Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has championed the green cause by installing a fresh air cooling system at the Civic Offices as part of its commitment to tackling the climate emergency.
The environmentally-friendly cooling system uses fresh air from outside the building to manage the room temperature in the council’s IT server room, when the outside temperature rises, the system will use evaporative cooling to help maintain a constant temperature.
This initiative will generate a saving of £9,500 per year and is in line with the council’s Climate Emergency declaration which commits to working towards making Basingstoke and Deane a carbon neutral borough by 2030.
The sustainable new system, which includes a smaller air-conditioning unit, cost £46,829, funded from the 2019/20 Green Investment Fund. Thanks to the new system, the IT server room can now run at a constant temperature of approximate 20C throughout the year, when the outside air is up to 30C. Electricity consumption is only used to move the cool air into a room via a small fan.
Cabinet Member for Environment and Enforcement Cllr Hayley Eachus said: “The council is committed to taking a leading role in combating climate change working towards achieving its own ambitious carbon reduction targets, as well as working with businesses, partners and residents to achieve a carbon neutral borough by 2030. We are taking steps to reduce our carbon emissions both now and longer term and have set up action groups to look at individual services and our main sources of carbon. Making sure our own equipment is sustainable is one of those areas.
“Our decision to invest in an energy-efficient fresh air cooling system for our IT Server Room provides a real electricity saving for the council and helps us to further reduce our carbon footprint.”
