The UK market for energy service contracts in 2014–2015

This paper provides an overview of the UK market for energy service contracts in 2014 and highlights the growing role of intermediaries. Using information from secondary literature and interviews, it identifies the businesses offering energy service contracts, the sectors and organisations that are purchasing those contracts, the types of contract that are available, the areas of market growth and the reasons for that growth. The paper finds that the UK market is relatively large, highly diverse, concentrated in particular sectors and types of site and overwhelmingly focused upon established technologies with high rates of return. A major driver is the emergence of procurement frameworks for energy service contracts in the public sector. These act as intermediaries between clients and contractors, thereby lowering transaction costs and facilitating learning. The market is struggling to become established in commercial offices, largely as a result of split incentives, and is unlikely to develop further in this sector without different business models, tenancy arrangements and policy initiatives. Overall, the paper concludes that energy service contracts can play an important role in the transition to a low-carbon economy, especially when supported by intermediaries, but their potential is still limited by high transaction costs

Assessing the impact of changes in surface cover, human behaviour and climate on energy partitioning across Greater London

Climate-sensitive urban design is an increasingly important consideration for city planners and policy makers. This study demonstrates the use of a biophysical model to assess the response of urban climate to various changes, including population growth, reduced energy use, urban development and urban greening initiatives. Model inputs are intentionally derived using only publicly available information and assumptions involved in collating the data are discussed. Results are summarised in terms of the energy partitioning which captures changes in meteorology, surface characteristics and human behaviour. The model has been recently evaluated for the region, and those findings are drawn upon here to discuss the model’s capabilities and limitations. Model simulations demonstrate how both intentional and inadvertent changes to the urban landscape can alter the urban climate. For example, the impact of population growth depends on where, and how, people are housed, and recent changes in garden composition have reduced evaporation. This study has been designed so that model output could be combined with socio-economic data in future, enabling both risk and vulnerability to be considered together