Making our energy and water use better for the planet
Energy and water are a big part of our lives, used for our daily routines. From charging our mobiles and having showers, to heating our homes and business premises.
We use energy and water every day, so it's essential that the energy we use is as environmentally friendly as possible. It means we can do our bit to reduce the damage to the planet in extracting them.
Whether in a personal capacity, or if you own a business, there are loads of options to use cleaner and more sustainable energy. This includes things like choosing a sustainable energy provider to installing solar panels and using heat pumps to heat your buildings.
As a landlord in the city, we also know that it’s crucial that we practice what we preach.
So we’ve been installing solar panels and introducing new boilers across our housing estate. This is making our offering more environmentally friendly for our residents, while encouraging others to follow our lead.
The top 5 actions for energy and water are to:
- reduce CO2 emissions from council owned properties
- deliver major programme of renewable energy, solar panels (PV) and energy efficiency retrofitting on council housing
- replace street lighting with LED lightbulbs through the street lighting modernisation programme
- improve standards in private housing, developing a Warm Homes programme
- continue participation in The Aquifer Project (TAP) to protect and improve the quality of groundwater in the Brighton chalk aquifer as a sustainable resource for public water supply
We have already made improvements to council owned properties and outlined plans for many more in reports on sustainability measures for new and existing homes.
We are also incorporating circular economy principles into the design and construction of future council homes.
These principles are in line with the Circular Economy Routemap, approved by the Policy and Resources committee in December 2020.
Shoreham port
Setting an example within the port industry, Shoreham Port were re-certified as an eco-port in April 2021 - 8 years after their first classification in this area.
They have also announced that they now run all their office buildings on a Water Source Heat Pump, cutting their carbon emissions in the process.
This is a significant step towards meeting their target of net-zero air quality emissions this year and net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.
What you can do
Making simple changes in how we consume energy and water can make a huge difference in our carbon footprints.
Things like making sure your provider is doing everything they can to protect the environment is an easy thing to find out, and if they’re not you can change to one that does.
This could also encourage more environment friendly options for customers going forward, further reducing the negative impact on the environment.