EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs welcomed today the creation of European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E). The 42 European Transmission System Operators responsible for running the highest voltage interconnected grid signed an agreement to establish this new organisation which could become the TSO organisation foreseen by the 3rd internal market package.
The package is under discussion between the Council and the Parliament in view of its final adoption in Spring 2009. Existing associations such as ETSO, the Union for Coordination for Transmission of Electricity (UCTE) and Nordel will be dissolved and their tasks and functions will be moved to the new organisation.
"Given the challenging targets Europe has just agreed upon to combat climate change and to increase the share of renewables, we now need to focus on the implementation. Upgrading the existing grid, building new infrastructure and introducing new technology in large scale is needed in order to transport electricity from where it is produced to where it is needed. Transmission System operators have a major role to play in this" said EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.
Challenges for the electricity grid come from connecting large amounts of wind power, often far away from consumption, increased volatility of production and increasing share of generation in the distribution networks. In addition to increasing capacity of the grids to meet these challenges, control systems and electricity markets need to be reshaped to allow for secure, efficient and economically optimal output of the European electricity system.
Once the 3rd package for the internal energy market has been adopted (the Council and the Parliament need to agree on it) the Commission and the Agency for Cooperation of the Energy Regulators (which also has to be created) will have to give their opinion on the list of members and the statutes of the ENTSO-E. However the Commission welcomes the establishment of this new body which will accelerate the decision taking and the coming into force of the necessary institutions for the effective functioning of the internal energy market.
The regulators have also been very active and they are currently having a public consultation on the implementation of the 3rd internal energy market package.
The 42 European TSOs signed Articles of Association for founding European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E). The new structure will be in place from the beginning of 2009 and functions of the existing associations will be transferred to the new ENTSO during the first half of 2009.
Preparatory work has already started to perform the tasks foreseen for ENTSO in the 3rd package: planning of the European transmission grid, analysing whether generation and network infrastructure is sufficient even in extreme circumstances, developing common network operation tools, coordination of research activities in the field of transmission and drafting network codes in close collaboration with the Agency of Cooperation of Energy Regulators, the new regulator's organisation foreseen in the 3rd internal market package.
Related links to this article:
European Commission
EU welcomes creation of Europe-wide electricity transmission organisation
value of the contract was several hundred million pounds.
UNITED Utilities has been selected as preferred bidder for a substantial municipal solid waste treatment contract in Derbyshire in a joint venture with Interserve.
Dec 22 2008 by Neil Hodgson, Liverpool Echo
Confirmation of the contract award is expected in January.
The contract, due to run from April 2010 for 27 years, will include the design, build and operation.
Warrington-based United Utilities said the value of the contract was several hundred million pounds.
Scottish renewables need £10bn by 2020
Scottish renewables need £10bn by 2020
09 December 2008
Scottish renewables need £10bn by 2020 An investment of £10 billion is needed for Scotland to meet its renewable electricity targets, which a report claims is achievable.
The Scottish Council for Development and Industry's (SCDI) report claims that Scotland can generate 50 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2020 and continue exporting to England and Northern Ireland.
Meeting that target will require the installation of 450 megawatts of new wind power a year until 2020, according to research consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
Of the renewable energy that will be added by the deadline, wind power will account for 80 per cent, while marine, biomass and hydro will grow at one tenth of new wind.
Iain Duff, SCDI's chief economist, said: "With £10 billion of investment in new generation over the next twelve years, there is a real opportunity for Scotland to lead the global renewables industry. We now have to make sure that Scotland's businesses are ready to win a significant amount of the design, manufacture and construction renewable generation."
"To do that we need to build a stronger Scottish supply chain to the renewable industry, and deliver the skills that the industry needs."
The Committee for Climate Change's Building a Low Carbon Economy report claimed that wind power could deliver 30 per cent of the UK's electricity supply by 2020.
http://www.scdi.org.uk/mg/pr/PR091208.pdf
EU "very close" to climate package deal; Lord Turner: UK climate targets will push up electricity prices by 25%
EU "very close" to climate package deal;
Lord Turner: UK climate targets will push up electricity prices by 25%
Reuters reports that Poland's Prime Minster Donald Tusk yesterday said that EU ministers are "very close" to a deal on the controversial EU climate package. Poland has opposed planned revisions to the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, which it claims would raise electricity prices to unacceptable levels. However, Warsaw said it would be willing to accept the deal should it be given more "free" pollution allowances after 2013.
Euractiv reports that French President and EU Presidency holder Nicolas Sarkozy will this weekend attempt to convince eastern EU member states to sign up to the climate package. Sarkozy will meet with leaders from Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia.
However, Reuters notes that Italy says that it will veto the agreement unless the package is watered down to reduce costs for industry and consumers. "If the climate package passes as it stands it will lead to a 17 percent hike in electricity bills for every Italian," Andrea Ronchi, Italy's European Policy Minister, told reporters in Brussels.
According to the FT, the Commission has taken a softer stance on the share of pollution allowances that will allocated for free as opposed to auctioned - one of the most controversial aspects of the proposal. The Commission has long favoured making industry pay for allowances, but is now willing to revise its position in light of opposition from member states and the economic downturn.
