Lancaster City Council is to spend around £1million on improving the energy efficiency of its buildings as part of ambitious plans to make its services net zero carbon by 2030.
The council declared a climate emergency in January 2019 and since then has made great strides in cutting its carbon emissions.
In the latest move the council will install new measures at 10 more buildings: Lancaster Town Hall, Morecambe Town Hall, CityLab, Maritime Museum, Lancaster City Museum, Old Fire Station, Palatine Hall, The Platform, White Lune Depot and Ryelands House.
Works will vary depending on the property but will include a mixture of LED lighting, air and ground source heat pumps, upgraded insulation, secondary glazing and solar PV.
Together it is estimated that these measures could save up to around 133 tonnes of CO2 each year from natural gas and reduce electricity consumption by as much as 231,000 kWh, equivalent to running 80 average homes for a full year.
Councillor Kevin Frea, cabinet member with responsibility for climate action, said: “Tackling the devastating impact of climate change is at the heart of all the council’s policies.
“Through projects such as this we’re making significant progress in meeting our ambitious target of making the council’s activities net zero by 2030.”
The project is being funded by the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS), money from which has already successfully paid for the decarbonisation of Salt Ayre Leisure Centre. Now substantially complete, it has seen the installation of a 2,880 panel solar farm, a bespoke two-stage heat pump system, new glazing and LED lighting.
Along with a new green energy tariff this means Salt Ayre is now one of the first leisure centres in the country to become carbon neutral. The work has reduced the council’s emissions from natural gas by 35%.
The scheme recently received praise from its funders, who described it as an “exemplary scheme” which will be used as a case study for other similar schemes.
Emissions from natural gas and road diesel produce the bulk of the city council’s direct emissions. Collectively, the new measures work will see natural gas emissions reduce by a further 4%. In February 2022, the council also committed itself to decarbonising its vehicle fleet and over the next four years plans to replace 52 vehicles with electric alternatives, with the aim of having a fully decarbonised fleet by 2030.
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