homes and 40% of the UK’s electricity rely on gas. But when methane burns it still releases carbon, which contributes to climate change. Veolia’s projects will accelerate progress
towards climate protection and a Net Zero future, by replacing fossil fuels and realising the potential to decarbonise heat in industry, businesses and homes, and provide vehicle fuels. By using electrolysis, the process which uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, it could create hydrogen that can be stored for future energy needs. This will cut carbon emissions, and is a potential future solution for decarbonisation as water is the by-product when hydrogen is used. The gas industry is testing ways to use hydrogen in the gas grid, and Veolia is already preparing sites to be able to use this hydrogen in a range of on-site energy plants such as combined heat and power units, and industrial boiler plant. Commenting on this latest zero carbon initiative,
Donald Macphail, chief operating offi cer - Treatment at Veolia said: “Reducing carbon emissions and slowing environmental change is now a priority. By developing new ways of generating zero carbon hydrogen we have the potential of covering the energy needs of our modern lives, and stopping the climate damaging impact of CO2. This represents a real step forward on the route to a Net Zero world.” Veolia currently operates 10 plants that take
around 2.3 million tonnes of non-recyclable waste and transform this into electricity for over 400,000 homes. This combined generating capacity of 180MWe takes pressure off the stretched UK electrical grid and eff ectively avoids using fossil fuels for generation.
Above: Graeme Fox BESA
‘championing’ particular solutions when many, including most of the technologies the building engineering sector is already using, still have their place. “The diffi cult bit is working out which solution is the right one for the task in hand so updating assessments and audits is the crucial fi rst step. Flexibility is key and engineers need to be given the freedom to engineer,” said Fox. “For example, there is more than one type of heat
pump, which means it is a technology that can be widely applied, but equally it is not always the right choice. The contents of the Playbook suggest that the Cabinet Offi ce, at least, is starting to understand some of the nuances of built environment engineering.”
6 January 2022
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