Energy Management

at Stafford Borough Council

Saving energy not only helps homeowners, businesses and organisations save money but helps protect our environment. Much of our energy consumption is unsustainable, wasteful and polluting. Stafford Borough Council is implementing practical measures to reduce energy consumption and also switch to more sustainable means of production. Here are just some of the measures we are implementing:

Achievements:

We have signed up to the Staffordshire Declaration!
We have a Councillor who is our 'Energy Champion' and we have an Energy Management Group led by a Head of Service.
We have produced an Energy Policy which we review on a regular basis.
We currently purchase more than 10% renewable energy.
We have fitted p.i.r. (passive infra red) operated Light Switches in common areas such as the main staircase (which used to be lit 24 hours a day 365 days a year), all toilets, filing rooms etc in the Civic Centre.
We have draft proofed the Civic Centre.
We have installed a water saving device in every WC cistern. It displaces water so, instead of 7.5 litres of water being used every flush, we now only use 6 litres.
Following a successful water saving trial in the male staff toilets. We have made changes in all the men's toilets to conserve water and this will save in the region of a further 1440 litres per day. This was made possible by the introduction to a biodegradable system which only requires water to flush the urinals once every 6 hours instead of the previous once every 20 minutes.
We have fitted V.V.V.S. (Variable Voltage Variable Speed) motors to the passenger lifts at the Civic Centre.
L.e.d. (light emitting diode) lighting has been installed in the Civic Suite foyer and has reduced the demand at each light fitting from 50 Watts to 4 watts.
STARK "Essentials" database is being maintained for energy monitoring and used to provide premises managers with profile reports which they can use to pinpoint energy savings opportunities.
On major sites, we can now log on to the STARK website and see how much energy was being used as recent 24 hours previously.
Work has been completed on the upgrade to the control of the Civic Centre heating system. Where there was a single reference thermostat on each floor we now have multiple thermostats. This will enable the system to be controlled on an average temperature reading of the whole floor as opposed to the single reference point which dictated the results for the reminder of the landing. It is expected to make the premises less prone to extremes of heating and save energy.
The New Leisure Centre's electricity supply is generated by GQCHP (Good Quality Combined Heat & Power) this enables us to meet green energy targets and allows us exemption from the Climate Charge Levy.
A new lighting project soon to be carried out to upgrade the office lighting in the Civic Centre will save even more energy.
A lighting survey has been carried out at the Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, and new lighting units with better controls will provide good energy savings along with much easier lighting management.
A similar survey at the Ancient High House has also provided opportunities for energy savings to be made here too.
We promote energy efficiency measures by; bulletins sent out in internal communications, volunteer staff are acting as Energy Savings Champions in several sections of the Council. We place notices on lights to switch off etc, and we contribute to The Energy Savings Trust's, Energy Savings Week each October.
We met almost every one of the objectives set us in the The Carbon Trust funded 'Assessment of Energy Saving Opportunities' carried out in May 2005. A new report carried out earlier this year has provided a further set of objectives for us to aim for.
Energy Targets were set out in the Sustainable Development Action Plan.

Current work in progress at Stafford Borough Council:

The Council has adopted a three pronged approach to its energy management:
- Energy Awareness (Staff, Members, Visitors, with wider promotion to public) Soon to include Display Energy Certification
- Technical Improvements; making full use of available technology for example l.e.d. lighting is ongoing and installed where appropriate.
- Energy Procurement, working in partnership with the Office of Government Commerce buying solutions.
The new Leisure Centre is to be provided with electricity from good quality CHP sources (Combined Heat & Power).
We are to install high efficiency lighting in St John's Market and this is being linked to improved switching which will allow lighting to be on where it's needed instead of all the lights being on, all the time.
We are also installing smart lighting and controls in the lift lobbies of the Civic Centre. These will react to the amount of available light from windows, and will automatically adjust the lighting brightness as outside light levels change.
We continue to use the latest support materials from The Energy Savings Trust and The Carbon Trust to assist our energy management. We will use these as the basic tools of a rolling internal campaign.
We have investigated 'invest to save' opportunities, with particular reference to ground or air source heat pumps, wind generation, solar or photovoltaic panels. A report from the Marches Energy Agency and supported by quotes from Government approved installers has revealed the cost and payback period of such technology at the Civic Centre was not viable at this time. We shall continue to monitor the situation and re-visit regularly to make sure we are keeping up to date with progress.
We continue to purchase a minimum of 10% green electricity with a view to increasing this when the next contract is due to be negotiated in 2009.
Our Economic Development and Community Safety Team have collated calculated their carbon footprint and are looking at ways to reduce it.
Recent data on paper consumption and costs show improvements, and water consumption has fallen markedly due to efficiency measures.
5 new Energy Champions have been recruited this Spring to support and encourage colleagues to be 'energy aware'

Current work in progress with partners:

We signed up to Staffordshire County Council's Staffordshire Declaration in December 2006 - which means that by December 2008 we intend to have produced a climate change action plan with partners to tackle climate change - and to prepare ourselves for the effects of climate change.
We are working with a range of partners to promote energy efficiency and climate change issues, especially 'Sustainability Matters', with whom we organised a major Conference on Sustainable Construction called 'Brick by Brick' in April 2006. Building on this external funding from Awards for All has enabled the setting up of a new project called 'Stafford Save Your Energy', which is working with communities to encourage energy efficiency, reduce their contribution to climate change and help them reduce their impact on the planet. This project was officially launched on May 28^th 2008 with guest speakers Penney Poyzer from TV's 'No Waste Like Home' programme and Naresh Giangrande from the Transition Towns movement. The really useful website is definitely worth a look!!! http://www.staffordarea.saveyourenergy.org.uk/
The Council also works on other initiatives such as 'Warm Up Stafford Communities' and on combating fuel poverty.
As a local authority we are partners in the Staffordshire Local Area Agreement (LAA). Local authorities across the County and other partners are supporting a project called the Climate Change Portal - a web-based 'one stop shop', which will encourage and help every sector to reduce their climate change impact. The LAA also sets down performance indicators which we will have to report on, including: Per capita CO₂ emissions in the LA area and Adapting to climate change - we will have to work hard with partners to show progress in this area!
The portal - called 'Our County, Our Climate, Our Challenge' - or OC3 is now open!!! Please visit http://www.staffsoc3.org.uk
There are also numerous other ongoing projects which link to energy efficiency or climate change such as Eco-Schools, the Green Awards, Green Transport initiatives - a variety of cycling activities and the Walking for Health programme, support and promotion of the local food sector - to name but a few!