Capital gains
A recent Summit in London discusses the findings of a study into
sustainability in the modern, urban environment. Dan Rogers reports
The legislation for renewable carbon emissions targets that is aiming to deliver a reduction in the UK’s environmental impact is a clear indication to UK business and industry that it needs to address its environmentally damaging processes. However, creating a ‘sustainable’ society requires society to adopt renewable and energy efficient technology as a whole.
However, the adoption of a more sustainable way of life - one that considers and controls impact on the environment - may seem like a daunting step change in the everyday lives of people living in the UK. In particular, the integration of sustainability into the busy and often high emissions atmosphere of a major city may seem difficult to imagine going smoothly.
So, a study presented at the recent Siemens’ Media Summit in City Hall,
London, which suggests that major cities across the globe could feasibly integrate a number of renewable or energy efficient technologies into their infrastructure could significantly alter that viewpoint.
Siemens undertook the ‘Sustainable Urban Infrastructure’ study to investigate the viability of such ‘sustainable’ technology being integrated into current society infrastructure.
With more than half of the world’s population currently living in urban centres, and with that number set to rise to almost 60 per cent by 2025 according to the study’s’ findings, addressing the environmental impact of urban areas will be crucial to reducing emissions and waste in the coming years. With this in mind, Siemens compiled a list of currently available technologies that could reduce CO2 emissions and assessed the cost and saving that each technology provides, as well as looking into barriers to implementation.
Siemens’ research uses a number of major cities across the globe - London being one of the example case studies - and looked at the potential cost and likelihood of adoption for over 200 technology changes that could reduce emissions in buildings, transportation and energy supply sectors. It analyses the economics of the technology from the point of view of those making the decisions to invest in the technology - for instance, businesses, homeowners, or car buyers - and uses a uniform cross-sector methodology to evaluate each potential technology.
The results were presented at the Summit, with a series of key speakers - including Peter Löscher, president and CEO of Siemens AG; Richard Lambert, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry; and Richard Barnes, Deputy Mayor of London - discussing the findings and urging London to become a bastion for sustainability.
Indeed, Löscher’s opening presentation on the ‘Sustainable Urban Cities’ study notes that the case study of London demonstrates Britain’s potential role in leading the way for sustainability.
“The UK is a very special operation in the Siemens global context,” he commented. In particular, Löscher underlined the Wembley regeneration programme, which began in 2002 and includes sustainability considerations, as an example of London - and the UK’s - potential for sustainability. “The new Wembley, when completed, will be one of the greenest places in Europe,” he stated.
As well as putting forward the suggestion that the UK could be fertile ground for developing sustainable urban living, Löscher notes that the results of the study also dispel concerns over the level of change and cost associated with new sustainable technology. “The findings upset some of the most longstanding beliefs,” Löscher remarks.
Indeed, the study shows that “London can meet international greenhouse gas reduction targets without a dramatic shift in citizens’ lifestyles,” according to the company. The study suggests that greenhouse gas emissions from the three buildings, transportation and energy supply sectors, could be reduced by about 44 per cent by 2025, in comparison to the 1990 levels used as a reference in the Kyoto agreement. This level of abatement would surpass the Kyoto target (-12 per cent by 2012), as well as EU (-20 per cent by 2020) and UK Government targets (-30 per cent by 2025). This could be achieved, the study argues, with technologies that are currently available and would not drastically alter the way of life for an urban area like London. For instance, the study highlights improved insulation as one of the most effective measure for cutting emissions from buildings, with a total saving of 4.5Mt of CO2. Other measures, such as using various combined heat and power systems, alternative, energy from waste treatment processes and hybrid buses are all earmarked as technologies that offer significant emissions reducing potential, without a major disruption of the current urban lifestyle.
However, one of the other “longstanding beliefs” that the study “upsets,” as Löscher mentioned, has to be the cost associated with new, sustainable measures. In fact, one of the main conclusions of the study is that around 70 per cent of the saving potentials illuminated in its results could be achieved with technologies that would actually pay for themselves, in terms of energy savings. For instance, the report notes that energy efficient lighting in London households could reduce CO2 emissions by 400,000 tonnes, with a saving of €270 per tonne. Moreover, other measures could deliver surplus energy back to the national grid, thus repaying outlay for the technology.
Overall, the study puts the total investment required to implement all the identified technologies, until 2025, at €41 billion - the equivalent of less than one per cent of London’s total economic output.
At the Summit, Lambert put the cost argument into context, speaking on behalf of the CBI. “Without significant new power, the lights start to go out around 2016 to 2017,” he explains. However, his grim assertion seemed to be intended as a wake-up call for an economy not responding quickly enough to the urgent need for change. “It’s all about balancing economic stability and environmental stability,” he added. “The solutions are known, deliverable and affordable.” However, with the study stressing this point that the technology is here to be employed, it is now up to industry and the individual alike to realise that any feared overhaul of our way of life, or huge investment, is not much more than myth. “A new relationship is needed between Government, businesses and consumers,” Lambert stated emphatically. “The scale of this challenge must make it a business priority over the next 30 years. Bringing stakeholders together and encouraging them to collaborate is critical.”
With the speakers all seeming to agree that sustainability, and the associated renewable and energy efficient technology, is both a significant challenge and great opportunity for the global economy - Jeremy Oppenheim, director of McKinsey and Company, which contributed to the study, stated that “we will see the equivalent of a second global economy laid down over the next 30 years” in sustainability - London could be a leader in reducing emissions in the future. “Boris [Johnson, Mayor for London] was elected on the back of a promise to make London one of Europe’s greenest cities,” Barnes announced at the Summit. Certainly, Barnes suggested that London, with the Wembley development, and with plans for 500 hybrid buses to be in service by 2012, is already looking to create a sustainable urban environment, an example that the rest of the UK, and indeed the world, could follow. “Your report shows that aim [to be one of Europe’s greenest cities] is ambitious, but achievable,” he stated. And Barnes concluded that there was no longer time for hesitation from society either. “We must start now, and continue forever,” he concluded.
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