March 5, 2004—At least ten per cent of the electricity government uses will be from renewable sources within four years, UK Ministers pledged recently.
New targets mean that by 2008 much more “green” electricity will be used at more than 50,000 government buildings by 600,000 staff, helping to cut carbon and to combat climate change through better energy efficiency.
Government spends about 193million every year on energy, and has already achieved a 19 per cent cut in carbon emissions on its estate.
The new targets will measure the government estate’s progress on:
- absolute carbon reduction
- energy efficiency
- renewable energy
- good quality CHP
- long-term strategy for renewables
- energy clauses in estate management contracts
Lord Whitty, Sustainable Energy Minister, stated, “The size of government operations means it is very like a big company in many ways and departments have a big social, economic and environmental impact.”