It is reported that Germany has led an effort to ensure that manufacturers - including those in chemicals, glass, steel and cement - receive free allocations if they are forced to compete against companies from non-EU countries. The German government has proposed that no company should have to buy more than 20 percent of its allowances at auction - regardless of "carbon leakage".
The package will require the unanimous approval of all 27 heads of state and government at an EU summit in Brussels on 11-12 December.
Meanwhile, there is widespread coverage of a report from the Government's Committee on Climate Change on how the UK could meet its pledge to cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. The report recommends an interim target for 2020 of 34%, or 42% if there is a global deal to cut emissions.
The Telegraph notes that Lord Turner, the Committee's chair, admitted the cuts would shrink the UK economy by one per cent by 2020. The biggest impact will be on electricity prices which are expected to rise by 25 per cent for the average family, pushing 1.7 million people into fuel poverty. On Newsnight last night Lord Turner argued that Britain had opted for a more expensive renewable option than Germany and Spain, choosing to deploy more off-shore wind generation as opposed to cheaper on-shore wind generation.
The report recommended the use of renewable electricity is increased from the current five per cent to more than 30%, which would mean a massive increase in wind generation capacity.
The requirement to expand renewables to account for 30 to 40 % of UK electricity generation is contained in the EU climate package, which proposes binding targets for renewable energy use.
Telegraph Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Further useful links.
Irish Times Reuters FT FT 2 Euractiv El Pais AFP Independent Independent McCarthy Guardian Guardian-Monbiot Guardian-leader BBC Newsnight
Building firms meet with UK PM on real estate market
Building firms meet with UK PM on real estate market
Filed under: Business, UK — OPPE News @ 11:24 am
Just passing
Creative Commons License photo credit: Hiddenloop
Construction bosses have held crunch talks with the UK prime minister in an effort to secure help for the real estate market.
Richard Diment, director general of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) met with Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street.
Also in attendance was housing minister Margaret Beckett, and Ian Pearson, minister for construction.
But little was given away as to the prime minister’s reaction to demands for a VAT cut on repair and maintenance work.
Mr Dimnet said:
“At a time when the building industry is facing its biggest challenges for many years, the meeting was not a moment too soon.
“I was able to tell the Prime Minister that the Government must provide further incentives to free up the moribund building market.”
Dimnet warned the pace of new homes construction is under threat as 41 per cent of the FMB’s members say they will make redundancies over the next few months.
He also said Gordon Brown was “listening to concerns” and wanted to meet again in the New Year.
In November Mayor of London Boris Johnson unveiled a housing strategy for the capital which includes a £5 billion cash injection to boost the number of affordable homes for sale.
A critical appraisal of issues in the move to a low-carbon economy
Extract from Carbon Commentary
The UK micro-renewables industry raised a cheer last week as the cabinet minister newly responsible for climate change gave the thumbs up to the idea of copying our European friends and improving the financial returns for electricity generation on the smallest scale. Ed Miliband appeared to promise to amend the climate change bill to force the electricity companies to buy power at elevated prices from such things as domestic wind turbines and hydro-electric generators capturing the energy in babbling streams. The idea is that this will increase the incentives for people to install small-scale renewable electricity systems.
I have to declare an interest. My battery of photovoltaic cells sends about 500 kilowatt hours (usually known as ‘units’ in Britain) back the wrong way up the wires every year. The rest of their somewhat unimpressive output is gobbled up in the house. Any proposal that increases the price I get from the electricity company will help defray the recent unprecedented jumps in energy prices. So I ought to be in favour. But despite the clear financial incentive, and the risk of being savaged on the street by right-thinking environmentalists, I have to admit that I think that feed-in tariffs are one of the most mistaken ideas ever to worm their way into UK law. Nothing better demonstrates the vacuity of the climate change debate in the UK than the unthinking obeisance to the romantic idea of paying people money to generate tiny quantities of electricity on their back roofs.
The problem is a simple one. Micro-renewables are hugely expensive for every unit of electricity that they produce. The best example is the subsidy that the Germans generously give to solar photovoltaic installations in their cloudy country. Their feed-in tariff for solar power has been highly successful in expanding the number of homes, cowsheds, and office blocks that carry photovoltaic panels. But the cost is horrendous. Last year the Germans paid almost €1.9bn (about £1.5bn) to panel owners for their electricity. This bought about 0.6% of all the electricity that the country needed. The cost per megawatt hour was about six times the price paid for all types of electricity. The German government is gradually reducing the subsidies but their solar feed-in tariffs currently cost each householder about £40 a year. This may not seem a huge amount but as solar energy expands, the cost will get increasingly onerous.
It is true that solar power saves carbon emissions. The German solar tariff cut emissions by over 2m tonnes last year. But the cost was over £600 per tonne of CO2, or thirty times the current international price of carbon. Small-scale solar photovoltaic technologies are a truly terrible way of reducing emissions in sun-starved northern Europe. And micro-wind is unlikely to be much better except on tall buildings at the top of hills near to Scottish or Welsh coastlines.
To make a significant difference to the carbon emissions from electricity production, the UK needs to invest in tens of thousands of commercial-scale wind farms and find a way of cheaply capturing wave and tidal energy in the turbulent waters off our coasts. Done with vigour and good sense, we can hope to generate 20 or 30% of our electricity this way. We have to invest in gigantic projects like the London Array, a 300-turbine wind farm off the Kent coast. Feed-in tariffs are an expensive distraction that will do nothing to reduce UK emissions and its dangerous dependency on Russian gas.
