Council staff vow to cut carbon and save cash
Staff at Blaby District Council have taken on the challenge of cutting their energy use by 10 per cent over the next six months.
The project, called Time 4 Change, is aimed at getting council officers to constantly review their own energy usage to bring about a long term shift in behaviour which could save the authority more than £12,000 a year and drastically reduce its carbon footprint.
An energy efficiency team made up of staff from several departments will monitor electricity use across all the Council’s buildings and work with individuals to meet the 10 per cent target by February 2011.
Councillor Guy Jackson, portfolio holder for the natural environment said:
We have set ourselves an ambitious target but if we all work together I’m confident it can be achieved. Cutting energy use is more important than ever because, like everyone else in the public sector, we have a big budget gap to fill over the next few years and small changes in behaviour, like making sure appliances are turned off, can make a big difference.
The Council have already installed a combined heat and power system at Enderby Leisure Centre which will recycle the heat produced when generating electricity to maintain the temperature of the swimming pool.
The carbon trust has estimated that this new system could save a massive 352 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year with a potential financial saving of £42,000 annually.
(Blaby are using the GAIA three steps approach to achive energy reductions)