This Thursday (16th March) Ken Livingstone will criticise proposals for building new nuclear power stations across the UK as he outlines his vision for a low carbon London at the Greenpeace Business Lecture.
Addressing business leaders at the Greenpeace lecture the Mayor will launch a new report, Powering London into the 21st century. The report details how decentralising London's energy would be far more efficient in cutting the city's CO2 emissions, and the demand for imported gas as opposed to pursuing a centralised nuclear power focused national energy policy (1). It provides a practical blueprint for shifting London's energy away from dependence on centralised production, which wastes two thirds of energy generated, towards a more independent, decentralised approach to energy production which gets more value for taxpayers' money (2).
The report, produced by energy experts PB Power, for Greenpeace and the Mayor of London, lays out a vision for London that builds on approaches already successfully adopted in Denmark, where decentralised energy provides over 50 per cent of energy supplies and the Netherlands where it supplies over 40 per cent Closer to home, Woking Council has cut its own CO2 emissions by 77.4 per cent between 1991 and 2004 a result of decentralising its energy supplies (3).
The Mayor of London has already started working towards creating a decentralised energy network for London. In 2005 he launched the Climate Change Agency which will design, finance, build and operate low and zero carbon developments. The Agency is run by Allan Jones who spearheaded the development of decentralised energy in Woking. Mr Livingstone has previously expressed his enthusiasm for both the Thames Gateway development and the Olympics being built to run on decentralised energy. Independent decentralised energy projects are already successfully up and running in London, including ones in Kings Cross and Tower Hamlets (4).
The London report's findings independently reinforce those of a report released last week into the effects of adopting a decentralised energy policy UK-wide. The report, based on an economic model used by the UK Foreign Office and the European Commission, concluded that putting new nuclear power stations at the heart of the UK energy strategy will lead to higher carbon emissions, more reliance on gas and be more expensive when compared to producing energy locally (5).
Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said: 'As this new study shows, we stand a far better chance of achieving Government targets on carbon reductions by investing in decentralised energy. Nuclear power is neither the cheapest, the safest, or the most reliable way to reduce greenhouse gases.
'We don't have time to make mistakes in tackling climate change. The nuclear lobby is working overtime. Rather than spending taxpayers' money on the failed technology of the past, I hope the Government will invest in the most efficient, proven solutions to combat global warming: greater energy efficiency, decentralised energy and renewable energy.'
Stephen Tindale, Executive Director of Greenpeace, said: "The government says its Energy Review is about finding how we can best cut CO2 emissions and ensure a secure energy supply for the UK. If the government is genuinely concerned about climate change and fuel security then they need to start taking decentralised energy seriously and stop wasting their time considering the less effective, dangerous, dirty and expensive nuclear option."
(1) The Powering London into the 21st century report examines four different paths London could take to supply its future energy needs. It found that if a high DE scenario is adopted London could:
For the full report visit www.greenpeace.org.uk/poweringlondon
(2) The current UK system is centralised, and relies on a few large power stations creating electricity miles away from the point of consumption. This method is so inefficient that two-thirds of the energy in the fuel is wasted before it gets used at homes and workplaces, via heat being discarded through chimneys, and lost while being transported long distances through power lines. The energy lost is enough to provide central heating and hot water to all the buildings in the UK.
Decentralised energy produces power close to where it is needed and, because power is produced locally, the heat, which would otherwise be wasted, can be captured and used. Decentralised energy is flexible and can mix different technologies on different scales. Existing examples range from the entire city of Copenhagen which has decentralised combined heat and power networks, with the heat networks covering up to 40 km of city. Renewable energy is easy to integrate too, with large scale offshore wind being part of Copenhagen's decentralised network; and small scale renewables (such as solar thermal, solar pv, micro wind and biomass) combining to provide 100% of the heat and power for a large residential and retail development in the city of Malmo in Sweden.
(3) There are two media briefings available, one summarising the report and the other on Woking and Europe.
(4) St Pancras Housing Association runs a combined heat and power scheme supplying heat and power to tenants of 95 flats and powers a community centre and ten commercial units. At the Barkantine Project on the Isle of Dogs a mini power station provides local residents with electricity, heating and hot water as well as heating the local swimming pool, primary school, nursery and community centre. The efficient system reduces carbon emissions by 1,000 tonnes per year compared with traditional generation methods - the equivalent of two tonnes of carbon per household per year saved.
(5) The World Association of decentralised Energy (WADE) report is available here.
For more information or for film or photos of successfully operating decentralised energy projects in the UK and abroad contact Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255.
