This is the Decarbonisation Dialogue, a podcast
from Salix. Welcome to Delivering on Climate
Change, our collective challenge. I'm Hannah
Walker and I believe that the best way to communicate
a message is by being passionate about what you
are talking about. Through that passion, I believe
you take people with you and create action using
your influence to make change and make a difference.
Our task today is to get all of us to net zero.
Today, I have a wonderful guest with me. I have
one of my Salix colleagues, and that's Becca
Waite. And Becca is an Energy and Carbon Programme
Manager with our team here at Salix. And I'm
delighted to have you. Thank you for joining
us. Thank you. Becca, can we start? Can you please
tell us a little bit about your career and your
education, your background here at Salix today?
We'd like to hear a little bit about how you
got here. Yeah, so I kind of started with a social
science background. I did an environmental politics
master's, which was kind of a holistic view of
environmental management, conservation and, of
course, climate change mitigation strategies.
I joined Salix nearly three years ago and I kind
of used my foundation in kind of that holistic
environmental politics background to focus on
energy management and the built environment.
So I've kind of built my specialism there now.
Yeah, so I've been here for three years and I
think, you know, Salix is a great place to work
to be at the forefront of watching these decarbonisation
projects kind of from phase one of the public
sector decarbonisation scheme, which Salix funds
through the Department for Energy Security and
Net Zero. We've kind of seen the development
and the innovation of decarbonisation projects
and the kind of different technologies and work
types that... are being funded now for public
sector buildings it's a really interesting and
exciting place to be um at the moment so yeah
it's really interesting to put that my background
in social sciences and understanding why um we
need to obviously reach net zero and now kind
of putting that into practice in how we're actually
achieving it is is a really exciting place to
work thank you moving on so you mentioned the
schemes some of the schemes that we deliver We're
delivering hundreds and hundreds of projects
over a year. Can I ask, how close do you get
to those projects that we deliver? And is the
success or failure in your hands? What's your
actual role in that work? Yeah, so in the energy
and carbon team at Salix, we're in a really...
important and interesting part of the business
because we receive all the applications for for
funding so there's the public sector decarbonization
schemes there's the devolved Scottish and Welsh
schemes as well And we've obviously got our recycling
fund programmes and we still assess projects
for that. So there's various different criteria
that these applications need to meet, but they
all come through us. And we have a great team
of staff and we work with our technical contractors
to assess the feasibility of these projects and
decide ultimately whether they're suitable for
funding. have various different documents that
applicants fill out so that we can access all
of the information about why they want to do
these projects. It really is a story. What is
their net zero journey? What have they considered
for their portfolio of buildings that they can
do and target our funding to the most needed
buildings and needed areas as well? So we get
those applications in and it's quite a gruelling
time and assessment period to look through tens
and hundreds of projects. doing a variety of
different interventions. So it can just be LED
lighting projects for some of the loan schemes,
can be quite extensive in that respect to the
really complex heat network projects across cities.
You know, we see it all and we decide ultimately
whether they're suitable for funding. And so
going back to that decision that you're making,
because you do see... hundreds if not thousands
of applications throughout a year and you met
you you used the word grueling um what is it
about the what is it that i mean there are huge
differences but what is what are the commonalities
in these projects you're looking at the paperwork
and presumably also speaking to the project managers
and those aspiring to get their projects over
the line what is what is the commonality about
what what these projects are trying to do Everyone's
trying to achieve their net zero targets. Everyone's
trying to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.
It's just sometimes trying to put that into the
same sort of template is quite difficult. So
I think when I say gruelling, I mean... You know,
you're looking at various different heat decarbonisation
plans, feasibility studies, different public
sector bodies and different contractors, consultants
do things in different ways. So whilst we're
all trying to deliver these projects and achieve
those carbon savings and achieve that value for
money and actually deliver them on the soil,
on the ground, it can be hard to kind of intersect
all that information over a desktop kind of study.
So it's communicating. through each of them even
though they're trying to achieve the same thing
obviously they're different projects they're
different people so trying to do that in quite
a short amount of time and obviously we've got
quite strict rules in terms of when money can
be spent and when things need to be done so that's
why those those assessment periods can be difficult
but also really really interesting and presumably
you see a huge amount of passion come across
from those individuals trying to get their projects
through and perhaps if they're not successful
At one stage, you might see that same project
or similar project from them later on down the
line in another scheme. Yeah, exactly. I think
that's one of the best things about this job,
to be honest, and about working in this area
is the passion that you see. It's not just a
job for a lot of people. This is what's really
important to them and what drives them. So it's
seeing the passion from public sector bodies
and the applicants that kind of really is quite
motivational in our work. um and as you say if
they're not successful in one round we can see
the project come up again it's that determination
to really get this project over the line but
we also see projects that huge capital projects
that might take five uh five years or a decade
to actually complete and they can access multiple
years of funding and one year is an extenuation
of of the previous and you're really linking
up what is being achieved so it's great to go
on site and actually see what is being achieved
i'd love to hear about those site visits because
it gives you another opportunity to get under
the skin doesn't it of the project and and actually
appreciate the challenges that those people have
faced trying to pull that through? Yeah, exactly.
