London heading down greener path

The mayor has won influential allies in his quest to reduce the city's greenhouse gas emissions.
By DAVID ADAMS
October 1, 2007


LONDON - London Mayor Ken Livingstone used to be known as "Red Ken" for his unapologetically left-wing policies. These days Livingstone's politics come in shades of green. Under his leadership, the city once known as "The Big Smoke" is heading a coalition of nearly 40 international cities that have pledged to reduce emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases that scientists say cause climate change.

Livingstone is winning the support of some influential allies, such as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former President Bill Clinton. Though he doesn't head a city, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is also among the converts. Crist flew to New York last week at the invitation of the Clinton Foundation, where he helped unveil a major solar power investment by FPL Group, Florida's largest energy company.

"Britain's cities were at the beginning of an industrial revolution that was mirrored across the world in the 18th and 19th centuries," former British environment minister David Miliband said last year in a major policy speech. "Britain's cities can lead the way again."

"London is setting the standard for climate change policy," said Chris Walker, U.S. director of the Climate Group, a nonprofit that advocates greater business and government leadership on climate change.

Scientific studies show cities contribute 75 percent of the global warming emissions in the world, Walker noted. "With that kind of carbon footprint, it's vital that cities get this right," he said. Livingstone launched his idea in 2005, bringing together 18 world cities under the Cities Climate Leadership Group. By August of the next year, his program had support from the Clinton Foundation, which has enlisted Microsoft to design an accurate emissions monitoring system for cities.

The coalition has since grown to 38 major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and Philadelphia. It calls itself "C40," with two seats reserved for Beijing and Shanghai, which have yet to join. In February, Livingstone launched a "Climate Action Plan" with the goal of reducing London's emissions by 60 percent by 2025, using a mix of energy conservation, efficiency and renewable resources such as biofuels, wind and solar energy.

For years London was synonymous with smog, the phrase coined to describe the city's dense mix of fog and smoke from coal fires. Many of the old factory smokestacks no longer belch pollution, but air quality is still a problem. With a population of 7.5-million residents (double that in the wider metro area), London is the largest city in the European Union. If nothing is done, London's emissions are projected to increase by 15 percent to 51-million tons of carbon dioxide by 2025, officials say. (The average American car emits about 7 tons of CO2 in a year.)

"It's important we clean up our act," said Allan Jones, CEO of the London Climate Change Agency, an autonomous body created by the mayor to implement climate change projects. As a first, largely symbolic step, solar panels are being installed on the roof of City Hall, a landmark egg-shaped building opposite the Tower of London.

Officials talk of "remaking" the city based upon a "low-carbon" economic model - ultimately taking half the city off the national electricity grid by 2050. So, London is turning to small, decentralized energy systems that can supply customers more efficiently.

One method, known as Combined Heat and Power, or "co-generation," involves capturing the heat produced making electricity and using it to heat water that can warm nearby homes. In depressed east London, the city borough of Tower Hamlets teamed up with a French power utility to convert an abandoned electrical sub-station into a small co-generation plant. Capturing the heat doubles the plant's energy efficiency, says plant manager Nicolas Mugniot.

"You still have some emissions, but it saves about 1,700 tons of C02 per year," he said. Instead of natural gas, one day officials say they could use biogas captured from municipal waste sites. Recycled organic waste, including restaurant waste, could also supply electricity for up to 2-million homes in the London area, Jones says.

London has one of the most aggressive anticongestion programs in the world. It levies a fee of $16 per day for drivers entering the city center. The system has reduced carbon emissions by 16 percent within the city center, officials say. Traffic congestion has also eased. Livingstone has his sights on carbon-spewing SUVs and luxury cars, which he wants to hit with a tax keyed to their emissions.

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Cities - and states like Florida - can act now, Livingstone argues, while national governments lose valuable time trapped in endless international climate change negotiations. New York and Los Angeles have ambitious plans to cut greenhouse emissions by a third over the next two decades. New York's effort to emulate London's congestion tax has so far failed to win legislative approval, however.

The members of the C40 group get most of the media attention. But mayors of more than 600 smaller American cities, including Tampa and Key Biscayne, have also signed a "climate protection agreement." "It's much easier to do it if someone else has done it," said Simon Reddy, manager of the C40 group. "You can learn from their mistakes and successes. Cities can pick and choose what's best for them."


FAST FACTS

The greening of London
- London requires new developments to draw at least 10 percent of energy needs from on-site renewable power wherever feasible. That is being applied to venues for the 2012 Olympic Games.
- London wants to save water and reduce emissions from the water treatment industry. Only 2 percent of treated water is used for human consumption. "Most goes down toilets," one official says.
- Other projects include a 1,000-megawatt offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary, and new fleets of hybrid diesel and hydrogen buses.
- London is also encouraging homeowners to retrofit their properties with better insulation to save emissions. Buildings account for nearly 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, experts say, The Clinton Foundation launched a $5-billion program this year backed by major energy service companies and banks to retrofit older, energy-inefficient buildings in 15 of the world's largest cities.

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