Council Helps Reduce Individual Carbon Emissions

The work being done by Peterborough City Council's Climate Change team has helped contribute to a reduction in carbon emissions of 700kg per person.

Figures released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change show that emissions per capita in the Peterborough area were 7.8 tonnes in 2008 and 7.1 tonnes in 2009. This coincides with the formation of the council's Climate Change team in 2008 and follows a previous drop from eight tonnes per capita in 2007.

The figures show that of this amount, 2.6 tonnes per capita were generated by industry and commercial activity, 2.4 tonnes per capita can be attributed to road transport, and the remaining two tonnes were generated by domestic use.

The council's Climate Change team works with residents, schools and businesses across Peterborough to help reduce the city's impact on the environment. Since the team formed, it has run five community energy challenges in communities and workplaces, involving more than 300 people. The project challenges individuals to find out how they are wasting energy and make changes to reduce their consumption. Energy saving monitors can be loaned from libraries across Peterborough to help residents reduce their own usage.


The council also carried out a thermal energy study in 2009, in conjunction with Blue Sky International, to identify which buildings in Peterborough have high heat losses through their roofs. Residents have been encouraged to review the results of the study for their homes, and make changes where necessary with the help of the council.

The city council's Climate Change officer, Jenna Hiley, has developed a climate change game which can be used by schools across the city. The game covers a breadth of subjects around climate change and has a set of easy and hard questions which means it can be played by people of all ages. The game won a national Green Apple award in 2009.

In conjunction with PECT, the team has also developed the School Energy Resource kit. Aimed at primary schools, the resource supports the curriculum and teaches children in a fun way about climate change, energy efficiency and cutting their school's carbon footprint. The resource is free to borrow, includes over 20 different items, and can be adapted to meet school needs.

(CD)