It's going to hospitals and to schools. We've
been fortunate enough to see kind of projects
all over the UK, you know, different projects.
I've seen one where the local community has really
rallied for this project to go over the line.
Schools where children are writing letters to
say how excited they are about their biomass
boiler. And just understanding when you go to
a listed building, why it's so difficult for
works to carry out. the beautiful kind of architecture
of the building. And it kind of puts everything
into perspective of why these projects are sometimes
really hard to deliver. Super. So very technical.
Obviously, your job starts with being very technical.
You talked about your educational background,
the social science behind all that and that holistic
view. The term net zero, it's something I work
in communications and it's something we obviously
talk about in every other sentence. But in simple
terms, how would you explain? net zero to someone
who's not technical and it's such a huge part
of obviously the work here how do you put that
into an easy to understand format for people?
Yeah I think there is a lot of jargon but net
zero essentially refers to the balance between
the amount of greenhouse gases produced and the
amount removed from the atmosphere. So essentially
just making sure we're removing as much as we're
producing, acknowledging that some emissions
are unavoidable, especially as we're transitioning
to that net zero kind of landscape. So obviously
you've heard of things like carbon capture and
storage where you're kind of removing that carbon
rather than using kind of natural sinks such
as, you know, planting more trees and things
like that. But it's essentially making sure that
we're kind of reducing our reliance on fossil
fuels and not emitting as much as we have previously.
Thank you. So very technical indeed. And it's
great to have you here because I want to mention
the other issue that I know we've talked about
in other discussions is, do you think there are
enough women in this area? Your background is
very technical in terms of those qualifications.
How do you feel working in this sector? Yeah,
I feel like sometimes, you know, particularly
in my job, I speak to a lot of engineers. It's
typically quite a male heavy industry. I think
diversity is obviously important in any workplace.
Just I think with engineering in particular and
the built environment and the innovation that
we need in this sector, it's really important
to solve these diverse problems with kind of
diverse backgrounds and perspectives and solutions.
I think that's being reflected more in kind of
some of the more graduate schemes that we're
seeing. But it really does need to be reflected
at every level. And I know from experience and
speaking to other women in the industry, it can
be difficult when you're the only woman in a
call or in a meeting. It can be difficult to
come across as reputable. But I think it's a
lot of workplaces are respectful and it's great
at Salix. There are a lot of opportunities. It's
probably not something I think about every day,
but sometimes it does get drawn out in certain
situations. But I can see in the graduate schemes
that I think there is a little bit of shift in
getting more women in engineering. And do you
think that goes all the way back to school? Because
we go into a lot of schools, don't we, and we
talk to a range of children. And this is really
obviously ignited. everyone's interest, you know,
especially young children and especially children
in the way they talk about climate change and
saving the planet. Where does that come from
for you originally? Yeah, I think in school I
was not brought into STEM subjects. It was not
something that was exciting or kind of, you know,
one of the first things that was brought to me
as an opportunity. I do think that's why it is
so great to see these school children being so
excited about the solar PV on the roof and actually
seeing the technologies being installed, how
an air source heat pump can transfer heat. into
the radiators, just actually seeing it and talking
about it, because I would never have spoken about
how the boiler works at my school. So it's really,
it's actually just putting it into practice.
And I think it can really, when you link it to
the net zero agenda and what we're doing for
the planet and what we can achieve, I think it
really excites all children about, you know,
their prospects for the future. So when you mentioned
the site visits a few moments ago, it is a chance
to meet those children and see how they are interpreting
that. whole dialogue around net zero and looking
at their ground source heat pumps and being very
much part of that and teachers integrating all
of the science and all of the technology into
their curriculum that can only be a good thing
for everyone yeah i think schools are really
incentivized to do that as well um any schools
that apply always talk about how they're gonna
plan it into their curriculum and the parents
although they're not happy about the car parks
being closed for the you know electrical upgrades
and things like that it's the bigger picture
and I think everyone is really really excited
and kind of on board it's you need that buy -in
to deliver these projects. OK, so going back
to your day to day work, you're assessing a lot
of projects and something that I've worked with
you very closely on, Becca, is our webinars.