We don’t even know what bribes the government proposes to offer the middle classes to give over some of their south-facing roofs to solar panels. Curiously, even the renewable industry body that has so successfully lobbied Ed Miliband declined to tell me that it thought the feed-in rate should be. Perhaps it is frightened that the Daily Mail will calculate how much electricity prices will have to rise to pay for the solar subsidy. My estimate is that to make photovoltaic panels a good financial investment for a UK householder, the feed-in tariffs probably need to be about 50p per unit, or possibly even more. I will certainly welcome the annual cheque from my electricity supplier but the impact on carbon emissions of even a massive expansion in UK domestic solar or wind installations will be utterly trivial.
The UK has one of the lowest percentages of renewable electricity in Europe. We could spend a billion pounds a year on subsidising solar panels and we would get barely half a percentage of our electricity from them. The UK would then be even further behind other countries. We don’t need feed-in tariffs; we need massive programmes of investment in research and development into low-carbon electricity, huge prizes for successful entrepreneurs, and participation in the global endeavour to find cheap forms of carbon capture at power stations.
The Large Hadron Collider
Exploring the outer limits of knowledge
The LHC is the most exciting science adventure of this decade; a huge international project exploring the boundaries of our knowledge and theories about the world we live in. The LHC experiments will help us understand the origins and evolution of our universe and possibly reshape how we think about the physical world.
See a young physicist describing how the study of particle physics has affected our lives and our understanding of the universe we live in and hear how the LHC may be our window into a weird world of missing matter and quantum physics.
http://www.teachers.tv/video/23645 the fundamental building blocks of nature,
http://www.teachers.tv/video/23903 the fundamental forces of nature,
http://www.teachers.tv/video/23904 the quantum world and the hunt for the Higgs boson.
Drive our simulator at www.particledetectives.net and learn how LHC scientists will conduct their experiments.
Times & Star UU utterly Selfish
Times & StarThen there is the sheer vandalism of felling all the youthfully mature trees of Woodland Avenue that both delight Maryport residents and provide an attractive route into the town for visitors.
The excuse of not inconveniencing motorists by some temporary road restrictions is wholly unconvincing. That could probably have been avoided by using some effort and imagination another way.
If not, what is temporary inconvenience compared with perpetuating indefinitely the 40 years’ attractiveness as the trees matured?
Such destruction of a permanent joy for a purely transitory advantage is utterly selfish laziness on United Utilities’ part that dubious promises of future landscaping do nothing to justify.
And those who gave permission deserve equal censure with UU for this wickedness.
Even that modern mantra for joined-up thinking cannot answer such a baleful bundle of examples devoid of any real thought at all.
Extremely angry over ‘unnecessary’ tree felling
Last updated 19:51, Thursday, 04 September 2008
Balfour scoops £46m museum makeover
Balfour scoops £46m museum makeover
04 Sep 2008
Balfour Beatty has taken a £46.4m deal to revamp the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Work starts this month on creating 14 new galleries, two hands-on discovery centres, a new exhibition gallery, education facilities, and a learning centre.
A whole new floor will be built beneath the main hall, forming a new street-level entrance, shops, a restaurant and a reception area.
Two more power companies hike up gas and electricity prices
Npower is putting up the cost of gas by an average of 26 per cent and electricity by 14 per cent with immediate effect. It will mean an extra of 162 pounds for gas and 60 pounds on the average household bill from the company which has 6.6 million customers.
At the same time Scottish Power has announced its is raising its gas prices by 34 per cent, the biggest hike so far, and electricity by nine per cent, for its 5.2 million customer.
GreenForze - Gasifiers to make your own electricity
CFB Gasification for Power System Fixed Bed Gasification for Power System
GreenForze - Gasifiers to make your own electricity
What is gasification?
Gasification vs. Combustion
Combustion of carbon based-material such as coal or biomass produces CO 2 + H 2 O + heat and the heat when applied to a boiler containing water produces steam used to power a generator in a steam turbine generator.
Gasification is the thermo-chemical conversion by partial oxidation of a carbonaceous feedstock such as coal or biomass into a gaseous carrier.
Combined Heat & Power
For each unit of electric power, two units of heat is produced. This heat can be used for heating purposes in district heating systems or industrial processes ut also via a technology called adsorption cooling to cold. Fill in the form below and let us know what kind of solution you are looking for.
Energy Business Review
E.ON UK has become the latest energy supplier to respond to rising wholesale energy costs by increasing electricity prices by 16% and gas prices by 26% for the majority of its residential customers. The move comes as a result of rising wholesale costs, which have increased by over 51% since February 2008, according to E.ON. This will equate to £0.62 per day or 22% for the average dual fuel customer. More than a quarter of E.ON's customers are believed to be unaffected by the price hike as they are already on price protection and fixed price products. As suppliers increase their prices, such offers are becoming increasingly difficult to find, although E.ON has launched a range of new protection products.
Witricity wireless recharging of gadgets
World Without Wires
Intel has made progress in a technology that could lead to the wireless recharging of gadgets and the end of the power-cord spaghetti behind electronic devices.
