Published on Friday 27 September 2019
All council buildings across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole will be powered on 100% renewable electricity as of next month (1 October).
In response to the climate emergency declared in the summer, BCP Council has taken steps to ensure its own electricity use comes from 100% renewable sources as soon as possible.
As part of the plans all council buildings including civic offices, the town hall, community centres and libraries will all be powered by green electricity.
In addition to this the Council also plans to switch the electricity supply of all streetlights in Poole to green electricity bringing this into line with the renewable energy supply already in place for streetlights in Bournemouth and Christchurch. This will mean that from April 2020 all streetlights across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole will be powered using 100% green electricity.
Councillor Felicity Rice, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment said, "Earlier this year we declared a climate emergency committing ourselves to becoming carbon neutral by 2030. Procurement of renewable electricity is an excellent example of a step the council and residents can do to become greener. We are dedicated to improving our environment and acting locally whilst thinking globally."
"I would encourage any resident in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole to look at the reports coming out from the UN climate summit last week which highlight the rapid changes that we all need to consider."
"We are taking the time to understand fully the process and supply of energy as a whole, and whilst we are now switching to a renewable electricity certified product, we are aware that there are further steps that need to be taken to ensure faster development of renewable energy. We will look to drastically reduce our use of energy in all aspects and look at increasing local generation from renewable sources. This will help achieve our aim of being a carbon-neutral council by 2030."
By switching to green renewable electricity, BCP Council’s carbon footprint will reduce by 5,944 tonnes CO2e which is equivalent to the Carbon Dioxide produced by the electricity used in 1,930 households across Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole.
An additional 1,258 tonnes CO2e will also be reduced in April 2020 when Poole’s streetlights will be powered by green energy.
The electricity procured will be supplied by energy company Npower and will be a fully audited Renewable Energy Guarantees Origin (REGO) certified product. It will be generated from wind and hydro sources. The use of green energy creates many positive environmental impacts such as reducing carbon emissions and helping avoid runaway climate change. The initial cost of the electricity will be an additional £10.5k per year.