Town hall pulls the plug on energy waste

Council wins national award from the Carbon Trust

Wandsworth Council has been awarded a prestigious national award for its efforts in reducing energy use.

The council has been recognised under the Energy Efficiency Accreditation Scheme for its work in cutting energy use and as a consequence cutting harmful greenhouse gases.

The scheme is administered by the Carbon Trust, which rewarded the council for maintaining and improving good practice on energy management, for keeping up to date with new energy saving initiatives and for also encouraging staff and the public to be more energy aware.

Energy usage in council owned buildings has been cut by five per cent since 2000 and is on course for a ten per cent fall by 2010. More than 55 per cent of the council’s electricity is now purchased from renewable sources.

Increased use of renewable energy has helped the authority to meet its initial target of a 20 per cent reduction in carbon emissions four years ahead of schedule. The latest figures for 2006 show that emissions are now more than 22 per cent below the 1990 level. The council will now aim to raise this figure to 25 per cent by 2010.

On housing estates the council has fitted 2,500 condensing boilers as part of heating system renewals at a cost of £8 million. Although more expensive to install these are reducing residents’ consumption - and their bills – by up to 25 per cent. Housing officers have also distributed more than 100.000 energy saving light bulbs which will save a total of 48,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over their lifetime.

Executive member for environment and leisure Cllr Malcolm Grimston said: “By cutting our energy use and looking to increase our use of renewables, we are aiming to play our part in reducing global carbon emissions. It is increasingly clear that the word has to make drastic cuts in emissions of the gases associated with climate change, of which carbon dioxide is the most important."

February 23, 2007