The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is celebrating after receiving Energy Efficiency Accreditation from the Carbon Trust – the UK's only independent award recognising achievements in reducing energy use.
In particular, judges highlighted the London Fire Brigade’s £4million investment programme in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects across 70 fire stations. The ongoing project means installing a range of measures such as solar panels and wind turbines at fire stations across London.
The news comes at the end of the Brigade’s Green Month, which begins an internal campaign urging firefighters and non-uniformed staff to reduce their energy usage at work and at home. As well distributing energy saving tips to all staff, energy advisers from the Energy Advice Efficiency Centre visited staff during July and a number of competitions are being launched to engage staff in saving energy.
The campaign is part of the Brigade, as part of the Greater London Authority, meeting energy reduction targets of 15 per cent from 1990 levels. LFB is well on track to meeting this target and already energy usage by the Brigade is 14 per cent lower than in 1990.
Val Shawcross, Chair of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, which manages LFB, said: “The Brigade is becoming increasingly energy conscious and is a long way towards meeting very ambitious energy saving targets. This is a real testament to the hard work of staff in helping us to tackle climate change.”
Andrew Wordsworth, Director of Business Development at Carbon Trust Enterprises Ltd, commented: “The Stern Review showed the need to act now to tackle climate change and these Awards are proof that organisations recognise that cost and environmental benefits go hand in hand.”
Note to editors:
In 2005, LFB made history by being the first Brigade in the UK to install solar panels on a fire station – at Richmond. Further solar panels have been installed at Acton and wind turbines are in place at Hayes and Wennington fire stations.
To achieve EEAS accreditation, organisations need to show that they are making real energy savings through management commitment and investments in energy efficiency measures. The standards are stringently monitored by a team of energy experts from the National Energy Foundation. Each application is then subject to external moderation by the Energy Institute.
The award was accepted by Brigade Energy Manager Ian Shaw at a presentation in Birmingham on 20 July.
Fire stations receiving renewable energy sources in the next phase of the green programme are (Key – wind turbine: W; photovoltaic panels: PV; solar thermal: ST; combined heat and power: CHP):
Addington: W, PV, ST
Battersea: PV, CHP
Beckenham: ST
Bow: PV, CHP
Chingford: W, ST
Dagenham: W
Erith: ST
Hornsey: CHP
Kingsland: CHP
Old Kent Road: ST
Park Royal: PV, CHP
Peckham: ST
Ruislip: PV, CHP
Sidcup: W
Stanmore: PV, CHP
Wandsworth: CHP
Members of the media can obtain further information from the press office on:
telephone number: 020 8536 5922
email: press@london-fire.gov.uk
