Birmingham Environmental Partnership Birmingham’s arbon ......irmingham’s Sustainable ommunity Strategy sets out a target to reduce CO2e emissions by 60% by 2026. In order to make

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Birmingham Environmental Partnership

Birmingham’s Carbon Savings 2009-10

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Contents

Executive Summary Page 3 Introduction Page 5 Findings Page 7 The Private Sector Page 10 Case Study - Business Link West Midlands Page 12 Case Study - PowerPerfector Case Study - Smurfit Kappa UK

Page 13 Page 13

The Public Sector Page 14 Case Study - Government Office for the West Midlands Page 15 Case Study - West Midlands Police Page 16 The Voluntary Sector Case Study - Birmingham Voluntary Services Council and BeBirmingham projects The Domestic Sector Case Study - Home Energy Conservation Association (HECA) report Case Study - Energy Saving Trust The Education Sector Case Study - Aston University The NHS Sector Case Study - Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Case Study - South Birmingham Primary Care Trust The Transport Sector

Page 17 Page 17 Page 19 Page 19 Page 19 Page 20 Page 20 Page 22 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24

Case Study - Centro Page 24 Notes

Page 25

Contact details

Page 28

Annex 1 2009 Guidelines to Defra/DECC's GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting

Page 29

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Executive Summary

Birmingham’s target, set out in the 2008-11 Local Area Agreement, was to save 120,000 tonnes of CO2e over the year April 2009-March 2010. The purpose of this report is to provide a figure for reporting the CO2e (Carbon Dioxide

equivalent of a range of greenhouse gases) target for Birmingham 2009/10 which is 120,000

tonnes of CO2e saved and to disseminate the good practice reported.

As of 4 June 2010, the total achieved is 120,745 tonnes of CO2e saved.

We asked organisations to send the data on electricity, gas, water, waste and transport

savings made in Birmingham through actions taken from April 2009 to March 2010. We also

asked them to provide details of how savings were made.

The resulting figure reflects current reported good practice, and the number of contributors

grows each year. However, we recognise that there is much activity not captured by this

report.

The CO2e savings for each sector in tonnes is as follows: Private 9,987; Public 22,419;

Voluntary 61; Domestic 83,000; Education 2,779; NHS 2,431 and Transport 58. This shows

that actions by residents and housing providers in Birmingham in improving how we use

energy in our homes are leading the way.

Energy followed by waste reduction measures contributed the most significant amounts to

the CO2e target.

With the publication of Birmingham Climate Change Action Plan which was approved by

cabinet in March 2010 and the additional good practice and business benefits identified

through this year’s monitoring, we recommend that next year’s target of 130,000 tonnes

CO2e should be increased.

In terms of financial savings, the Carbon Trust estimates that a saving of 1 tonne of CO2e, that is achieved through the most cost effective measures (e.g. efficiency, resource reduction), equals £100 business saving. Therefore the financial savings by organisations included in this draft statement could potentially equate to £12,074,500. Difficulties in collating information resulted in a likely undercount of CO2e savings. Organisations which have not been included here are invited to provide data on their carbon savings (please see contact details at the end of this report).

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Figure 1: CO2e savings for 2009-10 by sector

Private

Public

Voluntary

Domestic

Education

NHS

Transport

Table 1: Savings per sector

Sector CO2e savings (tonnes)

Percentage of overall reported savings (%)

Private 9,987 8

Public 22,429 18.6

Voluntary 61 0.05

Domestic 83,000 68.7

Education 2,779 2

NHS 2,431 2

Transport 58 0.05

Total 120,745 100

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Introduction

Birmingham’s Target Birmingham’s Sustainable Community Strategy sets out a target to reduce CO2e emissions by 60% by 2026. In order to make progress towards achieving this, the following local target was set:

2009-10 target to save 120,000 tonnes of CO2e Birmingham’s Emissions by Sector Figure 2: Birmingham’s CO2e emissions by sector- 2006

