Heritage Retrofit

BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON

HERITAGE RETROFIT

FIRST ANNUAL EDITION

example), to avoid having to crank up the

oven unnecessarily.

Overall the trial was a success. An

estimated saving of about £400 per

annum was achieved with the Klover,

and the house is also much warmer. The

conclusion is that this is a suitable option

for replacing oil range cookers.

CASE STUDY 2:

Wood pellet boilers

at Upton House

Towards the end of 2015 the first

completed Renewable Energy Investment

Programme project, Upton House,

Warwickshire made the switch from oil to

a renewable energy heating system.

Former Shell chairman Lord Bearsted

gifted the estate and its extensive art

and porcelain collections to the National

Trust in 1948. It was using 25,000 litres

of oil each year to heat the various

buildings (which equate to around 11

average houses). Today, the heating is

saving £6,000 a year on energy bills and

55 tonnes of CO₂ emissions.

Four oil boilers were removed and

the new biomass system now heats the

house, site offices, squash court gallery,

restaurant and a cottage.

According to Ed Wood, the

renewables project manager at Upton:

‘The irony that the estate was owned by a

family whose fortune was built on oil was

not lost on us when we started our project

to take Upton off fossil fuel. In the past,

oil was the most effective way to heat the

estate. Times have changed and to lower

our carbon emissions and meet our target,

to generate 50 per cent of all energy we

use from renewable sources by 2020, we

felt it was important to change our energy

source here.’

This is a great example of what support

from the Renewable Heat Incentive

scheme is enabling the trust to do.

Schemes like these cut carbon

emissions, promote local sustainable

wood management and work in harmony

with the natural and built environment.

They work for the local environment and

economy and support national energy and

climate change reduction initiatives.

FUNDING

Recent changes to government incentives

(the Renewable Heat Incentive and the

Feed in Tariff or ‘FIT’ scheme) have seen

a shift in support for certain renewable

energy technologies and system sizes.

The FIT rates for smaller hydro-

electric installations are lower than

the trust had hoped. However, the

government has reinstated pre-

accreditation, reducing the risk of the

longer lead-in times associated with hydro

projects. The trust has been working

hard not only on financial modelling of

its hydro potential but also revisiting its

approach to construction methodologies

and procurement approaches before

making any final decisions.

The RHI consultation led to the

introduction of an annual budget cap

based on deployment of technologies

which means that once a certain threshold

is reached the RHI is no longer available

for that technology/size. However, the

good news is that a tariff guarantee

will be introduced for heat pumps over

100kW and for large scale biomass.

In addition, tariffs for heat pumps are

predicted to rise as the technology has

not been developed at the same rate

as other technologies, which presents

a fantastic opportunity for the trust.

SHARING EXPERIENCE

Collaboration has been a key part of

the trust’s renewable energy work. Its

energy partner, Good Energy, has worked

alongside the trust to help develop its

renewable strategy and inspire others

to think about their energy use. Lessons

learned help inform future projects

including those of other bodies. With the

sustainable energy charity Ashden, the

trust helped launch the Fit for the Future

Network to share their experience with

others who are looking for a greener

energy supply. Now more than 80 groups

including The Crown Estate, Historic

Environment Scotland, Oxfam GB and the

RSPB are part of the network.

In one example, following advice from

the trust, Chatsworth installed 15 biomass

systems into tenanted properties. These

boilers have produced over 1 million

kWh and the estate hopes to eventually

power these using woodchip from the

estate which is a by-product of sustainable

woodland management.

In the view of the trust, collaboration

is one of the best tools it has to mitigate

the threat of climate change. A February

2016 report revealed that the Fit for the

Future Network collectively saved nearly

15,000 tonnes of CO₂ over the past year.

This is equivalent to making 1,766 trips

around the world in an average petrol car.

EMMA GRIFFITHS

is project manager for

the National Trust’s Renewable Energy

Investment Programme.

Upton House, Warwickshire was using 25,000 litres of oil each year before the installation of two wood pellet

boilers, which are now saving £6,000 a year on energy bills and 55 tonnes of CO

₂

emissions.