Bristol City Leap targets rapid decarbonisation

Bristol City Leap is a 20-year project aiming to make Bristol carbon neutral as soon as 2030, primarily through decarbonising heat and carrying out extensive energy efficiency work on the city’s building stock. Existing heat networks in the city centre will be expanded significantly, potentially tapping into the waste heat from an incinerator located at Avonmouth by building a £100m, 20km heat main. Other potential sources of heat that could be used to power the network included disused coal mines. The Engineer will be covering the project in more detail for its upcoming February cover story, which explores the challenge of decarbonising the UK’s buildings.

Alongside the heat network upgrades - delivered by Sweden’s Vattenfall acting as a subcontractor to US energy services operator Ameresco - Bristol City Leap will also see Ameresco install over 182 Mega Watts of low carbon energy generation across Bristol in the first five years. According to the partners, this will include solar panels and low carbon heating systems for local schools, as well as energy efficiency improvements for Bristol City Council’s social housing.