It says it has increased the efficiency of a technique for wirelessly powering consumer gadgets and computers, a development that could allow a person to simply place a device on a desktop countertop to power it. It could bring the consumer electronics industry a step closer to a world without wires.
Plans to demonstrate the use of a magnetic field to broadcast up to 60 watts of power two to three feet. It says it can do that losing only 25 percent of the power in transmission.
“Something like this technology could be embedded in tables and work surfaces,” said Justin Rattner, Intel’s chief technology officer, “so as soon as you put down an appropriately equipped device it would immediately begin drawing power.”
The presentation is part of the company’s Intel Developer Forum, a series of events here that the company uses to showcase new technologies in personal computing and related consumer technologies.
The research project, which is being led by Joshua R. Smith, an Intel researcher at a company laboratory in Seattle, builds on the work of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist Marin Soljacic, who pioneered the idea of wirelessly transmitting power using resonant magnetic fields. The MIT group refers to the idea as WiTricity, a play on wireless and electricity. Both the M.I.T. group and the Intel researchers are exploring a phenomenon known as “resonant induction,” making it possible to transmit power several feet without wires.
Induction is already used to recharge electric toothbrushes, but that approach is limited by the need for the toothbrush to be placed in the base station.
The M.I.T. group has demonstrated efficiencies of 50 percent at ranges of several meters.
Intel is in the midst of an internal debate over whether the technology may also permit the shift to supercapacitors, which can be recharged far more quickly than today’s batteries. “In the future, your kitchen counters might do it,” Mr. Rattner said. “You’d just drop your espresso maker down on them and you would never have to plug it in.”
The Intel team describes its system as a “wireless resonant energy link,” and is experimenting with antennas less than two feet in diameter to remotely light a 60-watt light bulb.
In 2006, the M.I.T. researchers demonstrated that by sending electromagnetic waves around a waveguide it was possible to produce “evanescent” waves that could permit electricity to wirelessly tunnel to another waveguide “tuned” to the transmitting loop.
Several start-up firms , including WildCharge, based in Boulder, Colo., and WiPower, based in Altamonte Springs, Fla., have already announced related wireless charging technologies. But these demonstrations have required that the consumer gadgets touch the charging station.
The Intel researchers said they were thinking about designing a system that would make it possible to recharge a laptop computer without wires.
“From Intel’s position that seems like the thing to shoot for right now,” Mr. Smith said. The receiving antenna is about the size of something that could easily fit against the bottom of a conventional laptop computer. “It could be that cellphones and P.D.A.’s are even more compelling, but I think we are going to start with the laptop. It’s easy to dial down from laptops,” he said.
The researchers said that Intel could produce a prototype design and that it might contribute to products by developing chip sets for manufacturers. At Thursday’s research presentation, Mr. Smith plans to demonstrate an application using an electric field sensor — a natural capability of some fish — to give added dexterity to robotic arms and hands. He has designed a sensor system that makes it possible for a robot hand to gauge the size of an apple and then grasp it. The hand then carries the apple to an outstretched human hand. When it senses the hand, it drops the apple.
Water Fluoridation
Water Fluoridation
"In summary, we hold that fluoridation is an unreasonable risk." - US ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY HEADQUARTERS' UNION, 2001.
“Over the past ten years a large body of peer-reviewed science has raised concerns that fluoride may present unreasonable health risks, particularly among children, at levels routinely added to tap water in American cities.” - ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP, July 2005
"I am quite convinced that water fluoridation, in a not-too-distant future, will be consigned to medical history." - Dr. ARVID CARLSSON, Winner, Nobel Prize for Medicine (2000). READ MORE...
British EDF customers are subsidizing their French counterparts.
EDF Energy's CEO, Vincent de Rivaz, has denied claims that British EDF customers are subsidizing their French counterparts. His statement came after the French government's decision to cap electricity price increases at 2% prompted comparisons with the company's recent 22% hike in UK electricity bills, and reports that EDF is using Britain's comparatively liberalized market to compensate for its now restricted French profits. Mr de Rivaz blamed the price rises on the high global prices for wholesale gas and oil, and said that the gulf in electricity bills between France and the UK is the result of Britain's dependency on fossil fuels; according to Mr de Rivaz, 75% of electricity generated in the UK is from coal- or gas-fired plants, while 80% of French electricity is generated using nuclear power.
It seems to have been a good week for EDF's rival npower renewables. The British utilities company has received the go-ahead for two power plants, both of which will use sustainable energy sources. The UK government has given npower its consent to build a large onshore wind farm at Middlemoor, Northumberland, following the conclusion of a public enquiry into the scheme. Meanwhile, the company's plans to build a hydroelectric facility at Romney Weir in Berkshire have received local approval. Councilors representing the borough of Windsor and Maidenhead voted unanimously in favor of the project after npower redesigned its original proposals. npower expects the Romney Weir project to generate around 1.4 million kWh of clean electricity each year, while the Middlemoor plant should have a total generating capacity of between 54MW and 75MW.
Balfour Beatty profit jumps, strong outlook
LONDON, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Construction and services group Balfour Beatty (BALF.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted a 25 percent rise in first-half profit on Wednesday and said it expects order intake and trading to remain strong throughout the year.
"We anticipate that we will make further good progress in the second half of the year," chief executive Ian Tyler told Reuters in an interview.
