Milestone 3 - Sustainability

SUSTAINABILITY

A Conversation: Trafford Leisure’s Carbon Neutral Future

Sara Whittaker sat down with Kevin Henderson, Head of Assets & IT at Trafford Leisure, to discuss the matter of sustainability, and how we are making moves towards a carbon neutral future within the business.

SARA

We hear in the news topics like climate change, climate emergency, de-carbonisation, net-zero, biodiversity net gain, green-washing, carbon literacy, air sourced heat pumps, hydrogen power, electric cars, green energy...

Like every houseful, I’ve seen my own energy bills go up – a lot - and I’ve also seen the enormous energy bills for our leisure centres. I feel that for home and in work we should be doing more, but it can all seem quite overwhelming. I’m not particularly techy minded but I want to learn more. As Head of Assets, I’m wondering if you could explain what Trafford Leisure is doing or planning and maybe what I could do to help both at work and at home?

KEVIN

“Sure, well as you say things are costing a lot more; It’s a challenging time for everyone and certainly for businesses that consume large amounts of energy. The utility costs for the whole company now exceed £1M a year.

So, maybe we can touch on some of those headline topics, then we’ll try and bring it down to a local Trafford Leisure (TLCIC) level. We can include some links to short videos that may help explain some of the topics in greater detail.

In 2019, the UK government enshrined into law a target of net zero by 2050. Net zero relates to total carbon emissions not increasing any further. When we burn fossil fuels like natural gas and coal, we are continuing to release harmful gas compounds like cardon dioxide (Co2), Methane, sulphur and other ‘greenhouse’ gases into the atmosphere. The increasingly dense blanket of gases exasperates the ‘Greenhouse effect’. This 2 minute YouTube video explains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8Y6L5TI_94 Trafford council (TC) was one of the first local authorities to declare a climate emergency & produced a Carbon Neutral Action Plan: https://www.trafford.gov.uk/planning/strategic-planning/docs/Carbon-Neutral-Action-Plan.pdf - TLCIC are use this to reduce our own Co2 emissions.”

SARA So all our centres are costing a fortune to run. Are we burning gas to heat them all?

KEVIN “Yes, at the moment almost all our heating is via gas. Behind the scenes, things are changing. Central government set up the public sector decarbonisation scheme (PSDS), essentially a huge pot of money for local authorities like TC to apply for whatever projects they are prioritising on.”

SARA Is this for things like solar and air sourced heat pumps (ASHP)?

KEVIN “Precisely.”

ASHP

SARA

So, will all our roofs soon be covered in solar panels and what exactly is an ASHP?

KEVIN

Solar Energy

“Yes, pretty much all our roof space that can be utilised with solar photo voltaic panels (SPV) will have them. SVP will contribute to the energy required but in isolation they will only generate a small percentage of our demand.

Heat pumps source existing heat from environments like the air, ground or water. It may not feel like there is a lot of heat around in the middle of winter, but any heat we have is very usable. A Leisure centre in Lancashire uses heat sourced from the local river! Some of our mine shafts around the country are being reappropriated for ground sourced heat pumps. This short video: https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/air-source-heat-pumps/ helps explains how they work. Move Altrincham when refurbished will have our first commercial ASHP. Its about the size of a shipping container. ASHP & SVP is planned for all our facilities.

As certain times of the year, so in winter for heating or summer for cooling, our energy demands may mean we will still have to top up and import electricity off the grid. We have just renewed our electricity contracts so from April all our leisure centres now use electricity from renewable sources.”

SARA Will we ever get to a point where we do not have to import any electricity off the grid or even better can we generate more than we need and see energy as means of income?

KEVIN “Possibly, but not in one giant stride or within the next year or so. It could happen in stages, underpinned by finance, technology and a real desire from us all to make it happen; every individual and every business has a part to play. Net zero for some aspects of our business will financially cost more to achieve & right now, that makes it very tricky. Ironically it may be the golf course not so much our leisure centres that is key to achieving net zero.”

