Woking

Sector: Municipal Government

Carbon Footprint:
> 862,421 metric tonnes CO₂e (2005)

TARGETS

> 60% reduction in community CO₂e emissions on 1990 levels by 2050 and 90% by 2080
> To purchase 100% of the Council’s electrical and thermal energy requirements from sustainable sources by 2010/11
> To expand the number of CHP/renewable energy stations

Achievements

> 72% reduction in corporate CO₂e emissions between 1991 and 2005
> 19% reduction in community CO₂e emissions between 1990 and 2005
> 51% reduction in energy consumption from city owned buildings between 1991 and 2005
> 30% increase in energy efficiency of council housing stock between 1996 and 2005

Benefits

> £5.4 million saved in municipal energy and water bills since 1990
> Opportunities to develop projects with private developers and local authorities outside the borough and abroad
> Affordable energy services for residents resulting in reduced fuel poverty

Low Carbon Solutions

Background

Woking Borough Council, in the UK, is a well established leader on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. By 2004 the authority had reduced emissions of CO₂ from within its own estate by 77.4% (142,013 tonnes) on 1990 levels. Woking has led the way in implementing projects using a range of low and zero carbon technologies, including solar photovoltaics, combined heat and power and fuel cells. In 2002 Woking became the first UK authority to adopt a comprehensive Climate Change Strategy on a scale that is likely to meet the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution targets of 60% reductions of CO₂ equivalent emissions by 2050 and 80% by 2100. The strategy is one of the most comprehensive yet to be developed in the UK and covers the whole spectrum of the Borough’s energy uses including power, heat, water, waste disposal planning and transport.

Energy Efficiency

Woking was able to move ahead with its first project, an energy-efficient lighting system for municipal buildings in 1991. This scheme generated energy savings of 60-70%. This was followed by other projects, including a CHP/heat fired absorption chiller system and a Building Energy Management System. According to Allan Jones, Energy Services Manager for Woking Borough Council, “the council was overspending its budget in 1990-91, but our energy projects resulted in £164,000 of savings in the first year. This initial achievement set the foundation for continuing cross party support from councilors for the Energy Efficiency Policy”.

Money made from the recycling fund (see Project Finance) enabled Woking to undertake pioneering work on the supply of green electricity using small scale Combined Heat and Power (CHP).

In 1999 the council started an Energy and Environmental Service company, Thameswey Limited (TW), to take this forward. TW went on to set up its own unregulated public/ private joint venture Energy Services Company called Thameswey Energy Ltd (TEL) bringing the local authority together with the Danish energy services company ESCO International A/S. This joint venture allows TEL to escape the capital controls that would be imposed on a purely local government venture.

The aim of TEL is to provide sustainable, localised (private wire) district energy, delivering cooling, lighting and power (rather than just electricity and gas), to institutional, commercial and residential customers of Woking. The company takes on the costs associated with installing and maintaining primary energy plant, such as CHP and boilers, and is able to provide green energy at an affordable cost in comparison with the overall costs that customers pay for ‘brown’ energy supplies. Private wire systems, although connected to the local distribution networks, are able to operate in island generation mode in the event of a failure of the national grid affording local security of supply.

Thameswey projects are supported primarily by private finance meaning that, according to Allan Jones, Energy Services Manager for Woking Borough Council, “its sustainable energy projects can be delivered at a far more accelerated rate than it could achieve on its own”. Since the formation of Thameswey Woking has increased its distributed generation capacity by 800%. The work of TEL contributes to Woking Council’s various targets set out under the climate change strategy which include purchasing 100% of the council’s electrical and thermal energy requirements from sustainable sources by 2010/11.

One of TEL’s earliest projects was to design and build a town centre CHP district energy station, the first commercially operating energy station of its kind in the country. The station provides power to local businesses including a conference and events centre, leisure complex, nightclub, hotels, town centre car parks, as well as Woking Borough Council’s Civic Offices.

More recently TEL installed a fuel cell CHP project for Woking Park. The fuel cell is designed to support the Pool in the Park, Leisure Lagoon and Woking Leisure Centre heating and power systems and Woking Park’s lighting. Heat produced by the CHP also provides the buildings’ air conditioning, cooling water and dehumidification requirements. Furthermore, surplus electricity is exported to the Council’s corporate buildings and sheltered housing schemes.

Project Finance

Woking Borough Council first produced a report on climate change in 1990, 2 years before the Rio Earth Summit put global warming on the international agenda. An energy efficiency policy followed, looking at how much investment would be required to reduce emissions by 20% over 5-years. According to Allan Jones, Energy Services Manager for Woking Borough Council, “It was estimated that the Council would need to invest £1.25 million to achieve this target, but this was too much to be allocated up front. So we had the idea of creating a “recycling fund” for energy efficiency work. Money earmarked for projects would be put in a separate bank account, and any money saved or generated would be recycled back into the next year’s investment pool. The interesting thing about the recycling fund is the way it changed perceptions within the council. Rather than applying for one-off project funding the council could agree to an energy efficiency program over 5 or more years.”

Transport and Planning

As well as energy services provision Woking is turning to other policy areas to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Transport is seen as a critical area, the Council already has a liquefied natural gas refuse vehicle fleet and is replacing existing vehicles with alternative fuelled vehicles as and when transport contracts come up for renewal.

Planning is another priority area in Woking. The council has established an “environmental footprint” for Woking in connection with the development of land. The aim is to encourage a lower, less harmful level of CO₂ equivalent emissions in a site’s environmental footprint, with the overall objective that any new land use must see a reduction of CO₂ equivalent emissions by 80% compared to the use of the land in 1990. The Council has also published a Climate Neutral Development Good Practice Guide to advise developers how they can meet the aims of the Climate Change Strategy.

quote