Energy efficient buildings

21 For 21: The Climate Change Actions Scotland Needs Now

Stephen Richard — Sun, 12 Sep 2021 20:50:44 +0000

21 For 21: The Climate Change Actions Scotland Needs Now

Primary Author or Creator

Common Weal

Stephen Richard Sun, 09/12/2021 - 21:50

Additional Author(s) / Creators

Energy Policy Group

Date Published

Mon, 08/09/2021 - 12:00

Category

Climate change

Type of Resource

Policy Paper

Fast Facts

21 Policies that would enable Scotland to meet our responsibilities as laid out by the 2021 IPCC Sixth Assessment Report

More details

The 21 actions we are calling for are as follows:

1. Build a Green New Deal
Scotland needs a comprehensive, coordinated plan which delivers major social benefits while tackling climate change

2. Start our own energy company
A National Energy Company will let us build and control the infrastructure Scotland needs to decarbonise

3. Plan our energy future
Setting up a Scottish Energy Development Agency enables us to plan the infrastructure we need in the public good

4. Build what we need in the right way
By establishing a National Infrastructure Company we can ensure that the infrastructure we need is built to the highest standard and owned by the public

5. Leave no-one without a warm house
A proper, coordinated plan of increasing energy efficiency for all homes without exception will help householders and reduce carbon

6. Capture waste heat and use it
If we introduce a Heat Supply Act it can require large producers of waste heat to capture and recycle that heat for public use

7. Future-proof the electricity grid
We must commit to long-term investment in local electricity grid reinforcement, management and energy storage to prepare for a secure, renewable energy future

8. Fair connection charges for Scotland’s power
Renewable energy production in Scotland pays a very high cost for feeding it into the grid – this is unjust and must be reformed

9. End coal, end nuclear
Scotland has bountiful renewable energy resources and has no need for dangerous and polluting fuels and energy technologies

10. No new oil
Scotland must ban new oil and gas exploration and set out a route map for phasing out all fossil fuels

11. Train a renewables workforce
To transition people from the fossil fuel and nuclear industries and prepare them for a renewable future we should set up a ‘one-stop shop’ for retraining

12. Back a green hydrogen road-map
Scotland needs clear guidance on how we develop and use Green Hydrogen so we can built this new industry as quickly and efficiently as possible

13. Make energy efficiency meaningful
The way we measure the thermal performance of buildings is riddled with problems so we must reform Energy Performance Certificates so they reflect reality

14. Measure the whole-life energy of houses
Include embodied energy (the energy needed to build a house, not just run it) in the next revision of the Building Standards

15. Energy-efficient appliances only
The energy rating of electrical appliances is about to be revised, so choose now to ban the sale of appliances with ratings below the new C level

16. Make localism work
Prioritising localism has enormous energy-saving benefits so make all neighbourhoods ‘20-minute neighbourhoods’

17. Set a legal right to homeworking
Homeworking saves energy and time, so while not everyone can or wants to home work and no-one should be forced, anyone who does should be given the right to do so

18. Fewer cruise ships
Cruise ships are environmentally damaging and don’t help the economy so Scotland should introduce a quota for cruise ships entering Scottish waters and ports

19. Explore a flights quota
There is no green alternative to the way we fly available so we must limit our flights with flight quotas, a moratorium on airport expansion and investment in airships

20. Divest from fossil fuel
Require all public sector bodies to commit to divesting from fossil fuels in the next year

21. Clean politics
End the influence fossil fuel lobbyists have over our politics by signing up to the Fossil Free Politics campaign

Resource Address (URL)

https://commonweal.scot/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/21-For-21.pdf

Keywords

Renewable manufacturing

Hydrogen

Energy efficient buildings

Homeworking

Language English

Scottish Building Regulations: Review of Energy Standards – Common Weal Consultation Response

Stephen Richard — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 11:28:44 +0000

Scottish Building Regulations: Review of Energy Standards – Common Weal Consultation Response

Primary Author or Creator

Linda Pearson

Stephen Richard Wed, 09/01/2021 - 12:28

Additional Author(s) / Creators

Common Weal

Date Published

Sat, 08/11/2018 - 12:00

Category

Energy

Type of Resource

Policy Paper

Fast Facts

― According to the latest figures, 26.5% (or around 649,000) of Scottish households live in fuel poverty while 7.5% of households (183,000) live in extreme fuel poverty. This is unacceptable in contemporary Scotland.

― The Scottish Government should abandon its staged approach to housing energy efficiency improves as it creates ongoing (rather than one-time) upheaval for construction companies and adds to the problem of retrofitting existing buildings to the most efficient standards.

― Instead, all new buildings in Scotland should be constructed to passive and zero-carbon standards.

― Existing buildings are currently scheduled to be retrofitted in stages guided by their EPC rating. Any building retrofitted to meet the EPC C target will need to be retrofitted again at a future date to meet the EPC A target.