Non-domestic

45.8%Domestic

35.5%

Road transport

18.7%

DEFRA, Emissions of CO2 for Local Authority Areas, September 2008

Table 2: Birmingham’s CO2e emissions by sector- 2006

Sector

Emissions (Kt CO2)

Non-domestic

2,951,000

Domestic 2,286,000

Travel (road) 1,202,000

Total 6,056,000

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The largest proportion of Birmingham’s emissions comes from the non-domestic sector. Birmingham has over 40,000 businesses, of which the vast majority are SMEs, which are particularly difficult to tackle in terms of measuring and reducing CO2e emissions.

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Findings Table 3: Reported and estimated CO2e (carbon dioxide and equivalent greenhouse gases) savings data for Birmingham organisations 2009/10

Sector Organisation

Key area CO2e saving (tonnes)

Overall CO2e saving (tonnes)

Private Business Link West Midlands’ Improving Your Resource Efficiency programme (13 companies assisted - improved business processes)

Energy Water

295.5 0.8

296

Brindleyplace Energy Waste

50.6 486.3

537

Calthorpe Estates Energy 1.3 1

Enpure

Energy Transport

25.9 58.6

85

Haldex Concentric Pumps Limited

Energy Water Waste Transport

1,953.4 0.1

511.2 72.9

2,538

International Synergies Ltd Transport 25 25

Mitchell and Butlers

Energy Waste Transport

1,032.2 578 3.7

1,614

NEC Group Energy Water Waste

1,664.7 37.4

364.5

2,067

New World Solar Energy Waste Transport

121.4 0.9 0.8

123

PowerPerfector (13 installations of energy saving devices in Birmingham)

Energy 1,337.6 1,338

Smurfit Kappa UK Energy 1,361.9 1,362

Willmott Dixon Energy Transport

2.4 0.5

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Public Advantage West Midlands premises Waste 20.6 20.6

Advantage West Midlands: Wood Waste Recycling in Tyseley

Waste

5,440

5,440

Gambling Commission

Energy Water Waste Transport

9.9 0.3 65

0.3

76

Government Office for the West Water 0.7 1

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Midlands (GOWM)

Birmingham City Council - energy Energy 1,973 1,973

Birmingham City Council - household waste

Waste 14,413.9 14,414

Birmingham City Council - vehicles Transport 440.2 440

West Midlands Police Energy 64.8 65

Voluntary Birmingham Voluntary Services Council and BeBirmingham projects (Women’s Aid, SIFA (Supporting Independence From Alcohol) Fireside and Castle Vale Community Regeneration Services)

Energy Waste

49.1 1.3

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Cotteridge Quaker Meeting House Energy 1.7 2

Groundwork UK premises and travel

Other 9.2 9

Domestic Home Energy Conservation Association (HECA) report - Birmingham City Council’s programme to improve housing (mainly public owned housing) and supported by Energy Saving Trust for private housing.

Energy 83,000 83,000

Education Aston University

Energy Water

2,340.6 20.7

2,362

University of Birmingham Energy 417.4 417

NHS Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals

Energy Water Other

651 791 691

2,133

South Birmingham Primary Care Trust

Energy 298 298

Transport

Centro premises

Energy Waste Transport

35.7 12.4

9.8

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Total 120,745

Key Black - Accurately calculated savings Red - An informed estimate Green - Potential Annual Carbon Savings (the CO2e saving possible if the action had taken place at the start of the financial year) ‘Other’ - The breakdown of savings per key area is unavailable.

