Extra support to cut public sector carbon footprint

Hospitals, leisure centres, local authorities – and even central government departments - will be able to save money and reduce their carbon emissions by taking up the new loans, which the Carbon Trust has made available through Salix Finance. It is estimated that the fund could help public sector bodies save around £14 million per year in energy bills. Loans are available for around 80 different energy efficiency technologies, including building insulation, boiler and lighting upgrades, improved cooling systems and IT energy efficiency improvements. "The Carbon Trust has helped over 2,000 UK public sector organisations identify savings of £500 million in energy costs and carbon emissions of over 4.5 million tonnes since 2001," said Tom Delay, the Carbon Trust's Chief Executive. "Many organisations have already taken bold action on climate change and we hope their example inspires many more in the public sector to follow suit. Thanks to new funding from the Government they now have the financial means to do so." This support will play an important part in the build up to the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), which begins in April 2010. The CRC is a mandatory scheme which targets carbon dioxide emissions from large public and private sector organisations, which use more than 6,000MWh of electricity per year. It will provide incentives for these organisations to record and reduce their energy use, and improve energy efficiency, saving an estimated four million tonnes of CO2 a year by 2020.