We do a number of webinars. We do webinars when
we launch schemes. We do webinars. The decarbonisation
dialogue is a webinar to bring in speakers to
talk about their own experiences of these kind
of projects. Now, in webinars, I hear a lot of
talk and a lot of questions in spite of all the
information that we put on our website. And I
think it's good that we still hear quite basic
questions about whole building approach, what
end of life is, carbon cost criteria. And you
talk about those in your webinars. You're often
referring to guidance notes from whichever scheme
it might be. But when you're talking about whole
building approach. And end of life, particularly,
that's something that comes up again and again.
How exact can you be? Sometimes I hear a little
bit of a struggle in the answers that we provide
at some of those webinars for people. Yeah, I
think it can be difficult for people to understand
because it's obviously it's a policy. It's for
our scheme in particular, the public sector decarbonisation
scheme. And in people's everyday lives, you don't
often come across, you know, there's a lot of
jargon, different terms of use are used. Obviously,
one of the key criteria for the public sector
decarbonisation scheme is to retire those end
of life fossil fuel heating plants, you know,
the dirtiest oil boilers and the oldest gas boilers
and that infrastructure and really just retrofit
those buildings. So to be eligible for the scheme.
Though that fossil fuel heating equipment needs
to be considered to be at the end of its useful
life and therefore it makes good, you know, value
for money sense to replace it with a low carbon
alternative. You know, it's not as effective
to replace a one -year -old gas boiler that's
working quite efficiently with a new low carbon,
you know, heat pump. There's not as much sense
there economically. End of life heating requirement,
a fossil fuel heating plant needs to be at least
10 years old to be eligible for the scheme. Again,
in terms of the scheme making sense, the applicants
are encouraged to take a whole building approach.
So really not just think we're going to take
out a heating plant and replace it with a heat
pump. Really thinking about how you can make
that building as thermally efficient as it can
be. So putting in double glazing where there
is only single glazing. Thinking about... um
any roof insulation or solar pv that you can
ensure that you're reducing your heat demand
and getting that as low as it can be putting
in a suitable sized low carbon heating system
so heat pumps heat networks electric boilers
and we fund a variety of low carbon heating technologies
and then any energy storage solar pv making that
running cost kind of as low as possible so that
you're kind of making it work for you rather
than just you know doing a like for like heat
pump in for a boiler it doesn't it doesn't make
sense it's not best practice so we really do
encourage that in all applications and of course
we're talking about large public sector projects
but also at Salix we work And I appreciate you
don't work in the housing area, but for a lot
of people now at this point, they'll be considering
whether they install an air source heat pump
at the back of the house and looking at planning
regulations and all of that. Because the built
environment is responsible for 40 % of the UK's
carbon emissions. Now, I appreciate that we are.
A small part of the big picture, but it's a significant
part of the big picture. And the work that you're
doing is a significant part of all of that. Big
question. So are we going fast enough? I think
we're definitely on the right trajectory. As
you mentioned, kind of we're a small slice of
it, but I think the public sector are responsible
for 2 % of total UK. territorial emissions and
we've got a target to reduce emissions in public
sector buildings 75 % by 2037. So it is a big
task and you know just working in my job I can
see there's hundreds and thousands of buildings
that need this type of funding to decarbonise.
Funding obviously is available and it's a huge
catalyst for achieving net zero but the scale
of change needed is huge and the demand obviously
kind of outweighs that at the minute unfortunately
so it's getting those kind of leveraging those
funding mechanisms is really important for public
sector organizations um but kind of the output
could be tens and hundreds of thousands of carbon
saved each year um yeah so i'd say we're going
in the right in the right direction but maybe
not quick enough i think a big step is decarbonizing
decarbonising the power supply as well. I think
an interesting fact recently is that Britain's
last coal -fired power station has been decommissioned.
So I think we need more pressure. We need...
political incentives we need financial buy -in
but we are seeing those kind of big steps on
our way to reaching net zero that are really
encouraging and you know encourages people you
know to carry on those good those good projects
and technologies are changing all the time aren't
they in developing and there's a lot of pressure
and a lot of uh focus isn't there on the actual
technologies that we're we're looking at um that
perhaps aren't available yet but they're there
for the future Yeah, so I think some people are
still a bit cautious about putting heat pumps
in. So there's still a lot of work going into
improving the efficiency of heat pumps and how
they work. You can, you know, they're standalone,
cascading, high temperature heat pumps, whatever
works for your building. But that is still an
area for development as we move away from those
fossil fuel heating systems. The connections
to district heat networks, obviously kind of
a big move with the zoning regulations coming
up. We're expecting a lot more kind of urban
areas to be connecting to those district heat
networks, which are often the lowest carbon,
lowest cost kind of form of heat available, but
also geothermal. hydro. There's a lot in this
space. I think we're quite open at Salix to explore
new technologies. We just need to understand
that those carbon savings can be achieved and
that there is real evidence for that. Because
I've seen the email box to your team, to yourself.
