Switch on to saving energy, council told

Rise in emissions from business travel

Reducing energy use in Stirling Council buildings and street lighting needs greater focus, councillors have been told.

In the financial year 2017-18 performance on corporate carbon emissions, energy and resource use were mixed, the council’s environment and housing committee heard on Thursday.

There were positive trends from reduced electricity use, municipal waste collected and water use, and an increase in waste recycled or composted.

However, emissions from business travel, mostly diesel use, were said to have increased significantly and gas use also increased due to increased heating demand during the harsh winter.

The council’s total emissions however had reduced by 35 per cent from the 2006-7 baseline and were still on course to meet the 40 per cent reduction target by 2021.

In the wider picture, while emissions from the domestic sector in Stirling have been reducing, those from the industrial and commercial sector were said to be “flat-lining” and the road transport sector had even increased since 2014.

Stirling’s total per head emissions was higher than the Scottish local authority area average.

Officers said the council therefore had to “not only lead by example in reducing its own emissions” but also work in partnership to ensure sufficient progress was made in a wider local context.

Climate considerations had to be embedded in all strategic planning and operations, particularly given the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on the impacts of global warming published last month, described by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as “an ear-splitting wake- up call to the world”.

Senior sustainable development officer Angela Heaney told the committee: “As an organisation we should be doubling our efforts.”

Senior manager infrastructure Brian Roberts said: “We do have a very ambitious programme towards energy reduction, for example work has begun on the Scottish Water low carbon project at Springkerse serving St Modan’s, The PEAK etc and the solar farm at Castleview Park and Ride is a first in Scotland.

He added: “This is a massive move in the right direction in how we harness energy and direct usage. There will be electrification of small fleet vans and cars in the next few years and quite a lot of exciting things happening.

“We completed the Sustainable Growth Agreement with SEPA a few months ago, covering all sorts of aspects from air quality through to derelict and vacant land. Working with SEPA in next few months we hope to have a lot of exciting projects.”

Committee convener Councillor Jim Thomson said: “It’s steady progress but we have some demanding targets to meet so we must have an understanding of where we are at.”

Bannockburn ward councillor Alasdair Macpherson pointed out that Bannockburn High School was using 33 per cent less gas and electricity since the introduction of a combined head and power plant, compared to Raploch Campus which was using almost double the energy of Bannockburn.

Ms Heaney said: “A lot of it can be down to factors such as whether a building has a swimming pool, the amount of lets they have and if you have day into evening use. In a lot of schools it also depends on getting pupils involved. There are a whole range of variables.”

Mr Roberts added: “Some of these schools are used more widely in evenings and weekends and Raploch is opened much longer than Bannockburn High School.”

As an organisation we should be doubling our efforts