City council picks up third national award for “green” power scheme
26/11/08
Aberdeen City Council has lifted a third top award in a month for its innovative programme to cut people’s fuel bills.
The council has won the `Innovation and Progress: Sustainability’ top prize in the prestigious UK-wide Guardian Public Service Awards for setting up an affordable heat and power (CHP) company to supply council housing and public buildings.
Earlier this month, the city council scooped top prizes in the UK Housing Awards – winning the `Increasing Environmental Sustainability Award’ and earning the title of `Best Local Authority in the UK for Outstanding Achievement in Housing’ for the CHP project.
Lead councillor for housing Aileen Malone said: "To win just one award is a real achievement. To win three in a month is truly outstanding and a tribute to the work of our staff, in particular our home energy co-ordinator Janice Lyon without whom this project might never have happened.
“We have led the way UK-wide with this scheme, which was first floated eight years ago in 2000 in a report by Janice to the city council. We have made great strides since the early pilot scheme in Stockethill got the ball rolling and now hundreds and hundreds of our tenants and many owner-occupiers are enjoying massively reduced fuel bills.”
The council created an ambitious programme of energy efficiency by installing CHP in clusters of multi-storey flats after creating Aberdeen Heat & Power Co Ltd, a locally based, not-for-profit organisation to develop and run the system.
The CHP programme has successfully tackled two major housing challenges –reducing fuel poverty and cutting carbon emissions from the housing stock. The project has almost halved fuel costs and CO2 emissions from properties, and has almost doubled their National Home Energy Rating (NHER).
Before CHP installation, the average NHER for a multi-storey flat in Aberdeen was 3.3 (0 poor; 10 excellent), running costs were around £14 per week, and total carbon emissions were 1,597 tonnes a year. CHP has led to an average NHER increase to 6.0, fuel costs of just £7.25 per week and carbon emissions of 936 tonnes a year – a 42% drop.
Three schemes have been developed so far:
• Stockethill: low-cost, low-carbon heating and hot water to 288 flats in four multi-storeys;
• Hazlehead: heat and hot water for Hazlehead Academy, its swimming pool, two houses, 184 flats in four multi-storey blocks, and 48 flats in an adjacent sheltered housing scheme;
• Seaton phase 1: heat and hot water for 503 flats in six multi-storeys, three of which are sheltered), along with the Beach Ballroom and the Beach Leisure Centre.
Plans are in hand to extend the Seaton scheme to provide heat and hot water to the new Aberdeen Sports Village. Plans are also being drawn up to use biomass as the fuel at Seaton to reduce carbon emissions still further and with an even lower fuel cost.
The success of the project has opened up exciting possibilities for the future. The CHP station at Seaton has room for expansion, with the potential to extend the system to more of the beachfront and from there to the city centre. The ultimate aim is to link large areas of Aberdeen into low-cost, low-carbon district heat networks.
Subsequent phases will be run on biomass fuels rather than gas, which will further support the city’s commitment to cut carbon emissions.
If you have any queries regarding this, or any other news story, please contact Aberdeen City Council on: 08456 080910.
