At the end of March 2012, the Department of
Energy &Climate Change (DECC) revealed the second phase of their Renewable Heat Premium
Payment (RHPP) scheme. It will give "money
off renewable technologies like biomass boilers, air and ground
source heat pumps and solar thermal panels". It was launched
on 2nd April this year and according to the government, will be
worth £10m more than the current scheme.
DECC states that this new money will assist
the RHPP go further, and includes a "£8m competition for
communities to apply for grants to encourage community groups to
install renewable heating. This will be on top of the existing
voucher scheme which will be mainly focused at around 4 million
homes in Great Britain which are not heated by mains gas, who have
to rely on higher carbon forms of heating which also tend to be
more expensive than gas such as heating oil and electric".
Government ministers claims that a key
barrier that prevents many people from taking part in the scheme is
the front-up cost. This scheme is intended to support
homeowners with initial costs but also "provides them
with access to heat technologies that can help them to reduce their
energy bills, year on year".
Only time will tell if these new front-up
costs will incentivise poorer households to take up this scheme and
whether it will make a significant difference to their energy bills
and improve their standard of living. In order to make the
make the scheme more effective, the Government, lcoal authorities
and the future mayor of London could also consider making adequate
resources available to enable voluntary & community sector
(VCS) organsiations to develop and implement effective
behaviour change programmes amongst householders and social
landlords.
A London Assembly Environment
Committee meeting took place on 1st March 2012, to discuss the
future environmental priorities for London. LVSC and
London Sustainability Exchange were invited as guest
contributors. Here is a full
transcript. LVSC stressed the importance of
exploring opportunities for socially communities to access green
space, including homeless people. Making better use of the
voluntary & community sector more effectively to get more
accessible information out to communities about the enviroment and
behaviour change was also raised.
Guests were also invited to provide
comments and contributions after the meeting. LVSC's briefing can
be viewed below. The findings from the meeting will be fed
back to the London Mayor after the Mayoral elections in May
2012.
LVSC policy areas for
Assembly
Two new fuel poverty reports
confirm that the fuel poverty gap continues to rise, exacerbating
health problems and hindering efforts to cut carbon
emissions. One of the reports is a review commissioned by
Government on the current fuel poverty target and definition. The
other report was recently published by the London Assembly Health
& Public Services Committee. Links to both reports can be found
in the summary document produced by LVSC:
Fuel Poverty
summary
For archive policy items contact: research@lvsc.org.uk
The aim of this briefing is to summarise
the main 4 mayoral candidates' positions and commitments
regarding air pollution including the measures they think will
improve air quality and mitigate the impact of air pollution in
London. This briefing also outlines a number of
recommendations on how the future Mayor could tackle air pollution
and improve air quality in the long-term, thereby improving the
lives and quality of life of Londoners.
Candidates'
positions and recommendations
How is the capital is dealing with one of
the worst air quality in Europe? Find out more in our 2nd
climate change briefing below!
Air
pollution & air quality briefing January 2012
This briefing below
provides an analysis of climate change policy & strategy at a
national & London wide level.
Climate Change Briefing November 2011
LVSC and its partners have collected 4
case studies that demonstrate the benefits of improving
environmental performance within VCS organisations and the
organisations they support. LVSC has summarised the
benefits, barriers and savings made in a short report.
Case studies findings report
The 4 individual case
studies:
Arcola
Theatre
GAVS
Homeless Link
LSx
LVSC produced a brief paper that
summarises the barriers and benefits of improving
environmental performance and carrying out eco audits. It includes
examples of savings made by VCS organisations.
Benefits
of eco audits
LVSC recently produced a short document
summarising some of the key challenges and opportunities
for the voluntary & community sector (VCS) regarding climate
change. It also outlines how LVSC and its
partners intend to address these issues.
-
-
-
-
Climate change research
summaries
For more information about LVSC's
climate change work contact research@lvsc.org.uk
Updated April 2012
Share
Search