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Table 4: Key areas of savings

Key area Carbon Savings (tonnes)

Energy Water Waste Transport Other

96,689 853

21,894 612 700

Total 120,745

69% of CO2e savings that are accounted for come from the domestic sector, compared with the 35.5% of emissions that are produced by this sector according to the most recent figures (table 2). This difference is a result of a more comprehensive recording method for the domestic sector. Non-domestic savings are likely to have been much higher than the figure recorded here. This undercount is due to the difficulty of collecting information from this sector. Interviews with a number of organisations indicated that savings had been made, but figures had not been recorded. Furthermore, only a small sample of the city’s non-domestic sector was contacted, due to a lack of resource to contact over 40,000 businesses and an unknown additional number of other non-domestic organisations. The very small contribution from travel demonstrates that it is even more difficult to measure emissions in this sector, and almost certainly represents an undercount. It also signifies the challenging nature of the task to reduce emissions from road transport.

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The Private Sector

Total private sector saving: 9,987 tonnes

Actions resulting in CO2e savings:

- Business Link West Midlands’ Improving Your Resource Efficiency programme (BLWM IYRE) (see case study)

- Brindleyplace’s savings have been achieved through tighter

monitoring measures mainly in the areas businesses share in the complex. Brindleyplace continues to recycle at source wherever possible and has stepped up its campaign to maximise the separation of cardboard and glass waste. In addition, the renegotiation of the waste contract resulted in 100% diversion from landfill ensuring that the residual waste was used to generate energy to power homes in Birmingham.

- Calthorpe Estates made savings by leasing an electric vehicle

via the CABLED scheme to reduce business mileage around Edgbaston. The scheme began inDecember 2009 so no annual savings were available as yet.

- Enpure’s savings were made by measuring the gas and electricity consumption and then looking at areas where savings could be made. The reduction in the travel footprint was due to fewer flights made over the year.

- Haldex Concentric Pumps Limited made savings through staff

behavioural changes (e.g. turning off lighting or equipment), using more energy efficient equipment and machinery. They also used Ultra Filtration for splitting water from oil based metal cutting fluids for reuse of water and recycled or reuse waste. Using more fuel efficient vehicles helped to cut their transport emissions.

- International Synergies Ltd saved electricity by having a

switch off campaign in their offices in Birmingham but as yet do not have the data for this. Their paper consumption fell by approx 65% by printing on both sides and increased awareness of office paper usage via an awareness campaign. They reduced petrol consumption by using more efficient vehicles.

- . - Mitchell and Butlers installed Low Energy Lighting and

Voltage Optimisers. They conducted extensive training with staff relating to best practices and reducing wastage outside of trade hours. They have increased the amount of material

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that they recycle. Meetings are now grouped together to minimise repetitive journeys and they use video conferencing.

- . - NEC Group has installed energy efficient lighting, new air conditioning units, water

efficient toilets and enzyme dosing to urinals. They control equipment usage through Building Management Systems (BMS), use of district combined heat and power (CHP) scheme and have ongoing staff awareness campaigns. They have an onsite pre-treatment centre employing 6 fulltime staff to sort out exhibition waste have encouraged use of public transport, car sharing etc.

- . - New World Solar saved 121 tonnes of CO2e through their renewable energy

installations. They also recycle and have switch vehicle fleet to band A carbon emission vehicles.

- . - PowerPerfector (see case study) - . - Smurfit Kappa UK (see case study) - . - Willmott Dixon has increased the energy-efficiency of their cabins to have A-rated

appliances, low-energy fittings, new energy-efficient boilers, heating timers or thermostats, increased air-tightness and other energy-saving devices fitted as standard. In addition, double glazing, zoned lighting, daylight sensors and passive infrared sensors are installed as standard on all new open plan Moduflex cabin systems, with these as an optional extra in standard modular cabins. Diesel saved was through use of efficient generators and plant on-site. To raise awareness of sustainability issues among their supply chain, they issued an interactive sustainable development training module to all key subcontractors.

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Case study: Business Link West Midlands’ Improving Your Resource Efficiency programme (BLWM IYRE) Total savings 2009-10: 296 tonnes Business Link provides impartial and expert information, support and advice needed to help businesses develop and make them more successful.

