£1000 a day - cost of energy at council HQ

Jan 25 2008 By John Rowbotham

GAS and electricity charges for South Lanarkshire Council headquaters in Hamilton amount to almost £1000 A DAY.

For the 12 months from April 1, 2006, the 17-storey tower’s energy bill was close to a staggering £350,000.

The money was used to provide heating, lighting and air conditioning for the 850 staff employed in the Almada Street complex which is a Grade A listed building modelled on United Nations headquaters in New York.

Although the bill is high, council chiefs say it is being reduced following the introduction of energy conservation measures.

Better heating and cooling controls have been installed at the headquarters and high-efficiency burners have been fitted to the boiler system.

Automatic lighting controls have also been introduced, and pumps powering the decorative fountains at the entrance to the tower have been down-sized to save costs.

Council chiefs also say that there has been a cut in the hours during which the building is lit up in the evening.

According to the council, floodlights illuminating the tower are turned on for one hour during the autumn and winter months, and do not operate at all between the months of April to September.

The council also say that they now get all their electricity from renewable sources, such as wind power.

A spokesman for South Lanarkshire added: “The cost of energy for headquarters during 2005-06 was about £358,000 and this has been reduced to approximately £342,000 for 2006-07 by our cost savings.

“Carbon emissions for 2006-07 for the complex have also reduced over this period.”

They hoped over the coming year to further reduce energy costs and water consumprion, and improve re-cycling.

A carbon management development officer had been employed to to work on reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from the council’s operations.

More energy-efficient street lighting equipment is being used, as are more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The spokesman added: “These all link in with our sustainable development strategy in which over 100 actions have been identified which will be pursued over the next four years.”

Kirsten Robb, spokesman for the 50-strong South Lanarkshire Green Party, called on the council’s policians to do more to drive down energy costs.

She added: “The headquarters building is big and I am not suprised at the size of the bill.

“Against a background of increases in energy prices, they seem to have taken steps bring costs down.”

She added, however, that the authority should take a lead on curbing the number of car parking spaces allocated to new out-of-town shopping centres.

And she said more energy-saving measures could be introduced through the current programme (HomeHappening) to upgrade South Lanarkshire’s council homes.

“It is great that council homes are being upgraded,” she added.

“However, my information is that insulation is only being installed to minimum standards.

“Furthermore, to address fuel poverty, renewable energy sources such as solar heating should be used. It would help people save on heating their water.”