Amal Umar (BSc Global Environmental Change & Sustainability) presents the outcomes of the University’s Summer Sustainability Internship at City-REDI.
Amal summarises the findings of her work – decarbonisation pathways in the City of Birmingham and the West Midlands region and what the University of Birmingham can do and must do to achieve the goal.
Two pathways for decarbonisation
Decarbonisation is the reduction of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions using low carbon/renewable energy sources. The challenge of decarbonising the UK can be observed from both a commercial and residential lens. Commercial decarbonisation will require innovation into hydrogen fuels and electrification as carbon fuel alternatives. Residential decarbonisation will focus on the challenge of retrofitting to ensure current and future homes are both fuel efficient and decrease fuel poverty in the UK. Both pathways for decarbonisation will require a highly skilled workforce to oversee the deployment of the low carbon energy transition. The achievement of both commercial and residential decarbonisation will put the UK in a steady position to meet its Net-Zero by 2050 targets, which will in turn ensure a climate resilient future for us all.
The need for an integrated approach to decarbonisation
Actions towards Decarbonisation are crucial for the UK to meet its Net Zero targetswith an integrated, holistic and placed-based approach. Net Zero carbon goals will be impossible if the means fail to engage the public and benefit communities, and if there is a shortage of skilled workers to achieve the transition. The West Midlands is of high interest when considering decarbonisation as this region has the highest fuel poverty rates of all regions in the UK. Within the context of Birmingham in the West Midlands region, the Birmingham City Council is undertaking a number of initiatives for decarbonisation, while the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and the regional energy partnership Energy Capital are helping develop place-based energy solutions to decarbonisation by bringing the private and public sector partners together and supporting the energy transition and Net Zero goals of the West Midlands.
Net Zero Neighbourhoods as a place-based approach
Progress towards the need for an integrated and holistic approach is already being demonstrated by the WMCA/Energy Capital partnership through the innovative establishment of Net Zero Neighbourhoods in the West Midlands. This project is identifying 3-7 neighbourhoods across the greater Birmingham area that will serve as case studies for residential decarbonisation, transforming neighbourhoods into low carbon energy communities.
The hope for the Net Zero Neighbourhood trials is to build climate resilient communities and pool data to establish the best approaches that local authorities can take to encourage households to invest in deep retrofit and clean heating technologies. In the West Midlands, 300,000 homes will need to be retrofitted by 2026 to meet the WMCA’s carbon neutral goal by 2041. Currently, however, there are very little incentives for retrofit. Retrofitting initiatives are typically associated with big savings on household energy bills, but this isn’t always the case in some households and there is very little data on how energy is being used by individuals in new buildings. Retrofitting is also expensive, with only those who can afford to be climate conscious in older buildings investing in the scheme. Finally, retrofitted energy systems like heat pumps garner displacement concerns while they are being fitted, and noise concerns while they run.
In 2023, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero awarded the WMCA/Energy Capital partnership with £6.2m of funding to launch a Local Net Zero Accelerator Programme. The aim of this programme is to address the funding gap for Net Zero projects, by collecting evidence from the cohort of Net Zero Neighbourhoods, engaging investors, and developing the enabling infrastructure to connect investors to projects. The Net Zero Neighbourhood trials in the West Midlands region are well placed to collect data on a wide range of retrofit scenarios to properly make the case for retrofit and community engagement. Such data will pave the way for investing at scale in net zero initiatives across the region and, in turn, help engage investors to connect with the Net Zero projects.
The role of Heat Networks in Birmingham to address commercial decarbonisation
Major cities in the UK are addressing commercial decarbonisation through the building of district heat networks. The deployment of district heating schemes across the UK will be essential if we are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, move away from fossil fuels and utilise renewable energy sources on a country-wide scale. Birmingham is currently leading the way, with the Birmingham District Energy Scheme’s establishment of 3 heating schemes throughout 2007-2010, which are still in operation today. The first scheme, the ‘Broad Street Scheme’, covers the Broad Street central business district. The remaining schemes, the ‘East Side Schemes’, serve the area with combined heat and power systems in Aston University and the Birmingham Children’s Hospital. The combined schemes are saving over 18,000 tonnes of CO2 every year, offering landlords and developers in the region the opportunity to plug in to the network and save on energy bills while assisting the Birmingham City Council to achieve Net Zero goals.
Where does the University of Birmingham fit in?
The University of Birmingham (UoB) has an opportunity to assist the City of Birmingham with decarbonisation and Net Zero goals in multiple ways. Firstly, through aiding in the skills transition for decarbonisation. Due to the scale of the energy transition challenge, there is a skills shortage in the energy sector. There are many engineers in gas/boiling, but they will need support to transfer their skills to clean energy deployment such as wind, photovoltaics, hydrogen power and low carbon construction technology.
The University of Birmingham is also assisting the city of Birmingham through the current building of the National Centre for the Decarbonisation of Heat (NCDH) at Tyseley Energy Park. The NCDH which will focus entirely on realising the commercial and industrial decarbonisation of Britain by leveraging research and innovation to scale up the deployment of low carbon heating solutions across the UK. The NCDH will oversee the development of a Skills Academy to help train both existing and new heating engineers across heat pumps, hydrogen boilers, smart system controls, energy efficiency, and retrofit surveying & coordination through technical programmes and training apprenticeships.
The University must act now
The NCDH will be completed by 2026, however, it’s crucial that the UoB considers ways it can act now to benefit the City of Birmingham in the future. For example, other education institutions like South and City College, Birmingham City University and Aston University have a wide range of accredited courses geared towards mobilising a skilled future workforce in clean energy.
The University of Birmingham has had strengths in research and innovation. Tyseley Energy Park holds UoB’s Birmingham Energy Institute which is currently working on materials innovation research and hydrogen solutions for the larger goal of decarbonisation. However, it is important that we do not lose sight of the value of rapid, practical technology deployment, too. The University has an excellent opportunity to combine its traditional research strengths with practical approaches, alongside future developments at Tyseley Energy Park, to assess where it can provide the most value in aiding the skills transition and support the City of Birmingham towards Net Zero.
Concluding points
- An integrated practical and holistic approach towards decarbonisation of the region will be required to sustainably secure Birmingham’s Net Zero goals
- Decarbonisation must be considered in terms of the challenges of both residential and commercial decarbonisation which will require communities and industries to make conscious investments into associated initiatives (namely, retrofitting and district heat schemes)
- The prioritisation of community benefit, community engagement and the skills transition will accelerate Net Zero goals
- The University of Birmingham must act now in conjunction with future developments (the BEI and the NCDCH) to identify where it can maximise the benefit for the region
This blog was written by Amal Umar (BSc Global Env Change & Sus FT), Intern at City-REDI, University of Birmingham.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this analysis post are those of the author and not necessarily those of City-REDI or the University of Birmingham.