25 companies in Birmingham have received a BLWM IYRE diagnostic. At present, only the potential savings data from 13 of the companies is available. The potential financial savings for these companies from their initiatives is £110,458. The savings come from a mix of resource efficiency initiatives identified through their resource efficiency audits. Energy

Implementing energy saving 'switch off' campaigns.

Replacing energy inefficient lighting systems.

Repairing leaks from compressed air systems on manufacturing sites.

Identifying out of hours energy consumption through site energy footprinting (this is an exercise where a clients half hourly energy data over a time period is presented pictorially).

Implementing recovery systems to capture waste heat that is generated from manufacturing processes.

Investing in renewable energy solutions, in particular waste to energy (biomass) type plants.

Water

Implement technology such as reverse osmosis for the recovery of waste water.

Waste

Diverting waste from landfill by improving segregation or exchanging waste with other companies rather than disposing.

Transport

Implementing sustainable travel plans to reduce transport mileage impacts.

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Case study: PowerPerfector Total savings 2009-10: 1,338 tonnes

PowerPerfector is a Voltage Power Optimiser, giving energy, carbon and cost savings by efficiently optimising a site’s supply voltage. By optimising the voltage, electrical equipment runs more efficiently and consumes less energy. Energy

PowerPerfector installed 13 of their units in Birmingham from April 2009 – March 2010 at the following sites: HMP Birmingham; ASDA; Government Office for the West Midlands; Tesco and a hotel, a utilities company and a health and fitness centre. (Names have been omitted for client confidentiality.)

PowerPerfector unit

Case study: Smurfit Kappa UK

Total savings 2009-10: 1,362 tonnes

Smurfit Kappa UK is one of the country's leading corrugated packaging manufacturers, also operating a recycling division complete with paper mills. Energy

Smurfit Kappa UK’s Birmingham site reduced its energy use through the following initiatives:

Change of air compressor

Reducing speed of vacuum pumps

Change to low energy warehouse lighting

Biogas generated by a water treatment plant

Birmingham SKK site

Transport

One hybrid (petrol/electric) company vehicle to replace diesel previously used.

Increased use of bicycles or motorcycles by several employees in place of cars.

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The Public Sector

Total public sector saving: 22,429 tonnes

Actions resulting in CO2e savings:

- Advantage West Midlands' estate saved by recycling mixed waste, cardboard and residual materials as well as items such as batteries.

- Advantage West Midlands/WRAP Programme has supported a Birmingham-based company Wood Waste Recycling. They awarded capital funding of £45 k towards a total investment of £183,750 to increase the recycling capacity from 11 k tonnes per annum to 19 k tonnes per annum in 2010/11 and save wood waste from being diverted from landfill.

- The Gambling Commission made savings by recycling, installing light sensors in office and rooms, video conferencing, conference calls, installing dual flush toilets, turning PCs off at night, introducing low energy strip lights, reducing temperatures and turning building boilers off for longer periods.

- Government Office for the West Midlands (see case study) - Birmingham City Council made energy savings through the Birmingham District

Energy Scheme and waste savings. A decrease in residual waste per household (from from 757.52kg to 706kg) and an increase in recycling up from 30% to 32%. Tonnage ofhousehold waste collected is down by 21,720 tonnes. We anticipate that this is because people have been buying less and wasting less food partly due to the recession. Also some businesses have improved packaging so it is lighter weight.

- West Midlands Police (see case study)

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Case study: Government Office for the West Midlands (GOWM) Total savings 2009-10: 1 tonne of CO2e (energy savings figures were not included as they would overlap with data from PowerPerfector).

GOWM work to deliver, influence and develop government programmes and initiatives in the region on behalf of these departments, by working with relevant organisations to meet local needs. They also act as ears, eyes and a local voice for Whitehall in the West Midlands, reflecting back to central government the interests, concerns and successes of the region to inform policy development. Energy

Implemented all recommendations of a Carbon Trust review of the building (in 2008).

Installed smarter boiler controls added to the gas boilers (and including switching off the system in the summer months) which have significantly reduced gas usage.

