Council declares itself a green zone (From The Northern Echo)

Council declares itself a green zone

2:08pm Wednesday 4th June 2008 in

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Rod Lugg, head of environment and planning services, looks at how Durham County Council is responding to climate change.

DURHAM County Council has made a public declaration - Making a Corporate Commitment (MACC) II) - to reduce CO2 emissions from buildings by ten per cent between 2002-3 and 2007-8, which we have achieved.

A climate change portfolio holder is represented on the council's cabinet and progress on climate change is tracked by the council's overview and scrutiny committee.

We also boast two teams dedicated to meeting this corporate priority - the sustainability and energy management units, comprising ten staff.

We have a sustainable energy action plan for our buildings, which has 12 objectives and 45 targets aimed at reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

In 2007/08, £200,000 of the council's capital budget was dedicated to investment in energy-efficiency measures for buildings.

We have phased out solid fuel in our buildings and seven school sites use wood pellet fuel for heating.

The costs for installing biomass boilers range from £50,000-£100,000, depending on school size and fitting out, which is met from the council's schools maintenance budget.

We have converted half of the properties using oil to gas, but the majority of the remaining 25 sites using oil are in areas without mains gas. We have installed combined heat and power technology for the County Hall site and will celebrate the dividends in the long-term.

We are preparing a draft carbon management action plan, which lists 15 proposals for implementation at corporate level across all services including buildings, waste, transport and street lighting and includes the appointment of a carbon reduction officer, who will monitor corporate performance and drive forward projects such as a pool car scheme for staff.

The county council has been a lead partner of the European municipal buildings climate campaign and, since 2004 all of our buildings have displayed energy certificates giving individual performance of carbon dioxide emissions as well as energy and water consumption.

Details of individual buildings' performance are on our web site and our corporate target is to have no building in the G category by March 2010.

We have been acknowledged internationally for this work which has been carried out in advance of a statutory requirement to do so from October this year.

We have carried out a number of demonstration projects of renewable energy (wind, biomass, CHP, PV) to give design teams confidence in using emerging technologies.

Two of our schools have wind and solar thermal power installed, one of which, Cassop Primary School, was recognised last month as the national winner of the prestigious sustainable schools award.

In an effort to reduce congestion in Durham city centre we have introduced a successful park and ride scheme which has helped to improve air quality and reduce the number of vehicle trips into the city centre.

New buildings are being designed to high national standards that put a big emphasis on low carbon buildings.

The introduction of low carbon technologies in the schools building programme is being promoted through the building schools for the future (BSF) initiative and has included the production of an energy feasibility study.

The BSF programme is still at the early design phase, although the first site, Durham Johnston School, Durham city, is now in the construction phase and includes a suite of carbon-saving measures such as a biomass boiler, solar thermal heating and high-efficiency materials. We have also been purchasing green' electricity where it has been cost-effective to do so.

The county council is also committed to partnership working to tackle climate change through its sustainability and environment partnership, which brings together specialists, researchers and practitioners who are dedicated to tackling climate change.

Through this approach we are supporting community- based initiatives to achieve sustainable methods for reducing carbon with various stakeholders, including the Energy Saving Trust. For example, the council has recently been a partner in a county-wide warm zone (Go Warm) with an RDA funded delivery partner, community energy solutions.

A county-wide climate change action plan has been agreed and private sector engagement and outside finance is recognised as a vital component in taking its proposals forward effectively.

A dedicated climate change co-ordinator will be appointed in the near future to work with partners in increasing the profile of climate change agenda and helping to steer the county's new sustainable communities strategy.

We continue to promote sustainable transport activities, ranging from working with schools and work-places to prepare travel plans to investing in the award-winning park and ride scheme in Durham City and improved rights of way for both walking and cycling.

Last year we held a successful cycling promotion day, the big cycle ride', to encourage everyone to get on their bikes!

For further information contact Steve Bhowmick, Environment Service, Durham County Council, County Hall, Durham DH1 5UQ. Tel: 0191 383 3000.