― Instead, all buildings should be surveyed immediately and assessed on their maximum feasible retrofitting potential. They should then be scheduled to be retrofitted to that potential in a single project.

― Where it is not possible for buildings to be retrofitted to passive standards, zero carbon abatements such as solar thermal or solar PV should be installed to ensure an adequate level of zero-carbon heating.

― Passive standards such as PassivHaus and Enerphit are well established but other standards should be explored which can produce similar efficiency standards but make more use of locally sourced materials such as Scottish timber and timber products.

Resource Address (URL)

https://commonweal.scot/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Scottish-Building-Regulation…

Keywords

Energy efficient buildings

Building regulations

Energy efficiency

Fuel poverty

Language English

Energy Performance Certificates: An Alternative Approach

Stephen Richard — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 11:06:30 +0000

Energy Performance Certificates: An Alternative Approach

Primary Author or Creator

Keith Baker

Stephen Richard Wed, 09/01/2021 - 12:06

Additional Author(s) / Creators

Ron Mould, Common Weal

Date Published

Mon, 12/17/2018 - 12:00

Category

Energy

Type of Resource

Policy Paper

Fast Facts

― The aims of the European Union’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), which requires EPCs to be produced for all new buildings and those being sold or rented out, are fundamentally sound and should serve to drive improvements in energy performance. However, in Scotland and the UK, the method by which EPCs are produced are fundamentally flawed. In particular, this is due to the reliance on using modelled energy consumption data rather than actual (measured) data.

― In light of the increasing reliance on using EPC ratings as a key driver for Scottish Government policies on energy efficiency and fuel poverty, including proposals to mandate home and building owners to upgrade their properties to achieve higher ratings, there is an urgent need to understand the highly significant uncertainties around both the ratings and the appropriateness of the improvements recommended by EPC assessments. Then if the Scottish Government seeks to persist in using EPCs as a policy driver it should develop an alternative method for producing them which both more accurately reflects actual energy consumption and includes a more realistic and appropriate list of recommended improvements. Doing so is entirely within its devolved powers, and such an alternative approach would be more aligned to the EPBD’s guidance for producing EPCs.

― This policy paper sets out such an alternative approach, and how it would achieve greater alignment with the EPBD. The approach is based on the fundamental principle of maximising the use of real data in order to provide buyers and tenants with accurate, robust, relevant, and useful information. The approach is also designed to maximise the use of data already being collected by the Scottish Government and public bodies in order to be cost effective. We present this approach as an answer to the frequently asked question of ‘if not EPCs, then what?’, and would welcome comments from other experts and stakeholders as to how it could be refined further.

More details

Energy Performance Certificates as they stand are not a valid driver for policy. What should replace them? Through a deconstruction of the legislation and the modelling that underpins EPCs we have shown both the limitations and implications of using EPCs in their current form as a policy driver, and 12 Common Weal Energy Performance Certificates: An alternative approach have presented an alternative approach which meets all the necessary legislative requirements and which can be implemented directly under currently devolved powers. Although this work is focussed on domestic EPCs we have set out how it can be applied directly to non-domestic EPCs through harmonisation with the future development of the Scottish Sustainability Label.

This alternative approach not only directly addresses the requirements of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, it is a better way of implementing those requirements, and serves to counter the potential for damage to social welfare under non-ideal circumstances. Furthermore, the costs of adopting the alternative approach, even without offsetting against the wider economic savings, are far from the scale of the only two viable alternatives, whilst also reducing the need for and costs of modelling.

We present this alternative approach for further discussion and as a step towards the formalisation and implementation of a more accurate, robust, realistic, appropriate and workable method for producing EPCs, and look forward to further engagement with the Scottish Government, stakeholders and experts to resolve the problems caused by the current approach.

Resource Address (URL)

https://commonweal.scot/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/EPC.pdf

Keywords

Energy Performance Certificates

Domestic heating

Energy efficiency

Energy efficient buildings

Language English

The Future of Low Carbon Heat For Off-Gas Buildings

Stephen Richard — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 15:45:12 +0000

The Future of Low Carbon Heat For Off-Gas Buildings

Primary Author or Creator

Common Weal

Stephen Richard Tue, 08/31/2021 - 16:45

Additional Author(s) / Creators

Glaagow Caledonian University, Energy Poverty Research Initiative

Date Published

Tue, 09/17/2019 - 12:00

Category

Energy

Type of Resource

Policy Paper

Fast Facts

― We have identified no examples of low-carbon heating being taken up on a large scale without government assistance.

― The primary barrier to the roll-out of low carbon heat is financial. Efficient schemes like renewably powered district heating will have to be government financed.

― Without significant government planning, individual households are likely to decarbonise their heat using heat pumps which, while an improvement over fossil fuels, have significant downsides – not least, their collective impact on the electrical grid.

