Mayor supports London’s first ten net zero energy retrofits
Advanced Energiesprong whole house home refurbishment is to be piloted in London boroughs. 10 hard to heat homes built between 1950 and 1980 will be renovated, ensuring long-term affordable warmth for the tenants.
The Mayor of London, Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA) and social housing providers in London are supporting the pilots as part of the Mayor’s Energy for Londoners programme. By carrying out these pilots, the partners hope to learn how the Energiesprong model will work for London and how it can be rolled out more widely.
The social housing providers involved are currently consulting with tenants about the improvements that can be offered.
New build potential
The Dutch experience with Energiesprong suggests that economies of scale will come with mass roll-out and volume prefabrication. The insulated roof and wall modules used in the refurbishment will be manufactured offsite. Solar panels on the roof will be sufficient to power space heating, hot water and electrical appliances.
This approach means that new homes could be built to a similar net zero energy specification. With a need for London to build 66,000 new homes every year to a zero carbon standard, there is significant scope to apply the model to new build housing.
Interesting details
Domestic buildings are responsible for around 36 per cent of London’s total CO2 emissions. A quarter of London’s homes that have been given an Energy Performance Certificate since 2009, have the worst energy ratings of E, F or G.
The Mayor of London has set out the ambition of London becoming a zero carbon city by 2050. In his vision, A City for all Londoners, the Mayor committed to developing new approaches to energy efficiency, starting here with the early trial of net zero energy retrofitting of homes.
Funding for the pilots
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, secured $169,200 funding from the CNCA and allocated an additional £450,000 of grant funding to the pilots in 2017, which is being matched by participating social housing providers.
The pilots take place against a backdrop of strong European Union support for innovative solutions to older hard to heat housing stock.
The Energiesprong UK team, through Transition Zero, is helping deliver the right market conditions for 5000 net-zero energy refurbishments in the UK.
In 2016, with help from the Greater London Authority, the European Energiesprong team secured €5.4m of Interreg NWE programme funding for E=0. This will enable partners to run further pilots demonstrating advanced retrofit solutions in the UK, France, the Netherlands, Luxemburg and Germany.
Place: London
Amount: around £900,000
Housing association: Multiple
Solution provider: To be confirmed