London looks after its building stock
Improving the environmental performance of existing buildings is fundamental to London’s ambition to become a low-carbon capital. Three quarters of London’s housing stock is at least 100 years old.
The London Development Agency is investing £9.5 million to help homeowners reduce the carbon footprint of their homes through simple measures such as installing low-energy light bulbs.
The programme aims to improve between 200,000 and 500,000 properties by 2012. By 2015 it aims to have improved 1.2 million properties, saving 350,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year.
Caption
Model demonstrating measures that can be applied to a typical London home to reduce its carbon footprint and reduce energy bills.
London rethinks its rubbish
Londoners produce 3.5 million tonnes of rubbish a year but we are working hard to reduce this amount.
The London Commercial Waste and Recycling Programme is investing £24 million in the development of infrastructure to reprocess and recycle London’s commercial and industrial waste.
By 2018, the project will be achieving 280,000 tonnes of CO2 savings and diverting 600,000 tonnes of waste from landfill per year.
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Installation inspired by the Closed Loop Recycling plant in Dagenham, which recycles 35,000 tonnes of plastic bottles every year.
Established with grant funding from the London Development Agency, Closed Loop Recycling is now running very successfully and is expanding into other parts of the UK.
London has clean air
For centuries, London was plagued by pea-soupers or smog; fog thickened by smoke from coal-fuelled fires and stoves. London's fog provided the setting for works by Charles Dickens, the Sherlock Holmes stories and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, as well as countless Hollywood films.
The problem culminated with The Great Smog of December 1952, when smog enveloped London for four days and nights. The disaster sparked new legislation to improve air quality throughout the city.
The Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968 were consolidated and updated in the Clean Air Act of 1993.
London's bars, restaurants and pubs have been smoke free since 2007, when the UK decreed that enclosed public spaces should be smoke-free zones. London's air is cleaner now than at any other time since the Middle Ages.
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Installation demonstrating the improvements in the quality of London's air since the days of The Great Smog.