WIREDGOV

The LG Group has launched a new web resource designed to help councils explore ways to save money on their fuel bills and boost revenue by selling energy into the national grid.

Compare Renewables provides information on eight different renewable energy options available to councils, including details on how they work, costs, payback periods and potential returns.

It is designed in part to help councils capitalise on the deregulation of the national grid, but also provides information on how councils can use renewable energy to tackle fuel poverty, reduce carbon emissions and help developers meet sustainability standards.

LGA Improvement Board Chairman, David Parsons, said: “Renewable energy offers councils a fantastic opportunity to save money, reduce carbon emissions and even generate income. Our new web resource allows local authority decision makers to look objectively at the wide variety of renewable options available and explore which of those might work best for them and their residents.

“Shrinking budgets and increasingly stringent European carbon reduction targets mean that councils need to explore every option available to them to save money and reduce their carbon footprint. Several councils have already achieved impressive results through renewable energy and we’d like others to capitalise on their success.”

Local authority renewable success:

• Suffolk County Council has installed 20 wood-fired boilers in schools and offices. Its Wood Fuels programme now produces a total heat output of 3.2 megawatts (MW) at a saving of about 420 tonnes of CO2 each year. And the local biomass industry has created about 40 jobs.
• In 2004, Barnsley Metropolitan Council made a commitment to consider biomass heating systems for all new and refurbished buildings. Work done since has enabled a small wood-chip supply business to start up. Barnsley estimate that in two years time 180 jobs will have been created in its supply chain.
• Bristol City Council will soon become one of the first authorities in the UK to develop and own wind turbines. Two turbines in an industrial area will generate between 9.6 and 12.6 gigawatts (GW) annually. This annual production equates to meeting the electricity needs of between 2,000 and 2,700 ‘average’ households.
• Sheffield has one of the largest district energy networks in the UK, feeding leisure facilities, council buildings, universities and homes. What started out as a small network connecting just a few blocks of flats now serves more than 140 buildings. Heat provided by the network saves up to 21,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year. 
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Author: LGA Media Office
Contact: LGA Media Office, Tel: 020 7664 3333

Notes to editors:

The LG Group’s Compare Renewables is available at http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=23051802

The Compare Renewable development team will be presenting the work at the LG Group’s free renewable energy event on 14 March 2011 at Local Government House, Smith Square, London. For more information visit:

http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/events/display-event.do?id=16878201