West Lothian Council delivers

Energy Conservation

 The council’s policy for energy and water management is:

• to pursue efficiency in the design, maintenance and management of council owned buildings;
• to raise awareness and promote good practice amongst all staff and users; and
• to promote the benefits of energy and water efficiency. 

The council aims to reduce use and costs, and, for energy, the environmental impact of harmful emissions and the depletion of fossil fuels.

Efficiency is achieved by setting consumption targets for all properties, based on historic data.  Performance is monitored corporately and reported monthly.  The focus is increasingly on consumption targets, not just cost.  The council’s Property Management & Development team (PM&D) facilitates this objective by promoting good housekeeping measures; regular behavioural audits; and energy conservation projects.  We also ensure that renewable energy efficiency is at the core of the provision of new property.  We proactively pursue opportunities for energy generation, to access financial benefits from government initiatives such as the Renewable Heat Incentive and Feed-In-Tariffs.

The reduction in consumption in existing properties is paralleled by objectives to reduce the council’s carbon footprint.  PM&D promotes and delivers carbon reduction projects across the council’s portfolio.

Specific activities include:

CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme

As a participant of this scheme, West Lothian Council is required to purchase Carbon allowances for every tonne of carbon dioxide produced in the energy consumed by its buildings. Minimising consumption and carbon content reduces the amount the council has to pay on an annual basis.

Energy Awareness

Since the implementation of the council's Energy and Water Strategy in 2005-06 and Carbon Management Plan in 2009-10, the provision of energy training, poster campaigns, awareness raising through “green” groups at a number of properties have saved over £1 million in energy costs and over 5,500 tonnes of CO2 of emissions to date. In addition, some community groups, such as Energy Savings Schools, have also been involved in promoting energy efficiency at some of our site. The council currently spends over £6 million each year on energy and £1 million on water charges. Our total annual energy consumption is over 130 million kWh.

Utilising the Central Energy Efficiency Fund (CEEF) the installation of swimming pool covers, voltage optimisation, loft insulation, low energy lighting and occupancy sensors, and upgrades to heating systems and controls and water saving devices, have reduced energy consumption by over 2.6 million kWh and saved over £200,000.   In addition, new technology such as ground and air source heat pumps have been installed at some new sites as well as using solar thermal energy to produce hot water.

Future Plans

West Lothian Council aims to minimise the carbon footprint of its operations by reducing energy consumption and switching to low carbon fuels. This will be achieved through a number of different energy efficiency projects, such as installing biomass boilers at appropriate sites, heating system improvements, low energy lighting, voltage optimisation and increased insulation in a number of our sites, including schools.

Updated 5/1/2012