71 council-owned sites are to receive energy efficiency upgrades under funding won from the government for decarbonising public buildings.
Portsmouth City Council successfully bid for nearly £1.9 million of funding to be spent on schools, libraries, care homes and offices. The money will be used to install insulation, solar panels, battery storage, heating controls and LED lighting.
The funding was made available through the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS); with the projects being slated for delivery during the summer.
The projects delivered will remove more than 250 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year; totalling 6,125 tonnes over their lifetime. As well as these carbon savings, the energy efficiency retrofits will reduce running costs by almost £50,000 a year, as well as making the buildings warmer and improving lighting quality in libraries.
Commenting on the funding success, Councillor Dave Ashmore, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change said, “This funding is further help towards Portsmouth achieving its net zero carbon ambition by 2030. The projects delivered by this scheme will help to improve our buildings for the public, making them easier and cheaper to heat, light and run; whilst making a dent in our carbon emissions at the same time.
We have a strong track record at Portsmouth City Council of delivering an ambitious pipeline of projects to reduce energy and carbon emissions within our publicly-owned estate. This funding helps to enable even more projects of this nature and reduce our carbon emissions even more quickly.”
The PSDS funding comes hot on the heels of more than £9 million of government funding already announced to have been won by the council in the past 6 months under the Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery scheme. This funding helps qualifying home owners and landlords to improve their properties with insulation, low carbon heating and solar panels for free.
For more details about any of the schemes discussed, please visit www.switchedonportsmouth.co.uk or call 0800 260 5907
