What is the council already doing?

Listed below are just some of the wide range of actions taken within the council to reduce the harmful effects of CO₂, as a by-product, of its operations:

A Local Climate Impacts Profile (LCLIP) for Walsall

Walsall Council has commissioned a student on the graduate apprentice programme at Groundwork Black Country to undertake a vulnerability risk assessment of extreme weather events in Walsall over the last 10 years and the impact in terms of costs and resources.  It is estimated this project will take 12 weeks, April to July 2008. A project brief has been developed detailing scope, aims and objectives.

• view the project brief for Walsall's Local Climate Impacts Profile

Energy

• A draft energy strategy for council-owned buildings has been developed with energy use and water reduction targets, and relies on the growing number of volunteer environmental champions to engage council staff
• A survey of the council's 10 least energy efficient buildings has been conducted in 2007.  A further 10 surveys will be undertaken in 2008/09
• Following a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) feasibility study to include the Town Centre, CHP units were  were installed at Willenhall Leisure Centre and Rushall Mews in 2007
• Improved heating and cooling controls within the Civic Centre
• As part of the council’s energy awareness raising programme, 226 members of staff were trained in 2007/08.  Further training will be rolled out on an on-going basis by the team of volunteer environmental champions
• There are forward plans for the display of public building Energy Performance Certificates in all council buildings which will come into effect in October 2008
• A number of council buildings are already being supplied with green energy and there are plans to increase this year on year by purchasing maximum affordable green electricity tariff.  
• An Environmental Sustainability policy for Walsall is being developed for the buildings it procures and for regeneration activities.
• The council proposes to use the Simplified Building Energy Model (SBEM) assessments for all new council buildings to provide a consistent and reliable approach to evaluating potential energy use for Building Regulation compliance. Simplified Building Energy Model (SBEM) is the national calculation methodology for non-domestic buildings.
• As part of the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Management Energy Efficiency (CMEE) programme, the council  received 50% match funding towards the following projects in 2007/08:
  • trial pilot study using voltage optimisation technology
  • mechanical and electrical sustainable design guide to be used for all council buildings (new build and existing), to include schools
  • the development of a borough-wide micro generation strategy which will be accessable on the council's website in 2008/09
• A 36% reduction in council corporate CO₂ emissions in 2007 representing an 11% increase on the council’s existing target
• £250,000 invested in energy conservation measures
• Four energy efficiency demonstration projects completed in March 2008 in community buildings to the value of £46,000, to include energy efficient lighting and controls plus water saving appliances such as low volume shower heads and replacement of old water mains distribution pipe work
• £6m investment for a new build classroom unit at Joseph Leckie school

Space utilisation - the model office

In the 2007/08 Corporate Plan we committed to reduce the amount of office space we currently occupy by 20% over a five-year period by making better use of accommodation we have in the town centre.

With this in mind, a pilot project was undertaken using the space occupied by the council's Human Resources and Development Team spread across two buildings. And so the Model office was created with the following results.

• with the implementation of hot-desking and clear desk policy desk space was reduced from 137 to 124 with an increase in occupancy from between 50-60% to 85%. This also led to a reduction of the number of telephones to 124
• the department's 68 printers were replaced with seven multi-functional network devices leading to savings in the cost of toner cartridges and electricity. Printing overall has been reduced by 14%
• six separate kitchen areas were replaced by one multi-functional breakout/flexible work area
• introduction of lighting conservation measures with lighting control scheme
• Energy consumption has been reduced by 15%.

Shining Example – Environmental Champions spread the word on conserving energy in Walsall Council

Staff at Walsall Council have been held up as a shining example for the good work they are doing to raise awareness of the importance of conserving energy to combat climate change.

The council’s voluntary ‘environmental champions’ – staff spread throughout Walsall Council’s directorates spreading the word about environmental messages – have been lauded by the European Cities Municipal Buildings Climate Campaign.

• View Walsall’s case study "Environmental Champions spread the word on conserving energy in Walsall Council"

The campaign aims to show good examples of buildings and schemes are everywhere and near you and Walsall Council’s environmental champions have been highlighted as one of the campaign’s shining examples.

The European Performance of Building Directive (EPBD) on Energy Performance in Buildings (2002/91EC) came into force in January 2006 and is to be introduced into the UK by October 2008. It requires all public buildings to display a current Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) in a prominent place.

It is based on the A to G labelling system used for domestic electrical appliances and sends a clear signal to the public and users of the building the benchmark of the building in order for consumers and building occupants to compare and assess the energy performance. This will help consolidate the message about the importance of using energy sensibly.

Due to Energy Performance Certificates becoming mandatory the council has joined the European Cities Municipal Buildings Climate Campaign called Display. Energy Performance A3 and A4 display posters are being produced giving details of energy and water consumption and carbon dioxide emissions for approximately 300 buildings, including school, throughout the authority.

The certificate will highlight the good and poor performing buildings and be accompanied by recommendations for the cost-effective improvement of the energy performance.

The Display® campaign provides:

• a simple and efficient way to show the performance of municipal buildings (energy and water consumption and CO2 emissions)
• an example to citizens by demonstrating the environmentally friendly behaviour of the municipality
• the means for municipalities to show a willingness to undertake cost-saving measures

What commitments do members enter into?

• Show citizens their buildings’ energy performance – in terms of energy consumption, CO2 emissions and water consumption – of at least 5 municipal buildings in local authorities with less than 50,000 inhabitants, 10 for authorities between 50,000 and 100,000 inhabitants and 20 in those of up to 100,000
  to display the Display posters in each of the buildings concerned at locations well used by the public
• Launch an information and awareness campaign addressing the users of the buildings concerned