MOST SUSTAINABLE PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANISATION – LOCAL AUTHORITY
Intranet webcast INNOVATION: Recognising the need for people to
‘do their bit’ but also quantify this, we commissioned Zap Carbon (the first council in the UK to do this) to run a competition to members and officers. Some 32 people (5%) signed up and partook of the competition which pitted staff in Council buildings against each other to save energy and carbon at home. Staff were encouraged to locate their energy meters (electricity and gas) at home. Take a reading and record it in the website and then do nothing for a week (baseline), then follow suggestions on the site to reduce their energy use, record meter readings and see immediate savings in graphical form. This project has now been replicated in several LA areas. We were the first council in the country
to pilot a Yahoo search engine on our website and intranet that delivers payments for every advertising link searched. Since inception in July 2009, it has netted the Council in excess of £3,000. Recognising from the start, legitimate concerns over carbon offsetting, we use the money in-house for our Green Spaces Teams to plant sustainable trees. In particular Black Poplar which is a rare indigenous UK tree that can grow well in the area and has the additional benefit of being amongst the best species for sequestering carbon. The scheme is overseen by internal audit and our residents whom we regularly ask to provide location for tree planting and to tell us wherever trees are not properly maintained or vandalised. We were the first District Council to
produce a Local Climate Impacts Profile (LCLIP) on adaptation to climate change
using a masters graduate from Cranfield University to conduct much of the archive study and interviews. This was commissioned in late 2007 and presented to Corporate Board in March 2008. We have assessed all our roofs for PV installations and are working on a feasibility study for the Country’s first PV field of 5MWp on a 7ha site in the district. This to secure our energy supply in an
uncertain world, save 2,000tpa of CO2 and set a standard for others to follow. The third and final member of my team operates a home service security scheme for over 60s and the disabled. This is a crime preventative scheme offering professional advice (trained carpenter with TV Police training in crime prevention) and as appropriate free security ironmongery and installation. On the back of this we have been working with TV Police for the past 5 years running a Hard Target service for all victims of dwelling burglary for which we offer a 48 hour contact. This has resulted in the three years it has been running in this format, only 6 repeat burglaries from over 700 installations. The Home Office stated in 2003 that the cost to the UK of a single burglary was £2,300. By tackling these issues pre crime and immediately (by police referral) after crime, we are able to address this for a fraction of the cost (typically c. £25 per house visited).
CARBON REDUCTION COMMITMENT Whilst falling outside of the CRC_EES in the first phase because our emissions are significantly below the 6GWh threshold for HH meters, we have for 2009/10 and this year signed up to the LGiU’s carbon trading programme as one
Variable speed drives for motors fitted at Swan Pool and Leisure Centre in Buckingham
of only two organizations that are out of the CRC but aware that it will likely affect us in the next phase. As such we are preparing ourselves and senior officers for the implications of this. We worked with the Carbon Trust in 2008 on our Carbon Management Plan (CMP) and set a target of 22% reduction by 2013 from a baseline 2007/08 of 7,753 tonnes. Current emissions (2009/10) are 6,863 tonnes. A reduction of 11.5%. We have done this by carrying officers and members with us. Keeping senior management on board and utilizing and linking up funding to deliver hard measures, leading from the front locally and following the examples of others nationally. The CMP was formally launched on 24 March 2009 along with our signing of the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change. Following Full Council agreement, we signed the 10:10 campaign at our Conference on 25 March 2010 with the aim of reducing our carbon emissions by up to 10% by 31 December 2010.
SUSTAINABLE FM AWARDS 2010 |21
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