"We are seeing no signs of any slowdown in the public and regulated sectors, which account for 80 percent of our business, or even in the private sector, which is also continuing to invest through the cycle."
Tyler said he expected growth in all four of its businesses - building, engineering, rail and investments - in the second half of the year.
This is despite recent surveys pointing to UK construction activity continuing to fall at a record pace, in a further sign the sector is weakening sharply in the wake of the credit crunch.
The UK's largest infrastructure contractor reported pretax profit before exceptionals of 95 million pounds ($180.8 million) for the six months to 28 June, compared to 76 million pounds last year and amedian consensus forecast of 92 million poounds in a Reuters poll of five analysts.
Profits were boosted by particularly strong progress in the building and engineering sectors, while rail and investments profits fell slightly. But the chief executive expected that both rail and investments would grow in the second half, driven by an order book up 14 percent at a record 12.1 billion pounds. Continued...
Power cut hits homes
North West Evening MailWednesday, 13 August 2008
HUNDREDS of homes and businesses were without power this morning after a contractor cut through a cable.
Tesco Extra, on Cornerhouse Park, and Barrow Library, were known to be affected - in addition to 500 houses in Hindpool.
Copper theft causes five-hour train delays
British Transport Police are investigating an audacious theft of copper wire from signalling equipment on the East Coast Mainline on Saturday.
The theft, near Newark, Nottingham caused delays of about five hours, a Network Rail spokesman said.
Rail staff were forced to manually signal trains through the affected stretch of track between Grantham in Lincolnshire and Newark North Gate.
A spokesman for National Express, which operates trains on the line said: “Sadly this sort of theft has become a common occurrence over the past couple of years.”
Metal thefts from infrastructure and construction sites has shot up amid increasing raw materials costs. Police estimate that the practice costs the economy £360m a year.
11th Aug 2008
Electricity Pylons
Without their silent presence standing tall throughout the countryside, and their latticed silhouette eking towards every horizon we would, essentially, regress back to whence we came. We owe Electricity Pylons... Click for further interesting links and art.
External Links
http://en.structurae.de/structures/ftype/index.cfm?id=2018
http://www.gorge.org/pylons/
http://www.redbubble.com/groups/pylon-photos-and-art/art
http://myinsulators.com/hungary/transmission.html
Biofuels and Gas Price
Biofuels look set to become more contentious than ever following a leaked report by the World Bank. According to the Guardian, the report claims that world food prices have lately increased by 75%, and points to biofuel production as the primary cause. The figures are drastically out of line with the US government's estimation of a 3% global food price rise, although the forthcoming report on the impact of biofuels commissioned by the British government is expected to tally with the World Bank's data. Norway, meanwhile, has confirmed that it will not be reversing its biofuel plans in light of the news.
In utilities news, it has transpired that British Gas is considering a price hike of up to 15% in August. The Centrica-owned company is contemplating the move as a possible method to improve profitability. British Gas's profit margins are low due to high supply costs, with forward gas prices for delivery in January 2009 well over double the previous year's figures. Price fluctuations are a threat that the Centrica Group is particularly vulnerable to, as it is reliant on buying fuel from other providers. Gas prices are high partly due to their connection to global oil prices, and partly due to supply shortages in the North Sea.
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Four CCS leaders named by Hutton - Energy Digital UK
BP Alternative Energy International Limited, EON UK plc, Peel Power Limited and Scottish Power Generation Limited were selected from nine contenders based on their responses to the pre-qualification questionnaire, submitted to the Department for Business at the end of March. click link
Ultra high voltage (UHV) solutions.
Areva T&D is the first to conform with the next level of power transmission voltage at 1,200 KV in the country to meet the Power Grid Corp of India Ltd's (PGCIL) requirements for the national grid by 2012.
Protecting people in flood risk areas
Councils must get tough on protecting people in flood risk areas, Minister for Planning Caroline Flint announced today.
New guidance published today gives councils five clear steps for maximising the planning rules to better manage flood risks in their area.
Last summer's devastating floods reminded everyone of the dangers of climate change for people living in flood risk areas and proved we need better protection for these communities. That is why the Government put in place tough new planning rules which prevent inappropriate building on flood plains.
It is now compulsory to consult with the Environment Agency on planning applications in flood risk areas and where councils ignore their advice on major developments the Government will intervene.
Sir Michael Pitt concluded in his interim report on the summer floods that these rules will prevent and reduce flooding - but councils need to rigorously apply them to make sure people at risk get the protection they deserve.
ABI research has found that if councils apply flood planning rules effectively the cost of flooding could be reduced by more than half in the Thames Gateway and by 96% in other growth areas. Other independent research suggested it could cut the annual cost of flood damage by £18billion.
The five steps set out in the planning guidance that councils should follow for deciding new development are:
* Identify what the flood risks are including river/sea breaches, inadequate drainage and surface water run off or sewer problems;
* Avoid risk by prioritising non-flood areas first for new development;
* Critically assess whether the need for a new development outweighs flood risk, including following Environment Agency advice;
* Control flooding using sustainable drainage and good design;
* Ensure all new buildings that have to be in areas that might flood are resilient and safe.
