Nottingham City Council’s Energy Efficiency and Compliance Team won the Energy Consultancy of the Year award at the Regional Energy Efficiency Awards, which recognise best practice in schemes that reduce energy usage and carbon dioxide emissions.
In the past year, the team within the Environment and Sustainability Division, has carried out more than 3,300 energy assessments and advised on an estimated 32m kWh of energy saving opportunities to both commercial and domestic buildings.
The City Council was also Highly Commended in the Local Authority of the Year category. The recently completed vehicle-to-grid pilot at Eastcroft Depot is an example of the City Council’s work to find innovative solutions to challenges with energy usage. This project uses electric vehicles as short-term energy storage alongside two giant batteries, demonstrating how technology can be used to reduce energy demands that are associated with transitioning from traditional petrol or diesel vehicles to electric.
Wayne Bexton, Director of Environment and Sustainability at Nottingham City Council, said: “I’m thrilled that the Energy Efficiency and Compliance Team were recognised at these awards, the impact being made is truly remarkable and is testament to the hard work and dedication of the whole team.”
All the work carried out by the Energy Efficiency and Compliance Team supports the city’s target to be the first carbon neutral city in the UK by 2028. Key to this ambition is reducing carbon emissions by ensuring that buildings in the city are efficient and powered by renewable technologies. Heating and powering domestic properties are among the largest contributors to Nottingham’s carbon footprint – producing an estimated 360,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.
To support the City Council’s Greener HousiNG scheme, the Energy Efficiency and Compliance team carry out retrofit coordination, retrofit assessments and Energy Performance Certificates to ensure the improvements made to the homes are high quality and compliant with regulations.
Through Greener HousiNG, grant funding has been used to retrofit cold homes by installing measures such as insulation, heat pumps and solar panels. Since 2019, the City Council has upgraded more than 2,000 homes. Thanks to funding secured by the Midlands Net Zero Hub, further energy efficiency improvements will be delivered to hundreds of homes in the next two years.
Not only do these home retrofits contribute to the city’s carbon neutral ambition, but they also help residents to reduce their energy bills and improve their health and wellbeing.
The Energy Efficiency and Compliance Team also support businesses and public sector organisations to identify areas where they could save energy. For example, the team provide compliance reporting services through the Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme. Across 36 sites, the team identified potential savings of more than 3m kWh and 742 tonnes of carbon dioxide which will lead to financial savings of more than £1.4m when the energy efficiency recommendations are implemented.
