Wind Turbines For Kirklees Council Building

Kirklees Council will soon be the first local authority in the country to install wind turbines on the roof of council buildings. Cllr Martyn Bolt, the council's Cabinet member for Environment and Transportation, said: "The council is taking direct action to combat climate change - and save money - with two wind turbines soon be installed on the roof of Civic Centre III in Huddersfield town centre.

"At present the civic centre building has a large array of panels generating electricity and another set of solar energy collectors heating water. The wind turbines are to be installed on the remaining area of the roof as the final phase of a high profile European-funded project called 'ZEN', which means Zero Emissions Neighbourhoods.

"This is an excellent example of using technology not just to protect the climate but also to reduce the council's fuel bills. The council is installing renewable energy across the district in schools, homes and civic buildings. This reduces energy costs and harmful greenhouse gas emissions, benefiting Kirklees residents and people everywhere".

The ZEN project aims to develop and promote the idea of "zero emission neighbourhoods", which are neighbourhoods with zero or negligible climate change gas emissions. In such neighbourhoods, reductions in climate change gas emissions can be achieved through the introduction of sustainable energy measures, such as energy efficiency and renewable energy generation. Each neighbourhood will consider how this could best be achieved whilst examining the barriers that might prevent it occurring.

Within Kirklees there is a large potential resource of renewable energy derived from the wind, the sun, plants and crops and certain wastes as well as from the existing water networks and the projects seeks to examine how this potential could be realised.

Kirklees council has recently gained national recognition for its pioneering work in combating climate change. Last month the council received a prestigious Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy and a cheque for £15,000 at the Royal Geographical Society in London.

Green Building Press