It is vast, isn't it? People are asking those
questions about technologies. People are really
hungry for it, aren't they? And ambitious for
the projects that they want to deliver. So that's
absolutely fascinating. But in terms of your
work at Salix and within the public sector, because
you specifically work on the big projects, can
I ask, I mean, we've got a great flavour of it,
but what most inspires you when you come into
work every day about your work? And then I'm
going to ask the subsequent question is, what
can all of us do to be better at this? I think
what motivates me is working closely with these
public sector bodies. Often if you've got kind
of an in -house energy team, there is so much
passion to get these projects over the line.
Some projects are headed up by headteachers and
by people where it's not actually their day job.
It's something they're putting in extra to access
this funding and be able to deliver these projects.
So it's the passion, receiving emails of excitement
about these funding opportunities going through.
I think the innovation as well, as we just touched
on, kind of the new technologies. I think everyone's
still learning about how these technologies work.
You're kind of learning on the job about how
we can improve things, make things better, and
kind of seeing the impact of how much carbon
is actually being saved. We deal with a lot of
data at Salix, and you're really kind of seeing
projects being delivered. Our previous phases
of funding, you're seeing projects being delivered
and annual carbon reports coming in showing how
much carbon is being saved whilst you're in the
midst of allocating funding for the next phase.
So you're seeing every kind of milestone of it.
And it's just quite an interesting kind of intersection
to be. And then also we kind of mentioned on
the societal impact. So getting kids more excited
about science and engineering. And, you know,
hearing about how the new glazing in a hospital
is making patients, vulnerable patients, more
comfortable. It's not only just saving carbon,
it's actually having a real impact on these buildings
that a lot of us use in our local communities.
So I think that really keeps me motivated. And
you're learning all the time. Obviously, it's
a huge learning curve all of the time from all
of these people and projects. Exactly. And everything's
moving at such a fast pace. There's always something
new. to be learning so yeah and you you sound
like you're an optimistic person and do you feel
optimistic generally about the picture that we're
facing in terms of climate change and our huge
challenges to reach um the targets that we have
i think in in day -to -day work it's easy to
forget and just think about what this project
is achieving what our fans need to achieve and
you can kind of lose sight of the big picture
but i think I kind of speak to, you need to be
optimistic. You need to be realistic and you
need to be optimistic. You kind of need to avoid,
I think a lot of young people are feeling kind
of climate anxiety at the moment and you only
have to kind of turn the news on to see kind
of the extreme weather that we're facing across
the world. And you can kind of catch yourself
in moments of, are we really going to achieve
this? What is our future going to look like?
But, you know, we work at the forefront of delivering
these kind of low carbon technology projects,
removing carbon and direct carbon from the atmosphere
every day. You can kind of see that impact and
we are moving in the right direction. We just
need to carry on the pressure, carry on the education,
not just for, you know, the younger generation,
but everyone. We need more skilled, you know,
craftsmen and people working, you know, putting
these boilers in, trades people so that people
feel comfortable putting an aerosol seat pump
in their house. And that kind of political incentive
covered in the media, we just need to carry on
with that pressure. And I think our team at Salix
are definitely feeling optimistic about what
we can achieve if we get all those ingredients
right. Superb. Thank you very much, because it
is a very inspiring team over there. And I do
recommend that people come along to our webinars,
whether it is scheme launch webinars or decarbonisation
dialogue webinars, because there is so much learning
and so much sharing. So thank you very much to
Becca Waite today for your time. Thank you for
providing such incredible insight and sharing
your knowledge and your skills. There can be
no doubt that climate change is the biggest challenge
of our time. Today, we must reduce carbon emissions
to slow global warming. Today, we must act for
tomorrow, adjusting our lifestyles to current
and future impacts of climate change. Today,
we must use our collective wisdom to deliver
on our climate commitments. Today, we work for
tomorrow's world. Thank you to Becca. Thank you
for your time. Don't forget to subscribe to our
podcast and send in any views or ideas to our
email address, which is podcast at salixfinance
.co .uk. Thank you. You've been listening to
the Decarbonisation Dialogue, a podcast from
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