By Dr James Crosby-Wrigley, Head of Sustainability at Advantage Utilities

Integrating green technologies is essential to better energy security. The UK energy market has experienced a volatile and dramatic fluctuation over the past 24 months. The cause of this can be largely attributed to the Ukraine-Russia conflict and the damaging effects it has had on gas supply volumes to Europe. It was reflected in wholesale pricing peaks in August 2022, with power at ~£850/MWh (85p/kWh) and gas at ~£800/therm (23p/kWh). As a result, energy prices to end users peaked at ~£1/kWh for power and ~30p/kWh for gas, dramatically higher than previous typical prices of ~15p/kWh for power and ~3p/kWh for gas.Thankfully, the wholesale energy market prices have mercifully come down and somewhat resemble historic norms – trading at approximately £65 to £80/MWh (6.5 to 8p/kWh) for power and £60 to £80/therm (1.7 to 2.3p/kWh) for gas.

But with this disruption, supplemented by pressure to enhance sustainability, came an important shift in the thinking of businesses – that reducing operational energy costs through integrating green technologies is essential for better energy security.

Environmentally focussed government laws and policies (e.g. Climate Change Act of 2008, and Net-Zero Emissions by 2050) have further increased attention on new and existing buildings to become more environmentally sustainable. With the grid still a highly pollutive source of energy (~0.2kg CO_2e/kWh), buildings with higher rated efficiency accreditation scores (e.g. EPC, BREEAM) have become increasingly desirable to tenants and landlords.

Therefore, construction projects are left with an important proposition – how should the project integrate technologies which reduce grid energy consumption and enhance its green credentials? In this author’s opinion, there are two key philosophies which should form the backbone of this approach:

1. a) The greenest form of energy generation is the most affordable method of consumption.

Renewable generation technologies (e.g. Solar PV) have undergone such dramatic technological improvements and maturation of their supply chain, they now provide the greenest, cheapest and most risk-adverse source of energy for a site. For example, a typical rooftop solar PV system can directly provide between 10% and 40% of a facility’s power requirement, with a typical Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCoE) at 5p to 8p/kWh over the system lifetime.

1. b) The cheapest and greenest form of energy is that which is not consumed at all.

This can be realised through technologies which undertake the same function as alternatives or compliment the operation of a building, but at a fraction of the energy consumption. For example, by having more sophisticated heating and lighting controls, they can be tuned to only operate when they are required. As a result, the building would require less power and gas to operate and therefore realise long term reductions in their energy expenditure and reduced CO_2e emissions.

In conclusion, construction projects have many competing priorities they need to balance. However, highly volatile energy prices and the pressure to reach net-zero have made renewable and efficient technologies a much more important item. By integrating them as more common constituents of each project, they ensure the best outcome for the performance of the building and enhances the benefits to the end-user.

For more details on renewable energy solutions available to businesses, visit https://www.advantageutilities.com/renewable-energy