Examines Glasgow’s net zero goals focusing on Govanhill’s potential and Riverside’s clean energy projects amid funding challenges.
The area includes the GRREC, which generates electricity and could potentially supply district heating. Green spaces and gardens offer additional possibilities for powering heat pumps.
Glasgow aims to be a climate leader, demonstrated by hosting the COP26 climate conference and launching a Green Deal to transform its economy. The Greenprint seeks private investment for these initiatives.
Glasgow’s goal is net-zero carbon emissions, addressing both climate change and fairness. Net-zero projects have the potential to help Govanhill residents, but progress has been slow and Glasgow needs billions to meet its goals.
Funding poses a significant challenge, even though the technology already exists. Heat pumps and electric transport are readily available, but require substantial funding. In response, Glasgow created a team dedicated to attracting climate investments.
The Net Zero Neighbourhood project seeks solutions, directly tackling local finance issues. It encompasses smaller projects that often struggle to attract private funding.
Zoe Jennings explained that real change happens at the local level. Cities often encounter financial barriers, struggling to attract private investment, while public money proves insufficient to meet the ambitious goals.
To address this, the project uses a unique portfolio approach designed to attract private investors by combining different technologies. This includes housing upgrades and EV chargers.
While renewable projects more easily gain investment due to understood returns, upgrading housing is more complex. This faces resident disruption and the need for significant community buy-in.
The model blends these easier investments with riskier, longer-term projects. This approach creates the scale needed to attract big investors leading to comprehensive changes.
Homes will be heated differently, replacing gas, which is currently used by most Glasgow homes. The city wants to decarbonize heating, switching to heat networks for most homes.
Maps display heating plans for different areas. Some will use heat pumps, while others will use district heat networks. One plan even proposes using heat from the Clyde River, with waste and data centers as potential additional heat sources.
The transition will take time, cost money, and cause disruption. Dr. Roddy Yarr works on climate innovation, creating Climate Neutral Innovation Districts to accelerate necessary changes.
Another pioneering project is GRID, taking a “whole systems approach.” This involves multiple groups, including the city council and the university, working collaboratively.
Dr. Yarr highlighted the potential of using the river for heat and envisioned widespread renewable energy adoption. Moreover, he wanted significantly more walking, less waste, and fewer cars in the city.
Glasgow Riverside has both clean energy sources and areas needing heat. Scotland’s largest hospital is located there, as well as the University of Glasgow, both institutions with substantial heating needs.
The area also has sewage treatment facilities, an energy-from-waste plant under construction, and the ambient heat of the Clyde River. The city must capitalize on these blessings for sustainable growth.
Clyde Heat will utilize river water to warm Glasgow Waters, a process supported by heat pumps. This includes the waterpark Therme. Glasgow, once built on fossil fuels, is now significantly shifting away from them.
The question is: Is progress fast enough to meet its 2030 goals? Dr. Yarr thinks the shift will happen, predicting deployed clean energy systems.
He noted that the policy exists and developers are eager to work together. They aim to build infrastructure, and a project with Scottish Water will actively extract heat from potential sources.
Ener-Vate plans to deploy a heat pump on the Clyde, and NHS is collaborating with others to find clean energy solutions. However, some other cities are progressing faster, with Clydebank and Edinburgh already ahead.
More cities are undertaking such projects, and Glasgow has many ideas on the table. However, it needs to act faster. The hope is that significant changes will soon follow.
Net-zero Glasgow is more than just heat. It also involves transport, requiring better buses and wider adoption of electric vehicles. Community-owned energy will offer a key component of the strategy.
The Glasgow of the future might look similar on the surface, but with more solar panels and trees. However, many of the most significant changes will occur beneath the surface, representing a fundamental green revolution.
Can Glasgow successfully involve its residents in this transformation? Susan Aitken believes so, drawing parallels to the past cleaning of old buildings, highlighting that grants made that previous change possible.
Glasgow has done this kind of work before, though at a smaller scale. The question is, does Glasgow have the leadership to expand on those endeavors? Govanhill was selected for the pilot project, emphasizing this forward-thinking leadership. Aitken envisions a net-zero city and sees Govanhill as perfectly aligned with the council’s overall goals.