Installed a Powerperfector (voltage optimiser).

Installed movement controlled lighting in all toilet areas.

Completely recalibrated the Building Management System (BMS) and installed variable speed drives to fan coil units.

Increased activity from the Going Green campaign, our internal environmental management campaign to keep staff engaged in reducing energy usage.

Re-appraised DEC has moved from “a high G to a low F.” Despite all this the electricity reduction figure for 09/10 is slightly disappointing and down on their expectations. The efforts put in by all and initiatives undertaken have been unfortunately countered (in energy usage reduction) by the increased occupancy of the building (an increase in occupancy of approximately 50 – 60%), and other factors associated with this. Further measures which will be undertaken in 2010 include a complete refit of all lighting within the building and the installation of manual switching for wall to floor electricity supply. Water

A waterless system was sourced and installed. Waste

Recycled 89% of all waste due to the implementation of a comprehensive waste disposal system.

Due to incomplete data GOWM were unable to provide a figure for waste CO2e savings. Transport

Increased the use of teleconferencing facilities

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Purchased vide conferencing facilities

All existing paid for parking spaces for staff have now been abolished. GOWM were unable to submit figures for transport CO2e savings.

Case study: West Midlands Police Total savings 2009-10: 65 tonnes

West Midlands Police is the second largest police force in the country, covering an area of 348 square miles and serving a population of almost 2.6 million. Energy

West Midlands Police has a programme of boiler replacement to improve efficiency.

Associated pipework and valves are insulated.

Automatic light switching, energy saving bulbs and light units are used where possible. Automated heating and airconditioning switching and programming is used.

Water

Water saving devices (cistern misers, automated taps) are used in certain buildings. Transport

West Midlands Police is currently trialling an electric vehicle (Mitsubishi i MiEV).

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The Voluntary Sector

Total voluntary sector saving: 61 tonnes

Actions resulting in CO2e savings:

- Birmingham Voluntary Services Council and BeBirmingham projects (Women’s Aid, Supporting Independence From Alcohol (SIFA) Fireside and Castle Vale Community Regeneration Services) (see case study)

- Cotteridge Quaker Meeting House – saving were made through lighting replacement, dry lining, double glazing, roof insulation and replacement of electric storage heaters. They also installed dual flush toilets and they recycle but savings from these were not monitored.

- Groundwork UK – saving were made through implementation of an Environmental Management System.

Case study: Birmingham Voluntary Services Council and BeBirmingham projects (Women’s Aid, SIFA Fireside and Castle Vale Community Regeneration Services) Total savings 2009-10: 50 tonnes Birmingham Voluntary Services Council (BVSC) supports voluntary action in Birmingham. They provide information, advice and guidance to third sector organisations. The Birmingham Environmental Partnership is part of Be Birmingham, the city’s Local Strategic Partnership. It brings together the public, private and voluntary sectors, to provide leadership and ensure joined-up working on environmental and sustainability issues. BVSC and Be Birmingham - Birmingham Environmental Partnership initiated the savings made in the projects below. Carbon savings have been taken from the final report by Groundwork Environmental Business Service who were the consultants.

Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid Birmingham & Solihull Women’s Aid provides services for women and children who have been affected by the experience of domestic violence, rape and sexual assault.

Energy

To reduce electricity use for heating at the refuge in North Birmingham, they changed from constant power to storage heaters in heating season, to 4 hours daily, plus 8 hours night charge. This was estimated to reduce heating electricity by half.

They reduced gas use at refuges by 10%, by reducing thermostats and radiator

valves, paying closer attention to setting timers, and other good housekeeping

measures.

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They reduced electricity use at the offices by 5%, due to closer attention to switching

off appliances and lights, and other good housekeeping measures.

Supporting Independence From Alcohol (SIFA) Fireside SIFA Fireside works alongside those who are socially excluded or disadvantaged, addressing alcohol issues and homelessness and empowering and supporting people to meet their short and long term goals. Energy

They reduced gas usage at Lower Essex Street by 28%, through reducing heating by 3

hours per day.

