The council scored highly in five areas of the index, over and above insulating properties, which included the implementation of low carbon heating of key public buildings through its ‘Heatline’ district energy network.

 

This district heating scheme allows heat generated by the local energy from waste plant to heat eight major buildings in the city centre, such as civic buildings, a sports centre, an art gallery and the Cathedral. The council secured a grant of £1.6m from the Home and Communities Agency (HCA) Low Carbon Infrastructure in 2010 to support the delivery of the project, and a further £0.7m was secured in 2012.

 

The measures that Coventry City Council has continued to implement across the city are great examples of how making energy efficiency improvements can be incorporated into wider regeneration work.

 

What’s more, the council was also named the top city in England during 2015 for cutting carbon by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), for the fifth year running, with the latest figures showing that the city reduced its carbon emissions by 25% in eight years. This is equivalent to 440,000 tonnes a year or the same amount of carbon that a normal family car would emit if it made 10 round trips to the sun.

 

The Local Authority Energy Index was developed by Knauf Insulation to improve the amount of contact local authorities have with one another to share best practice. Throughout the year, events have helped to bring officials, councillors and other interested parties together to share their own experiences and methods to overcome barriers.

 

This is a significant achievement in itself, but there is always more to do. If you would like your authority to be included in the next iteration of the index please visit www.laenergyindex.co.uk