New figures show that electricity and gas usage in all of the council’s non-domestic buildings (excluding schools) and street lighting produced 10,761 tonnes of CO2, down by 1,506 tonnes compared to 2015/16. This has contributed to the council making savings of £182,283 on energy bills and Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) carbon allowance payments.

The figures come from the annual CRC Energy Efficiency report for 2016/17.This is part of a Government scheme to improve energy efficiency and cut carbon dioxide emissions by private and public sector organisations that are high energy users.

The reduction in CO2 has been caused by a combination of factors: the recent mild winters, better use of buildings, installation of energy saving measures such as efficient boilers, improved insulation and energy management systems.

Councillor Alan Quinn, cabinet member for the environment, outlined some of the measures the council has recently taken.

“We installed LED lighting at Ramsbottom Pool, Bury Market Hall, Bury Adult Learning Centre and Bradley Fold Depot,” he said. “The refurbishment of Killelea elderly persons home has included combined heat and power, LED lighting, lighting controls and solar panels. Plus, more than 7,000 street lights have been upgraded to low energy LED lighting.

“To encourage staff awareness of energy efficiency and carbon targets our network of ‘Green Champions’ ran a ‘Switch off fortnight’ in council buildings and schools to encourage behaviour change.”

The council also produces a ‘greenhouse gas’ report each year which looks at a much wider range of energy use including schools and council vehicle usage. The latest report and graphs can be read here: http://www.bury.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=17257&p=0

“This shows that since 2008/09 we have reduced our carbon emissions by 27% and have seen our energy bills drop from £4.9 million to £3.9 million,” said Cllr Quinn.

“Schools are the biggest source of carbon emissions and we recognise that our school children are the key to future success in protecting the environment. With this in mind we continue to work with schools to emphasise the importance of improving our sustainability. Bury’s schools have actively embraced this agenda and we have 57 schools registered as Eco Schools. Seven of these have achieved the highest Green Flag standard with one gaining their third Green Flag.”