By Dan Walsh
The County Councils of Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny working closely with 3 Counties Energy Agency (3CEA), have all exceeded the 33% energy reduction target set in the National Climate Action Plan.
According to a report launched today (Thursday); “You could lap Wexford 43,000 times with the energy saved. Wexford saved 269 million cups of tea, or the amount of energy used by a typical family petrol car doing 43,000 laps of the Wexford County boundary, reducing CO2 emissions by 2,149 tonnes through avoided energy use, delivering a saving of 39.7%.”
The spectrum of projects and initiatives implemented by the Wexford County Council to achieve energy efficiency include the public lighting energy efficiency project whereby 91% of public lights across the county were replaced with more energy efficient LED bulbs. This gave a 65% reduction in energy use and 60% savings in operation and maintenance costs.
Energy upgrades in Bunclody Fire Station, Gorey Library and the Council’s Machinery Yard all delivered substantial energy savings. The Council has also started transitioning their fleet to electric vehicles to further support the national policy and decarbonise local communities making them healthier and better places to live in.
Carolyne Godkin, Director of Services, Wexford County Council said; “We are strongly committed to continuing our journey to improve energy performance across all of our services. ISO50001 certification of our energy management system will help us deliver the target of 50 % improvement in energy efficiency as set out in the National Climate Action Plan. The projects and initiatives implemented by the Council and our Energy Team to date has achieved energy efficiency of 39 %; above average for all public bodies who are 34% more energy efficient than in 2009.”
WexfordLocal.com 