Land Developer

Land Developer- Scenarios for a Sustainable Energy System

Risks Diagram

Challenge: Develop and present environmentally sustainable ideas for a community-wide energy system.

The land developer needed to demonstrate to the planning authorities that it had thought deeply about the future energy viability of the development with specific reference to the potential to mitigate and adapt to climate change in the coming decades. The project will ultimately provide a home for tens of thousands of people. The developer wanted to demonstrate how the new town could be a flagship for a way of living that aims for low or zero carbon emissions from the energy system.

Service Provided: Scenario-Building and Envisioning for Energy Systems

Green Umbrellas carried out desk-based research based on Master plan documents provided by the Land Developer. 

  • We assessed the suitability and efficiency of technologies and components that could generate and use the energy on site. 
  • Interviews were carried out with the Land Developer’s team to understand the goals of the report and agree on the structure for the report.  
  • The ultimate purpose of the report was to provide the Land Developer with inspirational and compelling ideas that could be included in the Vision document to be supplied to the local Planning Authority. 
  • Based on our experience of working with domestic and commercial energy projects we looked at a range of energy systems that could be compatible at scale.
  • We presented three scenarios based on the economic, environmental, operational, technical and regulatory conditions likely to prevail over the next 30 years. 
  • Using simple to understand language we included a glossary of renewable and energy efficient technology terms to help the Land Developer team leverage the value of the report for their own discussions with the stakeholders.
Smart Energy Home

Outcome: Key energy system principles included in Vision document 

The Land Developer asked Green Umbrellas to distill the ideas contained within the scenarios into key principles that would guide the development and implementation of an environmentally sustainable energy system on the site. Some of the principles included are: 

  1.     2050 READY
  2.   BUSINESS AS USUAL NOT ACCEPTABLE
  3.     ENERGY=EMPLOYMENT
  4.     ENERGY RESILIENCE= DIVERSITY
  5.     INCLUSIVE AND FLEXIBLE LOCAL ENERGY MARKET