County to switch to green energy sources

Denbighshire County Council will switch to obtaining all of its electricity from renewable sources.

As part of its commitment to reduce carbon emissions under its Corporate Plan, the council will be using only certified renewable electricity from October.

All schools, leisure centres, libraries, council offices and depots will have their electricity provided by wind, solar, hydro or biomass renewable energy sources.

Electricity consumption across the local authority is 8.54GWh – about the same amount of energy as produced by a large off-shore wind turbine during the course of a year - and once the switch occurs the Council’s carbon footprint from electricity consumption will be zero.

Tony Ward, the council’s Head of Highways and Environment, said: “Climate change is an important issue facing not just local authorities but society as a whole.

“The council takes this issue very seriously and the switch to using only renewable electricity is just one of a number of things the council is doing.

“As part of our commitment to the environment, the council will reduce carbon emissions from council vehicles as well as improving the energy performance of our buildings.

“We will also be doubling our renewable energy generation, building all new council houses to an ‘excellent’ energy efficiency standard and are in the process of planting 18,000 additional trees in the county.”