Our Buildings (Focus Area 3)
The carbon emissions of the Council’s buildings are related to the energy used on site for heating, hot water and electricity. Most of the Council’s heating and hot water is produced through the burning of gas in boilers. This burning of a fossil fuel, like what happens in most buildings in the UK releases emissions. To reduce emissions and achieve net-zero it is important that collectively we minimise the use of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas, instead generating heat and hot water through less polluting means such as using electrical heating systems. Electrical systems such as heat pumps, electric boilers or storage heaters can be powered by renewable energy, enabling buildings to be net-zero in operation. As well as changing hoe we generate heat it is important that buildings keep heat in efficiently. By retrofitting buildings with insulation, energy saving technology, effective windows and doors ensures that less heating is needed overall. By making our buildings as efficient as possible we can ensure less energy is required to operate buildings, leading to lower energy bills and lower carbon emissions.
What the Council needs to do
- Rationalise our entire building estate
- Reduce our reliance on fossil fuels
- Reduce water usage
- Increase building efficiency and thermal insulation
- Continue hybrid working
- Work with our commercial tenants to make their operations more energy efficient
- Ensure our leisure facilities operate efficiently
What we are doing
Hybrid working
Hybrid working was adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic. Enabling some staff to work from home, when possible, reduces emissions from staff travel having a suspected overall reduction of emissions caused by Council activity.
Need met - Continue hybrid working
Assessing grid connections
The Council has begun investigating how our buildings will be transitioned to net-zero. Surveys have been conducted looking into the electrical connections to our buildings. As we transition away from fossil fuels towards net-zero emissions more equipment will become electrified, so it is important to understand how future electrification will work with our local grid. This work will highlight any additional work needed and will inform all our future plans with regards to net-zero heat, power generation, battery storage and electric vehicle chargers. We anticipate this initial assessment will be completed by Summer 2024.
Need met - Reduce our reliance on fossil fuels
Collecting our data
In order to reduce the emissions of our buildings we must first understand the levels of emissions each building is responsible for, and where these emissions are coming from. Work is underway with multiple officers to gather data relating to the make and model of heating systems, energy usage, low energy lighting and many other elements. This work shall enable the Council to develop effective decarbonisation plans.
Need met - Increase building efficiency and thermal insulation
Improving emissions data
To monitor our emissions, and our progress towards net-zero it is important to have a accurate data to understand the exact amount of emissions we release each day, week, month and year. The process of measuring emissions baseline can be a long process of pulling together all of the data from across all of our services. To make this process faster and easier we are looking to install smart meters across all our key buildings. This will allow us to dramatically improve our reporting and could provide us with half-hourly data of electricity and gas usage. This level of data will enable us to identify quick wins and monitor if projects are having the expected impact of reducing our emissions.
Need met - Reduce our reliance on fossil fuels
Maintaining efficient equipment
The council has many buildings with a range of equipment such as boilers, heat exchangers, water heaters, pumps and more. As we move towards net-zero we will need to ensure equipment is replaced with fossil fuel free technology. In order to minimise operational emissions, the council has appointed maintenance engineers to ensure all of our equipment is running in the most efficient way possible. Efficient equipment uses less energy to produce the desired outcome, and by keeping our equipment running we can secure a small reduction in building emissions.
Need met - Reduce our reliance on fossil fuels