SARA 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 gas 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 Kevin

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

“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.”

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

“Precisely.”

Sara Kevin

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