Caerphilly County Borough Council
Fund Size: £800,000
Results: 876 tCO₂ annual savings achieved thus far

Caerphilly County Borough Council’s management recognised early on that if they wanted to be successful implementing a large fund of £800,000 (£300,000 from Salix and £500,000 from Caerphilly) they would have to dedicate resources to implement various aspects of the programme.

There are four people on the energy team: Energy & Water Conservation Officer, Energy and Water Senior Technician (who does the energy surveys for the estate), Energy and Water Support Officer, and an Energy and Water data officer. Although they appreciate that they are in an enviable position, the results speak for themselves.

Matt Lane, manager of the Salix scheme, also believes that "climate change and increasing energy prices have become a more prominent issue for everyone – it is imbedded in the political agenda as it impacts on the economy as well as the environment. This has made life easier in that 20% of projects have come to us."

Caerphilly has had particular success in the leisure sector; they have upgraded four sports halls with new lights and sensors. This has enabled them to reduce running costs by a half and their electrical load by 40%. John Poyner, Leisure Centre Manager, also claims that the upgrades have also provided a better environment, "The sports hall now looks far more appealing to customers and certainly enhances their use and enjoyment of the facilities."

In total, Caerphilly has invested £250,000 in energy efficiency measures (including insulation, variable speed drives, pool covers etc.) that has saved them £94,000 and a total CO₂ saving of 876 tonnes annually.

Caerphilly has also managed to leverage their relationship with Salix to become accredited by the National Energy Foundation, "Caerphilly has provided a great example in which financing energy efficiency projects through Salix has delivered direct and measurable reductions in CO₂ emissions that can form part of becoming an accredited organisation under the Energy Efficiency Accreditation Scheme (EEAS).  We commend Caerphilly for the initiative they took in bringing together the complementary schemes to optimise the carbon savings they were able to deliver," says Dr Tim Lunel Chief Executive of The National Energy Foundation.

Salix complimented them on their success thus far, "Caerphilly are resourced well and have an excellent system in place for identifying and implementing measures. Through their investment strategy they have demonstrated how Salix envisage the fund to be used in reducing carbon emissions across public sector buildings. May they continue to lead by example!"

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