NEWS UPDATE PUBLIC SECTOR DECARBONISATION SCHEME In Brief


● Siemens and Enlighted, a leading property technology company owned by Siemens, have announced a strategic partnership with the lighting solutions provider Zumtobel Group, to advance the adoption of smart building technologies, including intelligent IoT lighting. The partnership will have a special focus on commercial buildings, higher education and smart hospitals, and aims to provide faster access to technology solutions that can help to decarbonise buildings.


● Clivet UK has announced the appointment of Logicool as its latest distributor. The independent wholesaler, based in Swadlincote, specialises in air conditioning, heat pump and climate control solutions for projects ranging from residential to large commercial applications. Mitsubishi, Hitachi and Panasonic are also part of its current product portfolio.


● UK based manufacturer Marshall-Tufflex has announced that it used an average of 60% recycled material in the production of its PVC-U cable management range in 2023. The latest figures come as part of a wider strategy of initiatives that the company has put into place in its bid to reduce its impact on the environment and represents over 2,750 tonnes of waste PVC-U that has been reused.


● Independent specialist in humidity control, Humidity Solutions, has launched a new online e-commerce store for the sales of parts online (humiditydirect.co.uk). Delivery is free and customers will be able to filter through product ranges from leading manufacturers and see immediately if the parts they need are in stock.


● Car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has announced plans to generate more than a quarter of its UK electricity from new onsite and near site renewable energy projects, slashing energy bills and reducing reliance on grid energy. The plans form part of the company’s global renewable strategy, which aims to increase self-generated energy to 36.4% of its global consumption by 2030.


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Coventry University benefits from net zero grant


Coventry University has been awarded a grant of almost £13million to help hit its target of being net zero by 2030. The grant from the Public Sector


Decarbonisation Scheme, which is funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and delivered by Salix Finance Ltd, will help towards the cost of installing around 1,300


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new solar panels and connecting nine Coventry University buildings to the city’s district energy network. It is hoped the proposals could


reduce the Group’s carbon emissions by more than 1,300 tonnes per year – more than a fifth of its annual carbon emissions arising from the use of fossil fuels. These works are a major part of the


carbon reduction actions outlined in a strategy jointly developed over the past year with consultants Turner & Townsend.


The district energy network is a 6.6km underground heat system that transports waste heat from the city’s municipal incinerator to supply energy to major public buildings and in doing so has only one sixth of the carbon emissions of natural gas. Approximately 1,300 new solar panels will be installed at the Alma building, Cycle Works, TheHub, Sir Frank Whittle building and Elm Bank, with the latter also having new energy efficient windows installed. All the works are expected to be completed by March 2026 and will help the university to avoid grid electricity costs of more than £100,000 per year and generate zero carbon electricity for internal consumption.


Government failing to meet its insulation targets


The House of Lords Library has published a new study highlighting how poorly the government is delivering better insulation in homes. Entitled ‘Home Is Where the Heat Is’, it emphasises that residential properties are responsible for 17% of the UK’s carbon emissions. It notes that the government’s three year Great British Insulation Scheme, begun last spring, was supposed to help annually an average 100,000 households living in cheaper council tax bands to install new home insulation. Only those with energy performance certificate ratings of D or below currently qualify for help. The median energy efficiency rating for dwellings in England and Wales is band D. But the Lords’ study noted that in the Scheme’s first


nine months, less than 3,000 homes were improved. At this progress rate, even this modest target would take 60 years to reach. Most of these homes were only permitted to have one insulation measure installed, while some regions of the country have seen as few as 100 homes benefit. Senior industry figures said that ministers were


looking at the viability of the entire scheme amid fears that it could suffer the same fate as the £1.5 billion Green Homes Grant which was scrapped just six months after its launch. In its 2023 report to Parliament on the UK’s progress


in reducing carbon emissions, the Climate Change Committee argued there remained a “significant policy gap” in the government’s efforts to improve the energy efficiency of non-fuel-poor properties.


The House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee has recommended the government should focus on supporting home insulation as a means of delivering emissions reductions. The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee has also recommended the government should increase the pace of home insulation and other measures to improve home energy efficiency The Parliamentary Library study draws attention to the


Conservative Party’s 2019 general election manifesto inclusion of a commitment to invest £9.2bn in improving the energy efficiency of domestic and public buildings.


EIBI | MARCH 2024


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