5 Foundations of Zero Carbon Building Policies

SARA So what else have we done or can we do?

KEVIN

Hyprolyser

LED Lighting

“Reducing our energy demand is key, but on the flip side we want to grow our business which inevitably uses more energy.

Examples of things we have already done is convert our light fittings to LED. We have a proud history of innovation within TLCIC. We converted our first sports hall to LED 12 years ago.

Chlorine in tablet form is still widely used nationally. Due to chlorine being imported from Russia, China and the USA there has been a world-wide shortage. Since lockdown it has doubled in price. TLCIC took the decision around 10 years ago to use a system designed and built in Lancashire, using food grade salt from Cheshire, the technology employs electrolysis to separate out the components of salt. We basically make our own chlorine using an item of pool plant called a hyprolyser.

And as it uses food grade salt, the H&S benefits are great too.

Microfiltration (MF) is another example. TLCIC was the first local authority public pool in England & Scotland to have it running. We are seeing encouraging signs on reduced electricity, water consumption and therefore overall energy demand.

The major refurbishments of ALT, PSV, STR & SAL will upgrade the plant rooms to be the most efficient they can be. We also need further improvement on insulation – just like our homes. When our centres were built, insulation was not as good as it now needs to be.”

SARA What about EV charging points for cars?

KEVIN

EV Charging Points

“Yes, they are coming too, both as part of the refurbs and as stand-alone projects. Achieving net zero would also mean our staff and customers able to access our facilities without increasing their own carbon footprint in the process. Right now electric cars are quite expensive. We have to start somewhere and as previously said, I think it will happen in stages, rebuilding our infrastructure is key to enable this. We have also approached the coach companies who bring the children to swim lessons. The option to use electric coaches rather than diesel is there, but currently it would cost us 3 times as much.”

SARA What else are you looking at? Any new technologies?

KEVIN “We are looking all the time! As an example, the new spa & sauna at Move Altrincham needs heat, whilst the gym needs to be cool.

Our warmed waste pool water is continually being replenished with fresh cold water, which has to be heated and treated. In all kinds of applications, more efficient heat recovery is one area we are looking at.”

Microfiltration

SARA If I wanted to know what my personal carbon footprint is now, is there way of measuring it? And what about the carbon footprint for Trafford Leisure, how on earth do we measure that?

KEVIN “For a simple, personal snap shot, try an online search for ‘WWF Carbon Footprint Calculator’. Going back to your opening statements, by understanding what your personal carbon footprint is now, it will improve your own ‘carbon literacy’ and also help you consider what changes you may wish to commit to, that will reduce your and your families carbon footprint.

For a detailed and corporate analysis of TLCIC, last year we committed to an accreditation scheme called Planet Mark ( https://www.planetmark.com ). We will share more about Planet Mark in the coming months. We will evolve our sustainability strategy with our biodiversity partner Biora ( https://www.bioragroup.com ) with whom we have been working alongside at the support office for over a year.”

SARA KEVIN

Can we really achieve net zero by 2050 or earlier?

“Yes, but only with significant changes and major financial investments. The technology and engineering solutions already exist, it’s the political solutions that are needed to make it to happen.”

SARA

Major Investments

You said you thought Altrincham Golf Course will play a part, why?

KEVIN

“In the longer term, I think deep geo-thermal, ground sourced heat pumps (GSHP) will be play a key role. When GSHP become as commercially viable to install as ASHP, then they would generate far more energy than we need ourselves. We could then sell that renewal energy locally.

In the shorter term, the golf course itself will help with biodiversity net gain, carbon offsetting and carbon credits. Literally our green spaces can become a source of income.”

Biodiversity

SARA Well, thanks Kev, that’s been really interesting and great to hear of so many exciting developments.

KEVIN “You are welcome and do let know what your own carbon footprint is!”

Any further questions?

Feel free to speak to Kevin Henderson on all things sustainability if you want to know more about what Trafford Leisure on our joruney to carbon neutrality.