Planning Minister Caroline Flint said:
"We saw very clearly last summer the devastating potential of severe storms. We can't prevent heavy downpours or abandon those already living in flood plains but wherever possible we need to make sure councils are avoiding or reducing the risk of flooding in their communities.
"The Government has put tough planning rules in place for flood risk areas that we need councils to enforce. To help them we are issuing a 5 step guide to planning new homes so councils have no excuse for failing to protect their communities."
Six regional workshops have been organised in partnership with the Environment Agency and members of the insurance industry, to reinforce this message to local councils.
The Government has already intervened in 24 cases following Environment Agency advice. Four were called in, a further four are under consideration and the rest were returned to councils following improvement to flood protection measures. Developers can help avoid intervention through good pre-application engagement with local planning authorities and the Environment Agency.
Historically Britain has always lived on flat, fertile land close to waterways as the economic benefits outweighed the threat of intermittent flooding. Only 10% of England is built on flood plains.
The Government has already made up to £88m available to councils affected by last summer's floods to date, with further money to follow through the £31m Restoration Fund, to allow councils to enforce this action plan.
Environment Agency Head of Planning Mark Southgate said,
"The summer 2007 floods highlighted the severe impact that flooding can have on people and communities. We welcome the Government's policy on planning and flood risk that seeks to steer new development away from high flood risk areas.
"This guide shows examples where local authorities have successfully planned their communities with flood risk in mind. We now need all local authorities to follow this good practice to ensure that new development is fit for a future of climate change".
Notes to Editors
1. The new practice guide being published today is available at http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/pps25practiceguide
2. Planning Policy Statement 25: Development and Flood Risk (PPS25) published in December 2006 directs development first to areas of lowest risk through a Sequential Test so that sites at little or no risk of flooding are developed in preference to areas at higher risk. Where the sequential test shows that there are no available sites at lower risk of flooding and the need for new homes outweighs the flood risk, PPS25 imposes an Exception Test, to ensure those that have to be built in higher risk areas are safe and less susceptible to flood damage. The Environment Agency must be consulted on planning applications in flood risk areas. If councils intend to approve applications against the EA's advice they must be referred to the Secretary of State.
3. The six regional seminars are being held after the launch to get the message out to stakeholders. They are in Birmingham (17th June), Bridgewater (18th June); York (20th June); Peterborough (24th June); London (25th June) and Manchester (27th June). For more information visit http://www.rh-developmentandfloodrisk.co.uk
4. Managing flood risk through the planning system is a key part of the Government's Making Space for Water strategy for flood and coastal erosion risk management in England, announced in March 2005, and the new Future Water strategy published in February 2008.
5. Sir Michael Pitt's interim review of the lessons learned from the summer floods, made 4 key conclusions which impact on spatial planning. These are that:
i. the policy in PPS25 is sound but needs to be rigorously applied by planning authorities.
ii. householders and business owners should no longer be able to lay impermeable surfaces as of right. CLG is making changes to planning laws so that impermeable surfaces cannot be laid as of right.
iii. no new building should be allowed in a flood risk area that is not flood-resilient.
iv. local Surface Water Management Plans should provide the basis for managing surface water flood risk.
6. The 2004 Foresight Future flooding report suggests it would be possible to reduce the increase in expected annual damages from over £20bn in the worst case scenario to around £2bn in the 2080s and limit the number of people at high risk from flooding to present levels or below, by applying the PPS25 approach. ABI research shows that PPS25 policies could reduce potential monetary losses from flooding in the Thames Gateway by over half; and in other growth areas by 96%.
7. 10% of England, by land area, population and housing stock, is in the high risk area (probability of river flooding higher than 1 in 100, sea flooding 1 in 200). A further 2% is in the medium risk area (between 1 in 100/200 and 1 in 1000 annual probability). The rest of England is low risk.
ISSUED ON BEHALF OF COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT BY COI NEWS & PR
News Releases: http://nds.coi.gov.uk
Notes to Editors
1. Defra announced the intention to give the Environment Agency the overview role for all flooding issues - inland and on the coast - in the "Making Space for Water" strategy. The Agency took on the overview role for the coast on the 1st April this year.
2. Surface water flooding occurs where high rainfall events exceed the drainage capacity in an area. Such events can also lead to serious flooding of property and possessions where surface water flows and collects. You can access more information by following this link: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environ/fcd/policy/surfacewaterdrainage.htm
3. For general information about the roles and responsibilities of flood risk management please follow this link: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environ/fcd/default.htm
Public enquiries 08459 335577
Environmentally friendly
As part of the ongoing trend for all things environmentally friendly, UK utility Scottish and Southern Energy has announced two major initiatives this week. The first will see the energy firm reduce by 50% the amount of CO2 per kWh of electricity produced at power stations in which it has an ownership or contractual interest by 2019 to 2020. SSE has also announced plans to launch a new business across the UK to provide customers with energy performance certificates, a requirement for house sales and commercial and rented properties that is progressively being introduced by the UK government. Ultimately, there is expected to be an annual requirement for up to 7.5 million surveys, which will report how energy efficient a home is on an A to G scale.
Staying in the UK, and with renewables, Irish company OpenHydro has announced that it has become the first company to complete the connection of a tidal turbine to the UK national grid and commence electricity generation, as well as one of the first companies in the world to reach this stage of technical maturity. OpenHydro said that the success of the 250KW open-centre turbine initiative, which is installed at the European Marine Energy Centre off Orkney, Scotland, is a significant development for the future of the tidal energy industry and the security of energy supply.