― Biofuels like biopropane or biokerosene may play a significant role in rural heating where they can seamlessly replace off-grid heating without the need to install new infrastructure.

― However we remain cautious about the roll-out of hydrogen which will require almost as much new infrastructure as district heating, will deliver less good outcomes and will encourage the use of “blue” hydrogen derived from fossil fuels as much as it will encourage “green” hydrogen from renewable sources.

Resource Address (URL)

https://commonweal.scot/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Low-carbon-heat-submission.p…

Keywords

Housing

Energy efficient buildings

Language English

The Common Home Plan – Technical Report

Stephen Richard — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 15:08:26 +0000

The Common Home Plan – Technical Report

Primary Author or Creator

Common Weal

Stephen Richard Tue, 08/31/2021 - 16:08

Date Published

Mon, 04/01/2019 - 12:00

Category

Environment

Type of Resource

Policy Paper

Fast Facts

This Technical Report is an annex to The Common Home Plan, a part of Our Common Home – A Green New Deal for Scotland.

This Technical Report has been written to support the work published in Common Weal’s book “The Common Home Plan”. The fact that this book represents the broadest and most detailed Green New Deal blueprint yet published for any country means that it covers a great many of topics in detail and thus draws upon a vast body of literature and other previously published work.

This Technical Report has been published as a separate document with the aim of providing references, comments, footnotes and asides to the main book for an audience minded to investigate our work in more detail without impeding the reading of those who may not.

The Common Home Plan draws not just on new work from Common Weal but also from our extensive library of previous policy papers and other work in this area. These papers too include extensive references to further work in their respective fields. At the end of this report there will be a Further Reading section which directs to our relevant papers.

Resource Address (URL)

https://commonweal.scot/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/OCH-Technical-Report.pdf

Keywords

Energy efficient buildings

Language English

The Common Home Plan

Stephen Richard — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 15:04:01 +0000

The Common Home Plan

Primary Author or Creator

Common Weal

Stephen Richard Tue, 08/31/2021 - 16:04

Additional Author(s) / Creators

Robin McAlpine, Craig Dalzell, Edmond Venabales.

Date Published

Sun, 11/10/2019 - 12:00

Category

Type of Resource

Policy Paper

Fast Facts

There is an awful lot in the Plan. The following is a very quick summary of some of the key action points from the plan:

Buildings: All new construction must be energy-neutral and have at least 60-year lifespan | Renovate rather than demolish | Set up National Housing Company and insulate all existing homes to 90 per cent efficiency | Make all construction materials organic or recycled | Make all public buildings ‘energy positive’ | Require businesses to achieve high heating efficiency but provide subsidies for small businesses | All electrical goods must have AAA efficiency rating
Heating: Set up an Energy Development Agency to plan the shift to renewable heating | Set up a National Energy Company to install a national District Heating System with renewable heat generation | Install renewable heating in off-gas-grid houses | Invest in training the workforce | Establish a Heat Supply Act to make this happen
Electricity: The Energy Development Agency plans the move to a zero- carbon electricity | Set up a National Energy Company to build the generation and energy storage | Build electrolysis plants to generate hydrogen for energy storage | Nationalise and upgrade the National Grid with local storage and ‘smart grid’ technologies | Gradually take existing generation capacity into public ownership | Use an Industrial Strategy to develop domestic supply chains for all of this | End the extraction of oil and gas in Scotland
Transport: Create a National Transport Company to plan the transition to carbon-free travel | Use better planning to reduce the need for car journeys | Begin installing charging and refueling infrastructure for zero-carbon vehicles | Replace or retrofit existing public transport to be zero-carbon | Commission more hydrogen ferries | Develop an air transport strategy
Food: Set up a National Food Agency to plan a transition to a regenerative food system | Move to an agro ecological system for Scotland’s food production | Implement a strategy to greatly reduce food waste | Invest in new forms of food growing like vertical farming | Shorten supply chains by supporting new food processing businesses in Scotland | Strengthen regulation of the food industry and redesign farming subsidy regimes to encourage agroecology | Use pricing mechanisms to embed environmental externalities in the cost of food | Pursue import substitution to reduce the environmental impact of unnecessary imports | Institute a legal Right to Food to ensure that changes to the food system do not harm the access to healthy nutrition of anyone in Scotland | Consider implementing a Universal Basic Income
Land: Set up a National Land Agency to oversee the management of Scotland’s land | It should then deliver a target of 50 per cent reforesting | Introduce a process of National Land Planning to zone rural land for specific purposes | Strengthened regulation and reporting on land management | Train roughly 20,000 additional land managers | Take direct action to diversify land ownership in Scotland | Develop a rural industrial strategy | Allocate fishing quotas on the basis of environmental performance | Implement Scotland’s water shortage plan
Resources: Set up a National Resources Agency to oversee the move to zero waste | Develop a circular economy | Set a hierarchy for resource use: deconsumerise → dematerialise → simplify → share → reuse → remanufacture → compost → and only then recycle | Create a national waste collection and reprocessing service | Use ‘Producer Responsibility’ to make manufacturers responsible for the full lifecycle of the goods they produce | Use ‘externality taxes’ to ensure the price of goods reflects their true lifecycle costs | Invest in a wide range of initiatives like National Deposit Return schemes, container standardisation and tool libraries to optimise resource use | Ban single-use plastic | Regulate to discourage and then end the use of most single-use materials | Set up a National Consumer Agency to monitor all products, require them to be manufactured along circular economy lines and ban particularly harmful materials altogether

