How the Council is working towards decarbonising its energy supply

The delegates at COP26, the UN climate change conference, are focusing their discussions on energy on the fifth day of the conference which is taking place in Glasgow between 31 October and 12 November.

Following Cheshire West and Chester Council declaring a Climate Emergency in May 2019 and the development of the Climate Emergency Response Plan, the Council’s Climate Emergency Taskforce was keen that the Council should show leadership on this agenda by reducing the organisation’s own emissions.

As part of the Council’s work to become carbon neutral by 2030, the Council has already switched their electricity tariff to one that is 100 per cent traceable and zero carbon* to ensure any payments to its energy supplier are funding renewable energy sources only.

To help reduce the organisation’s carbon emissions even more, the Council has taken forward plans to install a range of energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation measures on a number of Council buildings.

These works are possible thanks to £5.8 million of funding, secured through the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which was secured with the help of colleagues at Qwest Services, a joint venture company between Cheshire West and Chester Council and Engie.

The energy efficiency works will take place across 14 buildings, which will benefit from the installation of a range of measures such as Air Source Heat Pumps, Hybrid Heating Systems, Solar PV (Photovoltaic), also known as a solar electric system, and light-emitting diode (LED) lighting.

PV panels on the Northgate Arena

PV panels at Neston Recreation Centre

Using renewable energy to run our buildings will not only help to tackle the Climate Emergency by providing a carbon reduction of 933 tonnes CO₂ but will also reduce the Council’s annual energy bills by over £50,000.

The Council’s Climate Emergency Response Plan sets out what we can all do to play our part to tackle the Climate Emergency in west Cheshire, so that we can all live in a cleaner, greener and more prosperous area whilst playing our part to tackle this global issue

Below is a full list of the Council buildings that will benefit from the energy efficiency measures.

Ellesmere Port Sports Village

Christleton Leisure Centre

Northgate Arena

Northwich Memorial Court

Neston Recreation Centre

Winsford Lifestyle Centre

Dee Bank School, Chester

Ellesmere Port Catholic High School

Green Bank School, Northwich

Helsby High School

Chester Crematorium

Grosvenor Museum

Northern Lights, office building in Ellesmere Port

Wyvern House, office building in Winsford

Share your stories on the actions you are taking to address the Climate Emergency on the Council’s Inspire site.

*Traceable means that the source of energy purchased can be tracked and zero carbon means using a form of energy that does not produce carbon dioxide emissions in its generation.