Local heat and energy efficiency strategies and delivery plans: guidance

Annex B - Glossary

Abbreviations

EESSH - Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing

EPC - Energy Performance Certificate

EST - Energy Saving Trust

GIS - Geographic Information System

HEEPS:ABS - Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland: Area Based Schemes

LA - Local Authority

LHEES - Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy

LPG - Liquefied Petroleum Gas

PEAT - Portfolio Energy Analysis Tool

SAP - Standard Assessment Procedure

Terms

Baselining

Baselining is the purpose of understanding at local authority or strategic level, the current status of the buildings against the LHEES Considerations, Targets and Indicators.

Data Zone

Data zones are groups of output areas which have populations of around 500 to 1,000 residents.

Delivery Area

Delivery areas are at a higher granularity than Strategic Zones. These spatial zones should set out clusters of buildings within a Strategic Zone or across the whole local authority that identify potential solution(s) at a delivery level. They will be an important starting point for identifying a range of projects, regulation and actions that are within the competence of the Scottish Government, local authorities and wider partners (included as actions to be developed in the LHEES Delivery Plan).

Indicator

For a given Consideration, the purpose of an Indicator is:

1) to act as a key information field to help characterise and baseline the local authority.

2) to act as a key information field to support strategic zoning and generation of initial delivery areas;

3) if suitable, to act as a key information field to measure progress against Targets over the duration of the LHEES - set out in the LHEES Delivery Plan.

For some Considerations, one Indicator may be sufficient, but for others a range may be appropriate.

Intermediate Zone

Intermediate zones are a statistical geography that are designed to meet constraints on population thresholds (2,500 - 6,000 household residents), to nest within local authorities, and to be built up from aggregates of data zones.

LHEES Delivery Plan

An LHEES Delivery Plan is a document setting out how a local authority proposes to support implementation of its Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy.

LHEES Considerations

The LHEES Considerations are a list of technologies, building typologies and policy priorities used to identify and target interventions. They include:

• Heat networks
• Off-gas grid buildings
• On-gas grid buildings
• Poor building energy efficiency
• Poor building energy efficiency as a driver for fuel poverty
• Mixed-tenure, mixed-use and historic buildings

LHEES Strategy

An LHEES Strategy is a long-term strategic framework for—

• the improvement of the energy efficiency of buildings in the local authority's area, and
• the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the heating of such buildings

Mixed-tenure, mixed-use and historic buildings

Mixed-tenure and mixed-use buildings could include a mixture of owner occupied, private rented and social housing, and also non-domestic uses, or simply multiple ownership within the same tenure. Historic buildings include the buildings that are within conservation areas or those that are listed buildings. These categories may require established alternative approaches and regulation for the installation of low carbon heat and energy efficiency solutions and where specific advice and support might be available relating to the installation of these solutions.

Potential heat network zones

The analysis carried out for strategic zoning and pathways for the heat networks Consideration is to identify potential zones rather than the otherwise used naming convention of Delivery Areas. The potential zones identified are to be included in the LHEES Strategy and should inform actions around further investigation / progression within the LHEES Delivery Plan. The heat networks Consideration analysis and activity carried out within LHEES is also anticipated to support activity related to formal zone designation as required by the Heat Networks (Scotland) Act 2021.

Strategic Zone

Strategic Zones present a visualisation of the potential pathways to decarbonise the building stock at a local authority level. These could, for example, be split out by intermediate zone or data zone. They are useful to understand the baseline performance, the scale of potential and initial areas of focus, which could be used to inform Delivery Areas and follow on engagement.

Targets

Targets are the measurable aspect of the Consideration and are likely to be taken directly from national and/or local policy documentation, for example net-zero by 2045, or EPC C by 2040. Targets are likely to comprise of end-point targets and milestone targets and would sit along a timeline within (and beyond) the LHEES. This timeline would help to prioritise the types of projects undertaken within the LHEES over its duration.

Weighting

For some Considerations, one Target and Indicator may be sufficient, but for others a range of Indicators may be appropriate to contextualise and characterise performance against a Target and/or progress towards a Consideration. If multiple Indicators are used in strategic zoning or the identification of delivery areas, a Weighting can be applied based on the importance of each.