Abstract
Planning energy infrastructure at the local level is the key to addressing some of the most difficult challenges in climate change and energy policy planning (i.e. fuel poverty) and to unlock the transformative potential of distributed energy technologies. The scientific field of urban energy and carbon modelling is becoming a fundamental instrument to estimate an energy and carbon baseline at a point in time and to quantify the impact that policy-driven technological interventions that could have on the overall carbon footprint of a city. This capability enables an evidence-based approach in which the economic case towards a low-carbon economy can be made. Transformative local distributed energy technologies such as CHP or district heating have a strong spatial component due to a need to identify synergies with adjacent properties or heating loads. Currently available domestic building energy models often do not take into account spatial information. Accessing geo-referenced data for energy modelling can also be particularly useful as validated outputs (i.e. heating and electricity loads, energy profiles) can be mapped using spatial modelling techniques that help to easily identify high and low energy consumption areas and potential synergies in local energy infrastructure planning. In Newcastle upon Tyne UK, the council is exploring the opportunities for the installation of renewable heat technologies on their own stock as a matter of urgency. Identification of potential sites and feasibility for technical and financial applicability within the UK policies will be addressed by this paper.
Highlights
The UK government has set a legally binding target to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050 through the Climate Change Act [4]
A greener future policy [9] considers for a LCZ any type of technology that has a physical connection to the development, even if the technology is partly located away from the development site itself, as is often the case for district heating/combined heat and power (CHP); and a buy-out fund whose proceeds would be used to invest in low and zero carbon energy contributing to the home that is tackling emissions, and exporting low carbon or renewable heat to neighbouring developments or investing in LZC community heating
These Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) work alongside the Renewables Obligation, which will remain the primary mechanism to incentivise the deployment of large-scale renewable electricity generation and the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which will incentivise generation of heat from renewable sources at all scales. iv
Summary
The development of a low carbon district heating and cooling network is the largest single element identified within Newcastle City Council [1] energy master-plan and is the project that is likely to have the greatest impact in delivering low carbon energy to the city [2]. The UK government has set a legally binding target to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050 through the Climate Change Act [4]. The Act introduced a system of carbon budgets which provide limits on the amount of emissions produced in successive five-year periods, starting in 2008. The CCC [5] provides the tools for doing that providing actions through the carbon budgets a to make sure that the progress is in a steady and efficient form toward the year 2050. The first three carbon budgets require emissions to be reduced by at least 34% below base year levels in 2020, the fourth a reduction of 50% by 2027. The carbon budgets require that the government of the date provides legislation, proposals and actions that are consistent with the carbon budgets as they pass one after another. The reduction in electricity used in peak periods and how much of this could be switched to periods of lower electrical demand [7] is still needed to model and understanding
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