Council to ‘chip away’ energy costs
The Visitor Centre at Kingsbury Water Park in North Warwickshire has become Warwickshire County Council’s greenest building when it comes to heating.
A wood chip boiler has replaced the old inefficient electric and calor-gas heating systems.
Wood chips will initially be purchased from a local supplier, but it is hoped that very soon the system will be completely self-sufficient on wood sourced naturally through coppicing at the county council’s own country parks.
The new ‘carbon neutral’ heating system was installed thanks to a fund set up to help Warwickshire County Council tackle greenhouse gas emissions from its buildings.
This is the first installation of a number of energy saving and renewable energy schemes that will be supported by the Climate Change Fund, which has been set up with an allocation of £500,000 for each of the next two years.
The scheme will save 40 tonnes a year of greenhouse gas emissions – equivalent to that generated by heating a primary school.
As trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into wood, if the wood is then burnt the carbon is released, but the process is called ‘carbon neutral’ because there is no net gain in CO2 to the atmosphere. If the heat produced from burning the wood is used to replace ‘fossil’ fuels such as gas or oil, then there is a saving in CO2 emissions.
Cllr Alan Cockburn, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Resources, said: “The council is committed to showing real community leadership in relation to climate change and we are determined that our own buildings should lead the way in energy reduction and carbon saving and we are working on more renewable energy schemes throughout the authority.”