Planning for Renewable Energy in Worcestershire Research Paper

10. Baseline Data and Forecasts10.1 Worcestershire County and DistrictCouncils have a role to play in helping tocreate more sustainable patterns ofenergy use. In order to arrive at anenergy policy that can make a meaningfulcontribution to reducing emissions,existing policy must be considered, alongwith any relevant baseline information, aswell as issues emerging fromconsultation.10.2 Whilst there exists a wealth ofdata used to monitor particular aspects ofclimate change and renewable energyprovision at global, European, national,and regional level, there is relatively littleavailable at the sub-regional and locallevel. For the purposes of LocalDevelopment Frameworks, theinformation must be of a relevant andmeasurable scale, and ideally specific tothe District concerned. Other districtpolicy documents, and especially theassociated Sustainability Appraisals, canprovide useful sources of baselineinformation.10.3 Emissions data from the NationalAtmospheric Emissions Inventory hasbeen mapped at County level in order toidentify those areas responsible for thelargest proportion of emissions. However,this mapping shows CO2 emissionsacross all sectors, meaning that isolatingthose emissions resulting solely from theresidential sector is not possible. Thesemaps, reproduced as part of Appendix G,provide an indication of the change inemissions (from all sectors) between2002 and 2004, and show that whilstsome areas of the County have improved,there have also been marked increases inother areas. These patterns are generallyconcentrated not only on city/towncentres, but also around the major roadtransport corridors.10.4 Defra estimates that domestic CO2emissions for the County areapproximately 1,398,000 tonnes perannum 25 , which equates to roughly 2.6tonnes of CO2 per capita. This is slightlyhigher than the Regional and UKaverages, at 2.4 and 2.5 tonnes percapita, respectively 26 . Domestic CO2emissions account for around 28% ofWorcestershire's total CO2 output, withindustrial and commercial emissionsaccounting for around 30%. The greatestcontributing sector is road transport, with40% of the county's total CO2 emissions.10.5 Whilst the significance of roadtransport emissions is recognised,considering methods for reducing theseemissions is beyond the scope of thisdocument. This issue will, however, beconsidered elsewhere in national, regionaland local policy. Specifically, reference ismade to more sustainable travel optionsin the Worcestershire Local TransportPlan 2 (2006-11).10.6 It is in the domestic and industrial& commercial sectors that this documentmay seek to improve emissions, includingthrough greater use of renewable energy.Provisions requiring on-site renewableenergy generation for residential andcertain non-residential development havebeen implemented successfully, includingin the London Borough of Merton.10. BASELINE DATA AND FORECASTS ● Planning for Renewable Energy in Worcestershire25End User Local and Regional Estimates of CarbonEmissions, DEFRA (2005)26Averages calculated from Defra estimates, as above.Technical Research Paper 25