In 2004, the Sustainability Team were one of eighteen local authorities to be awarded an ‘invest to save’ grant from the Carbon Trust. This is known as the Local Authority Energy Financing Scheme (LAEF) and is intended to help Nottinghamshire County Council make its buildings more energy efficient. The grant of £500,000 will be matched by a further £500,000 invesment from the County Council and the money will be used to fund internal projects to make both energy and cost savings.

Projects in the pipeline are aimed at schools and include boiler plant upgrades, new lighting controls, better insulation and swimming pool covers. Paying back the borrowed money will then be made possible by the money saved from these new energy-saving measures.

Such a payback system will ensure the fund is self-sustaining and help to alleviate the common issue faced by local authorities of gaining capital and match funding for developments and grants. The scheme is concentrating on secondary schools in the county to start with, but will encompass other sites in time.

For further details about the scheme, contact the senior energy officer on tel: 0115 977 4849 or e-mail: energy.en@nottscc.gov.uk

How do you rate this information / service?