More details

Summary of actions and approaches

There are a number of tools which can be used to encourage transformative changes to our lifestyles. However, it should be noted that most of these policy tools are designed to enact structural change rather than individual change and, again, it must not be read that these can simply be introduced into a free market economy as if they will succeed in shifting those markets. They won't, at least not as a result of individual behaviours.

— Infrastructure and planning. This is most important; our infrastructure drives our actions. If all shopping is out-of-town, cars become essential for shopping. If these longer journeys become unavoidable, we seek to minimise them by bulk buying. When we do large volumes of shopping in one go we make bad decisions which lead to more food waste. The single most important thing we can do is plan our infrastructure such that it makes it easy for us to 'do the right thing' – and much harder for us to do the wrong thing.

— Regulation and law. Certain behaviours must simply be curtailed or prevented; there are a number of places in the Common Home Plan where specific regulations have been proposed. One legal approach which should be emphasised more is a 'rights-based' approach, such as a legal right to healthy and ethical food. This places an additional legal pressure to stimulate transition.

— Tax and incentive. Pricing mechanisms are considered 174 175 above (see Trade). These are not primarily designed to 'nudge' behaviour but rather to make people responsible for the impacts they are already having. This is more about making responsibly-produced goods more competitive against cheaper, poorly-produced goods, but will inevitably also have impacts on how people spend. There is some scope for other incentives (such as payments, tax discounts or funds to encourage people to do things or to stop doing things) but these largely assume market solutions (such as home feed-in tariffs for renewable energy generation) and most of the work needed will be done and paid for collectively, reducing the need for targeted incentives.

— Measurement and accounting. There is a very wide literature on why our current indicators for measuring social and economic progress are flawed, particularly for their failure to value externalities and the incentives towards bad behaviours they create (such as by relying on GDP measurements). The need to stop these current indicators dominating political debate is well known, as is a wide range of other measurement options. These must be adopted and used. However, measurement has in part become such an important part of political debate because of the decline in collective planning; we should not be adopting an approach of 'stand back, look at the indicators and then nudge policy levers accordingly' but rather one of collective planning and monitoring of progress towards outcomes.

— Education. This has been considered above (see Learning). These are the range of actions which can help to change individual and organisational behaviour. Their specific application has been discussed throughout the Common Home Plan. Changing political behaviour is much more difficult. This report is not the place to discuss this in depth, but our current political structures are designed in a way which reinforces poor decision making processes. Ineffective regulation of commercial lobbying continually leads to bad decision-making, short term electoral cycles leads to short term planning, an overly-commercial media reinforces commerce-friendly debate at the expense of proper reporting of the wider impacts of commerce, a focus on personalities reduces the amount of focus put on policy scrutiny and proper evaluation of long-term outcomes and so on.

Common Weal has published a range of work on democratic reform, from new modes of participatory democracy to ways to make lobbying much more transparent (and to limit its impacts). While it is hard to argue that the Common Home Plan is impossible without democratic reform (including land reform), it will be much more difficult to sustain momentum politically if reforms aren't made. In particular, unless action is taken to diversify the media and limit the impact of commercial lobbying, there will be a well-funded and organised attempt to prevent many parts of the action programme because they will interfere with the short-term interests of different commercial groups.

Making it happen

— Set an explicit policy of deconsumerisation and promote its benefits to individuals.

— Change our cultural expectations and lifestyles with the full range of structural changes proposed in the Common Home Plan.

— Make all of our consumption habits operate within a circular economy model by implementing proposals in the Resources and Trade sections of the Common Home Plan.

— Establish a National Consumer Agency with the aim of regulating all goods sold in Scotland.

— Radically reform the role of advertising and marketing by changing definitions of 'fair' advertising.

— Adopt a planning rather than market approach to change and expect governments to work to much longer-term timescales.

— Replace existing measures of economic success which promote growth and replace them with measures of wellbeing and social development

Resource Address (URL)

https://commonweal.scot/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/CommonHomePlan_Digital.pdf

Keywords

Energy efficient buildings

Language English