Renewables

London has serious ambitions to be the leading world city on sustainability and climate change. Alongside the national government's energy policy (Energy White Paper 2003: Our energy future - creating a low carbon economy), several initiatives and policies have been established to increase energy efficiency and stimulate the use of renewable energy.

Planning guidance in London requires new major developments to generate at least 10% of their energy needs from renewable sources, and energy efficiency ratings such as the BREEAM ‘excellent' standard are being written in to the planning policies of many local authorities.

London's Energy Strategy aims to generate at least 665GWh of electricity and 280GWh of heat from 40,000 renewable energy schemes by 2010. These capacities are expected to at least triple by 2020.

Analysis for the Carbon Trust suggests that climate change is becoming a risk for companies with strong brand value, and could plausibly have developed into a mainstream consumer issue by 2010. Corporate Social Responsibility could give a large boost to an already fast growing green business sector. For companies with appropriate services, technologies and projects, London offers a huge emerging market.

New development within the Thames Gateway region will account for 25% of London's growth. As renewable technologies are more easily integrated into new buildings, the implementation of renewable energy within the region could make a more than significant contribution towards London wide targets.

Several developers are planning 1 million plus square ft mixed use schemes in the Thames Gateway, all keen to incorporate renewable energy technologies and district combined heat and power into their schemes.

There is a clear vision for development in London Thames Gateway to be at the forefront of sustainable construction and major companies are already using the opportunities and momentum here to create leading-edge developments.