However, it’s not just the council's main offices that will soon be benefiting from clean, renewable energy. Since May 2021 council staff from property, schools, finance and sustainability teams have been working hard to identify opportunities to reduce the amount of energy used across buildings.

 

Using money from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and the Sustainable Hertfordshire Fund, the council have undertaken a programme of works to install measures at 112 sites including:

 

·       Cavity wall insulation and double glazing

·       Modern air source heat pumps to heat buildings without using fossil fuels

·       Solar panels to generate renewable electricity at 97 of Hertfordshire County Council sites

 

Lots of these works have taken place at schools, but libraries, fire stations, day centres and office buildings have also benefitted from these energy efficiency measures.

 

It is estimated that these measures will result in a reduction of 1,653 tonnes of carbon per year, equivalent to over 8.4 million miles driven in a typical petrol car, or the total annual energy usage of over 400 homes. This will be measured continuously over the next few years to allow us to capture the true effectiveness of the measures.