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HIGH PERFORMING NERGY AND MONEY?


the Council’s Policy Division and as a result have in partnership with the Energy Team, developed high level initiatives such as the Carbon Trust, Carbon Management Programme and Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Strategies for Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole all of which are steered by officers in partnership with the Dorset Energy Group .


Meeting and Exceeding Standards and Regulations • Building Regulations are continually monitored and improved on with most new buildings having insulation levels better than Building Regulations.


• BREEAM Assessments were implemented in 2004 to new buildings and the Energy Team have aimed at exceeding or at least reaching the ‘Very Good’ standard.


Funding sources • £360,000 from Salix Finance • £100,000 from Stretch Target and additional renewable energy grants.


Dorset’s Energy Team have also been successful in gaining grant funding for a three year Stretch Target on Renewable Energy in 2006 and now have a full-time Renewable Energy Technical Officer to advise internal and external clients.


WHAT IS NEXT? • Energy Management is on-going and Dorset’s mission is to remain at the top of the LessEn Schools Energy League Table in years to come. Planned projects include Changing the Property Team into a Sustainable Construction Team which will explore alternative building materials such as straw bale construction and biomass boilers to lessen the environmental impact of future buildings


• Introducing Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) for all sites with large electricity meters and developing a similar system for gas. AMR’s will allow real time energy monitoring and remove estimated bills which do not reflect the true energy use


• Investing in Photovoltaic (PV) to make use of the current Feed-In- Tariff income and aiming to secure European funding through an INTERREG funding grant


TREND


The biggest impact and also the simplest in saving energy has come from cavity wall insulation and as a result has significantly improved building heat loss. An Energy Engineer was appointed by


the Energy Team in 1990 and since then Dorset has implemented a TREND Building Energy Management System which allows school heating to be managed from a central point. Each school building has its own thermostat linked to a central controlling system that intelligently switches heating on and off to maintain room temperatures. 60% of Dorset’s emissions are derived from schools and 10 years ago TEAM Energy Accounting Software was installed to link the procurement system with electronic monitoring of gas and electricity. Energy data captured by TEAM over the last 10 years has allowed Dorset to target energy reduction initiatives and closely monitor use in comparison to annual and seasonal patterns. Alexandra Notay at LessEn comments:


“Our aim with the League Table is not to criticise the weaker performers, but to point clearly towards solutions and advice that can help to tackle these challenges. We’ve heard repeatedly from our partners that the two biggest challenges in achieving energy efficiency are making sense of the complex data and securing ‘buy-in’ from individuals and communities. Lessen is a public forum that provides public, usable data and free, tried and tested advice to help us all do better.” As part of its global commitment to exchanging free energy efficiency advice and solutions, LessEn is complementing the League Table launch with “Top Ten Tips for Schools”, tried and tested advice to help schools and local authorities to reduce their energy and carbon footprint. These tips were developed in consultation with Arup, the global firm of consulting engineers, and a partner in LessEn. These are backed by energy efficiency case studies from the education sector. Notay continued: “Our expert partners


PUBLIC SECTOR SUSTAINABILITY • VOLUME 1 ISSUE 3 35


keep reminding us that ‘Buildings don’t use energy – people do’ and whilst budgets are tight there is still so much we can do to improve our energy performance at home, at school and at work. We just have to take responsibility for it. We all know that technology can make an incredible difference but few people realise that the biggest reductions can often be achieved by tackling simple things, like turning off lights, heating and computers when they’re not in use. We hope to engage the public sector at large in taking on the energy efficiency challenge we all face.” The League Table is available on the


LessEn website www.less-en.org alongside a wealth of additional content. The Knowledge Bank features case studies of energy-efficient buildings and policy papers, and the Blog has video interviews aimed primarily towards the professional audience of building managers, property owners and investors. The website also includes advice and guidance aimed at a broader lay audience, including hints and tips on how to achieve quick wins in energy efficiency, particularly through simple changes in how people use their workplace.


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