GreenSCIES—short for Green Smart Community Integrated Energy Systems—began as a project to design a low-carbon energy system for Islington, north London. Founded in 2019, it brought together 16 partners from academia, local government, business and the community, with London South Bank University and the London Borough of Islington among the organisations leading the work.56
The Islington design centres on a fifth-generation heat network: a shared, low-temperature loop that can move heat between buildings and connect to local energy sources. The proposed system combines heat pumps, solar power and electric-vehicle charging, with the aim of reducing emissions from heating, power and mobility while addressing fuel poverty and air pollution.1112 GreenSCIES developed a detailed design for roughly a third of the borough and secured investment and a site for the New River scheme. Innovate UK Business Connect reports that the project also completed seven investable case studies for other locations and established a Centre of Excellence to support skills development and replication.12
The New River scheme was described as having the potential to save about 5,700 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year and supply 6 GWh of energy annually; the cited project update presented construction as a next step, not a completed result.12 Beyond Islington, GreenSCIES now presents work in Barnsley, where it proposes using heat from abandoned mines, and Barking Riverside, where recoverable heat from water-treatment works could serve up to 13,000 homes.47 The alliance’s stated scope is to help organisations plan decarbonisation across heat, power and mobility, and to share its experience through the Centre of Excellence.6