In total the council spends approximately £100,000 covering the operating costs for environmental auditing, environmental training, EMAS verification, and the salaries of the two full-time EMS officers.
These costs have been easily repaid through the savings generated by our environmental management activities.
Between 1999 and 2000 we realised:
£92,000 in building energy cost savings
a further £87,000 in fuel cost savings from the 45 projects supported by the Energy and Water Conservation Fund
approximately £50,000 in fuel cost savings from switching 26 vehicles over to dual fuel (LPG / Petrol)
approximately £10,000 in waste disposal cost savings in spite of increasing waste disposal taxes
£20,000 was saved in insurance and fuel consumption costs after our Building Services department trained all 350 of their drivers in improved driver awareness and ECO driving techniques.
In addition, funding previously unavailable to the council (because of the requirement to have an EMS) can now be exploited. Over the last year the council has secured external funding to the value of:
£210,000 to establish a regional Energy Agency and Energy Efficiency Advice Centre
Our Housing Services department is receiving £185,000 by the regional water supply company to fit 37,000 water conservation devices in Council owned homes
£146,000 was secured for a 'Food Futures' project to encourage the use of locally produced food with the objectives of promoting a healthier diet, supporting regional food producers and reducing the amount of travel, food miles, that food has to be transported.
