Blackburn with Darwen Council have secured £2.25m of funding from the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS), which is expected to help the authority save 290 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
These energy savings will reduce emissions from the council’s estate by around 5% and reduce energy bills by around £200k a year.
The PSDS is a capital grant to help public sector organisations decarbonise their estate, in particular to decarbonise heat generation.
Ten locations are set to benefit from the energy-efficient updates, including Blackburn Central Library, Blackburn Market and Darwen Leisure Centre and the funding will replace obsolete equipment and upgrade end of life units to more efficient technology, costing £174,160.
Almost £740k of the capital grant will be spent updating the lighting at the majority of the sites by replacing fluorescent lights with LEDs, while the Blackburn Technology Management Centre and Eanam Wharf Business Development Centre will invest over £792k replacing 30-year-old storage heaters with heat pumps.
The upgrades will be carried out as part of Blackburn with Darwen Council’s capital programme for 2021/22 and will contribute to the council’s climate emergency declaration to be carbon neutral by 2030.
The council has commissioned an outside company to project manage the technical aspects of programme delivery and work is expected to be completed by September 2021.
Commenting, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s Executive Member for Finance and Governance, Councillor Vicky McGurk said: “We are delighted to have secured the capital grant to enable us to carry out this environmental work in line with our climate emergency strategy.
“Blackburn with Darwen Council is dedicated to reducing its carbon footprint across our estates and setting an example across the borough’s buildings. This funding will allow us to make great strides towards reducing our carbon emissions.”