15 locations shortlisted for next stage of eco-towns programme
The country's first eco-towns took a step closer to becoming reality today as Housing Minister Caroline Flint today announced 15 potential locations will go forward to the next stage, providing the opportunity for a major boost in affordable housing across the country whilst tackling climate change.
Housing Minister Caroline Flint said: Read More
Solar power homes get the go-ahead for April start
New rules to allow homeowners to install solar panels, ground source heat pumps and other microgeneration technologies to help cut carbon emissions were given the green light today by Planning Minister Caroline Flint.
From April 6, all homeowners will be able to install microgeneration equipment, like solar panels, without needing to get planning permission, as long as there is clearly no impact on others. Read more...
Energy Efficient Transformer Selection Implementing Life Cycle Costs and Environmental Externalities
The goal of this article is to encourage electric utilities and potential investors to purchase and install high-efficiency distribution transformers where they are cost-effective. This paper proposes a methodology that implements the complex economic analyses needed to accurately determine the emissionreduction potential of high-efficiency distribution transformers. This methodology properly introduces the environmental cost into the life cycle cost (total owning cost) calculations implemented by electric utilities, and its results are compared to the classical total owning cost (without environmental cost), indicating the importance of environmental aspects of transformer economy evaluation, which may affect significantly the currently-employed transformer purchasing policy in the near future. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis of the various factors involved in the transformer life cycle cost is implemented, factors such as the transformer loading profile, the specific characteristics of the network where the transformer is installed and the uncertainty of the environmental cost impact on the final energy.
Submitted by Hans De Keulenaer
View paper (pdf)
Comments on the Push for Nuclear Power
The Construction Centre warned that with the skills shortage already affecting the building industry there was a significant risk that the employment for the new power stations could come from abroad. Only one nuclear power station is built every year, worldwide and the technology continually developing. Britain last commissioned a reactor in 1994 and The Construction Centre highlighted its concern that the jobs may go to people outside of the UK. Read More...
Business big shot: John McAdam
Business big shot: John McAdam - Times OnlineBorn and educated in Ambleside, Cumbria, Dr McAdam has maintained his links with the North West and will take up the chairmanship of United Utilities, one of the region's biggest companies, this summer.
Does everyone in your company advocate what you do?
In organisations of over 1000 people, pride in their employer drops to only 38% compared to 60% for people in organisations under 100 people. These were the findings of an Interbrand survey in April 2007
How sustainable is a business where less than half the employees if asked in the pub, would recommend the products / services to a friend or acquaintance? This attitude must show through to customers.
How much more successful would these organisations be, if they managed to engage just 60% of their staff to ’Deliver’ their services by virtue of being proud of what they do in the context of their market place?
Positive attitudes are harder to foster than the viral negativity spread by bad apples. There is another days work in exploring the impact of negative individuals on team performance - Sir Clive Woodward praised highly the virtues of having people in a team who default to positive attitudes and behaviors when under pressure in England’s World Cup winning team.
Interbrand go on to conclude that to build pride in the organisation you need to:
* support individuals in making a difference and
* create a culture of delivering high standards for the customer.
If forced to choose, Interbrand would aim for the culture of high standards for the customer first, based on the performance of those companies. That people will be happy to endorse their company to anyone when they are confident that their products and services are among the best or the best in the market should come as no surprise.
A strong measure of your performance standards is the simple survey of employees to determine if:
* they are proud to work for their company
* they would happily recommend your products / services to a friend.
Analyse the results, involve and engage employees in designing and taking actions to make them comfortable to advocate your company. You will then have engaged a key stakeholder and have an action plan that, well executed, should improve performance and increase the long term sustainability of your organisation.
Much to do...
Skills shortage in UK construction
Skills shortage in UK construction industry is 'serious'
The UK's construction industry is under threat from a severe skills shortage, it has been claimed.
According to Brian Berry, director of external affairs for the Federation of Master Builders (FMB)
Mr Berry added that the UK hadn't seen such a high level of building activity "since the end of the Second World War".
He commented: "There is a serious skills shortage and that is why migrant workers are important in filling the gap.
"We need 87,500 new people to go into the construction sector every year from now until 2011 to meet current demands.
"Britain is experiencing the highest level of building activity it has seen since the end of the Second World War."
UK Property News posted on 14/03/2008
Site Waste Management Plans
Construction firms are being urged to take early action on waste before the planned enforcement of Site Waste Management Plans (SWMPs) before 6th April 2008. the date when the regulations come in to force. Read More....
Morrison Utility Services sold for £135m - 07/03/2008 - Contract Journal
Morrison Utility Services sold for £135m - 07/03/2008 - Contract JournalMorrison Utility Services has been sold for £135m, the buyer being a combination of two private equity firms, Cognetas and Englefield Capital.
MUS has 3,500 employees working throughout the UK. The business is active in the electricity, gas, telecommunications and water sectors.
MUS’s services are centred on the provision, replacement, repair and maintenance of utility infrastructure.
Its management team will stay on board.
Charles Morrison, managing director of MUS, said: “We will continue to retain focus and develop within a sector that has exciting growth prospects.”
