Ambitious plans to cut Norfolk County Council's carbon emissions by 25% will slice over £3m a year from energy bills, according to reports that will be considered by Cabinet on Monday April 14.
Two reports on the challenges of climate change will be considered by Cabinet. One details the council's response to the recommendations of a Cabinet Scrutiny report, and the second presents the authority's plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2013*.
Currently, around 71% of the council's 85,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year come from buildings, mostly schools (73%), followed by business travel and transport (15%) and streetlighting (11%).
All authorities are now required to show how they are reducing carbon emissions. In Norfolk County Council this effort will be spearheaded and co-ordinated through a new Climate Change Programme.
As well as introducing new initiatives, the programme will develop existing good practice, such as the Energy Busters initiative that has cut energy consumption in 42 primary schools by an average 19%, with some achieving 30%.
Key elements of the recommended programme to reduce the council's emissions include:
~ Investment of £6.5m over five years to improve the energy efficiency of buildings.
~ An extension to all Norfolk schools of the highly successful Energy Busters (primary) and Energy Futures (secondary) initiatives, including free energy audits.
~ A new £250k annual incentives fund to enable schools to invest in energy efficiency measures.
~ An internal communications campaign to establish an energy-saving culture among all County Council staff.
~ Streetlighting improvements through the new Private Finance Initiative contract**.
~ Travel planning and business mileage initiatives.
By 2013 annual savings even at current energy prices are expected to top £3m, but depend upon the investment of £7.5m over the next five years, most going towards improving the energy efficiency of buildings. Carbon emissions would be reduced by over 25,000 tonnes a year, or 29% lower than this year's baseline.
Ian Monson, Cabinet Member for Environment and Waste, said:
"Norfolk is particularly vulnerable to some of the consequences of climate change, such as flooding and sea level rises, so we have every incentive to play our part.
"The County Council has an important leadership role, and that means putting our own house in order as well as encouraging others. There is some very impressive work going on already, but we need to extend that across the whole authority, and to engage every member of staff in reducing energy use.
"Hitting our 25% reduction target will be good for the environment, but it will also be good for Council Tax payers and services by saving more than £3m a year. Every single householder can play a part - and cut the cost of their energy bills - by reducing energy use at home"
