Essex Local News - Local News From And For Essex

Essex Local News - Local News From And For Essex

12/01/13 Council Cuts The Carbon - Harlow

New figures reveal that in the past year, Harlow Council’s buildings have saved enough carbon – 164 tonnes – to power a car to drive the length of the Olympic torch route 44 times!

Four Council buildings- the Civic Centre; the Playhouse; Latton Bush Centre and the Leah Manning Centre - have been given improved energy efficiency scores for 2011*.

Harlow Council employed a raft of measures last year to cut the amount of energy it uses - saving £246,000 in the process. Its actions included:

• Fitting ‘smart heat’ insulation in boiler rooms.
• Installing "voltage optimisation" equipment where the main electricity supply enters the Civic Centre - this ensures that electricity consumption is driven by demand in the building. The same technology is being fitted at the Latton Bush Centre.
• Using ' smart' air handling units that serve warm or cool area depending on how many people are in a room.

The Carbon Trust has presented* Harlow Council with a certificate to mark its programme of carbon reductions. The Council is now working to include the carbon footprint from waste and water usage in its calculations, as well as electricity and heating, and has agreed a five year programme of energy savings targets with the Trust to achieved 25% reduction in carbon emissions by 2015/16.

Councillor Tony Hall, Portfolio Holder for Environment, said: “As a major employer in Harlow, it is important that we lead by example when it comes to reducing the town’s carbon footprint and we are doing just that.

“Our building managers and staff have worked really hard to ensure they are only use the energy they need and they all have programmes in place to ensure that this continues to improve in future.

“Being energy efficient is both good for the environment and helps save Council taxpayers’ money. We will continue to do what we can to reduce our carbon use as well as support local businesses and residents to do their bit too.”

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