The seller was AWG, the utility group previous known as Anglian Water. AWG bought Morrison for £260m in 2000, but subsequently felt that it paid £130m too much because of the figures it was presented with. Legal battles followed, with AWG claiming that it hadn’t acquired what it thought it was getting.Wow...
Colourful idea sparks renewable electricity from paint
Swansea University - Latest Research"One of our Engineering Doctorate students was researching how sunlight interacts with paint and degrades it, which led to us developing a new photovoltaic method of capturing solar energy.
Cabinet Secretary announces phasing out of bottled water across Government estate
Thursday 6 March 2008 13:20
Cabinet Office (National)
Cabinet Secretary announces phasing out of bottled water across Government estate
The use of bottled water for meetings and other official business is to be phased out across the whole Government estate.
Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell today wrote to the head of every Government department suggesting they should replace bought-in bottled water with tap water for all meetings in future.
A number of departments have already stopped using bottled water for official meetings but the proposal is to extend the 'tap water only policy' throughout government departments.
The new policy is expected to come into effect by the summer.
Sir Gus said:
"The Government is committed to sustainable operations across its estate and I have made this issue one of my key priorities for the Civil Service.
"Today's announcement is a small part of a much bigger programme of action in this area."
Notes to Editors:
1) A number of Government departments and agencies, including Defra, the Food Standards Agency and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, have already made the switch from serving bottled water to tap water at meetings.
2) In the last year that Defra used bottled water (2006), caterers supplied 12,600 bottles to the department.
3) Tap water requires around 300 times less energy than bottled water (for packaging and transport) and does not leave bottles to be disposed of.
No room for let up in the battle against litter says Minister
Environment Minister Jonathan Shaw today urged the public and local authorities to continue the fight for cleaner streets as he published a new environmental survey.
Street Works and Asset Management Solutions
Symology delivered a test system. This exercise was spearheaded by National Grid, as part of a collaborative arrangement with Symology. National Grid led a team, which also included Thames Water, Wales & West Utilities, United Utilities, Northern Gas Networks and Fulcrum Connections. The London Borough of Camden also took part in the exercise. Read More
National Schedule of Rates
The first National Schedule of Rates was launched in response to the Government's legislation on competition in the public sector.
Together with the appropriate contract conditions, The National Schedules allow customers to issue a series of works orders, confident that the charges for the work will be based on a pre-determined and agreed basis of measurement and pricing.
The National Schedules of Rates are a library of items, all priced and conforming in general to the classification and description requirements of the Standard Method of Measurement, 7th Edition, used to estimate. Further the National Building Specification is used by the civil section for design resulting in a standard co-ordinated project information delivery process. Saving time and money.
The National Schedules are republished annually incorporating development and price changes. Price updating is based on re-appraisal of material, labour and plant price movements on an individual item basis. Basic prices for material and labour are also available.
The Civil Minor works contract is based on the National Schedule of Rates Together with the NEC contract terms and conditions.
Note: National schedule of Rates for Roadworks
The Road Works Schedule – This Schedule of Rates has been jointly sponsored by the National Schedule of Rates and Carillion for use in both the public and private sectors. This is the second Schedule of Rates to be published by the NSR as a joint venture with PSA Specialist Services and their successors Carillion and it is hoped that it will produce benefits for both clients and contractors concerned with roadworks.
NSR Management, Suppliers of The National Schedule of Rates, Roadworks Schedule
Electricity companies face a new windfall tax.
The heads of the biggest gas and electricity companies are being ordered by the Government to hand over part of their multi-billion pound profits - or face a new windfall tax.
The Sunday Telegraph has learnt the chief executives of the utility giants have been summoned to Downing Street and given a dressing-down over the soaring sums being made from millions of customers.
They are being told that, unless they agree to subsidise a new nationwide "fuel poverty" scheme aimed at the 4.5 million poorest households, a levy will be put on their profits. It is understood that the fuel poverty programme is to be unveiled by Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, as part of the Budget on March 12.
The Government has moved to curtail what is increasingly seen as "excessive profiteering" by the utilities industry, with customers having to pay soaring household gas and electricity bills.
Read More...Telegraph
Ofgem has fined the company £41.6 million
It has been a bad week for utilities company National Grid, as UK energy regulator Ofgem has fined the company £41.6 million for a breach of competition law. Ofgem has accused National Grid of restricting the development of competition in the domestic gas meter market. Contracts between National Grid and five of the six major energy suppliers included financial penalties for replacing more than the small number of meters allowed under the contract, which Ofgem alleges has severely restricted the rate at which National Grid's older meters can be replaced by cheaper or more advanced meters from rival operators. National Grid has said that it will appeal against the decision.
United Utilities sells Manchester unit
United Utilities has sold its Manchester-based facilities management arm to Europa Facility Holdings, a Hertfordshire-based business which has subsequently sold a minority stake to US-based venture-capital firm HIG Capital for £25m in order to fund the deal.
Europa employs 1,200 people at Welwyn Garden City and currently has a turnover of £25m. A spokesman for the firm said that United Utilities Facilities Management (UUFM) arm employed 300, and that its acquisition would take the combined operation’s sales towards a projected £60m. Existing UUFM clients include Northern Gas Networks and Welsh Water.
