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Not easy being green
• GREEN Party politicians have posed outside the council’s offices in Upper Street, complaining that they have a low rating for energy efficiency (Red-faced council realised ‘G’ doesn’t always stand for green, October 16). It is unsurprising that the building rates poorly in the light of its design, in common with many public buildings of a certain age, but the rating alone does not tell the whole story.
The energy rating is a rather crude measure of output, and does not, for example, take into account the fact that the council offices now house far more people than they used to (and more than double the amount they were built to accommodate), thanks to hot-desking and smart working practices. This means increased energy usage for that building, but with an enormous saving from not having two separate buildings each with separate electricity use. Also, 222 Upper Street is open 24 hours a day as the main IT call centre and base for the council’s out-of-hours and emergency operations. It’s where we recharge the council’s fleet of green electric vehicles. It’s also the home of the council’s massive computer servers.
Nonetheless, the energy per staff member has gone down by 17 per cent since 2006. And by being more efficient in our use of space and energy, the council has actually saved more than £1million on energy bills – money that can be invested in council services instead. Islington was the first council to sign up to the 10:10 campaign to cut our carbon emissions by 10 per cent in 2010.
Under the Liberal Democrats, Islington is further ahead than most public bodies on cutting carbon, and our award-winning sustainability team at the office would be glad to show the mitigating measures we have put in to address the energy problems of working in an old building, including the wind turbine.
We will support retro-fitting measures where appropriate, and are committed to the highest sustainability levels on new buildings, for example where we are rebuilding Ashmount School (rated the most energy inefficient primary school in London) as a zero-carbon building.
Cllr Greg Foxsmith
Lib Dem executive member for environment |
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