John Harrison, director of resources at Peterborough city council
Evaluate what options are available but don’t spend too long on it. Evaluation is important but its making decisions and taking action that saves money.
Look at all forms of funding and don’t rule out private sector funding options completely. It may be that the risk profile is better.
Colin Rowland, waste fleet sustainability manager at Southampton city council
Having senior officer and members acting as project champions helps us overcome a lot of the barriers. Senior managers and elected members strongly support the drive towards improving energy efficiency – and the accompanying financial and reputational benefits.
By bringing together legal reporting and energy obligations, policy, procurement and management along with energy efficiency and behaviour change we have been able to make the most of our resources and minimise duplication.
It is important to outline the strategic case for a particular project and back this up with a viable business case. Being able to demonstrate the financial benefits certainly helps.
There are huge opportunities and benefits to be gained from partnerships with other local authorities, the wider public sector, and the private sector. We aim to ensure that any investment programme is funded as far as possible by private sector partners, applying government incentives and programmes to stimulate that investment wherever we can.
Martin Budd, environment and climate change strategic advisor at Hull city council
Installing solar panels on the top floors of council-owned car parks was a quick win as these are very easy to access for installation and maintenance.
Working closely with residents resulted in high levels of sign up, enabling us to deliver energy efficiency measures and drive regeneration, with significant improvements not only to individual properties but the whole neighbourhood.
Andrew Walster, assistant director of streetscene and green space at Coventry city council
We’ve had an energy conservation team since the energy crisis of the early 1970s, but it’s probably only in the past six years that the importance of energy management and the way in which it can lever in economic benefits and help improve communities has become so much clearer.
The obvious benefit is the chance to reduce our running costs, with over £7.5m spent on gas and electricity each year even small improvements in energy efficiency can generate savings to help us to continue to deliver vital front line services.
Our plan to reduce our carbon footprint by 30% in five year drove the introduction of many lighting and heating improvement projects. This culminated in a £5m district energy scheme where energy from the incineration of municipal waste, which would otherwise be wasted, is now used to heat eight major public buildings including the cathedral.
Work closely with local housing associations and energy companies to make sure as many energy saving measures are delivered to tenants and owners of homes as possible. In the last two years we have seen over £750,000 of improvements in the city from council-led initiatives. Not only does this help with quality of life and improve health but investment on this scale boosts jobs and growth in the city and every pound not spent on energy can be spent in the local economy.
