Micro-renewables toolkit

One example of an innovative project that the North East Assembly led on is the development of a micro-renewable toolkit, which goes some way to helping to achieve a number of the policy objectives included in the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) and the Integrated Regional Framework (IRF), helping partners throughout the region to make a difference.

The toolkit was commissioned by the NEA and One North East to help planners and developers in the implementation of policy 39(e) of the RSS, which requires all new developments to supply 10% of their energy requirements from renewable sources. The toolkit was produced by NaREC, BRE, CP Energy and Bobby Gilbert & Associates Ltd and contains two main sections: ‘simplified' guidance and a Carbon Mixer.

The simplified guidance provides details of the European, national, regional and local policy background for policy 39(e). It also provides a detailed breakdown of the different types of micro-generation technologies that are available and how these should be applied. The ‘Carbon Mixer' is a computer based approach to help determine how the development can incorporate 10% embedded renewable energy generation. The mixer calculates the energy requirements for different types of buildings and determines carbon dioxide reductions and the contribution of renewable energy as the different technologies are added.

The Carbon Mixer is a zip file and will need to be unzipped prior to installation. Excel 2000, 2002 or 2003 is required to run the software. It is advised that the familiarisation exercise (Start - all programmes - carbon mixer NE) is completed prior to use.