They reduced electricity usage at both sites by 5% through switch-off campaigns.

Waste

All cardboard is taken out of the general waste stream at both sites and recycled.

Castle Vale Community Regeneration Services Castle Vale Community Housing Association manages the day to day running of the sanctuary. A community building housing 12 voluntary organisations providing advice and guidance on a wide range of issues including domestic violence and victim support. Energy

They reduced gas usage by 27% through lowering office thermostat setting in the

evenings, which would reduce heating by 3 hours per day.

Electricity usage was reduced at both sites by 5% through switch-off campaigns.

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The Domestic Sector

Total domestic sector saving: 83,000 tonnes

Actions resulting in CO2e savings: HECA report and Energy Saving Trust

Case study: Homes Energy Conservation Association (HECA) report Total savings 2009-10: 83,000 tonnes The HECA report identifies practical and cost effective measures that significantly improve the energy efficiency of all types of residential accommodation in the local authority’s area. The measures include information, advice, education and promotion as well as grants or loans and carrying out specific works such as insulation. Birmingham City Council worked with N-Power under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) programme to deliver a wide range of measures designed improve domestic energy efficiency and carbon reductions as a result of heating and insulation programmes across the city.

Energy Birmingham City Council, as part of the Birmingham City Housing Improvement Programme installed:

Cavity Wall Insulation to 1,514 dwellings citywide

Loft Insulation to 2,213 dwellings citywide

External Insulation to 234 dwellings (mixture of flats and houses) dwellings citywide.

Case study: Energy Saving Trust Total savings 2009-10: 62,276 tonnes (not included in overall figure in table 2) Energy Saving Trust (EST) does not have any staff or buildings based within Birmingham, so their saving contribution is from their role in influencing others - chiefly domestic consumers - to take action and to provide advice, support and resources to deliver carbon reduction. Energy

2,005 boiler replacements (including boiler scrappage scheme)

135 loft insulation top ups

58 cavity Wall Insulations

170 lofts (virgin)

10,089 savings from advice given (advice incidents) Energy advisors

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The Education Sector

Total education sector saving: 2,779 tonnes

Actions resulting in CO2e savings: Aston University (see case study) and University of Birmingham

Case study: Aston University

Total savings 2009-10: 2,362 tonnes

Aston is a long established research-led University known for its world-class teaching quality

and strong links to industry, government and commerce. Aston University is based in the

centre of Birmingham, their 40 acre campus houses all the University's academic, social and

accommodation facilities for their 9,500 students.

Energy

Funding provided by the Salix Revolving Green Fund enabled the university to implement the following energy efficiency projects: o Installation of energy efficient lighting in library building o Upgrade of five boilers on campus o Insulation and repair of pipework around campus o Installation of efficient ventilation drivers in library building.

They also completed their on-site 3MW CHP plant in October 2009 which has led to a 20% reduction in emissions from energy use.

The Student Switch Off campaign, running from October 2008 - May 2009 and again from October 2009 - present has resulted in approximately 11% savings on energy use in halls of residence.

They are signed up to the 10:10 commitment to reduce carbon emissions from energy and travel by 10% during 2010. As part of this, the Aston Go Green Awards, rewarding staff and departments who act sustainably, were launched in January 2010 and received very positively.

Water

They installed water-efficient urinals on campus.

The campus lake was relined in March 2010 to stop leakage; it is hoped that this will reduce water use by around 2%. Projected annual CO2 savings are around 0.73 tonnes.

Waste

Distribution of mini recycling centres began in October 2009 with a target to increase recycling/reduce waste to landfill by 20% during 2009/10. Their current annual waste to landfill tonnage is around 380 tonnes.

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Textile recycling banks were installed on campus in and battery recycling facilities were introduced in March 2009 and between then and now, 250 kg of batteries have been taken for recycling. They have also sent 35 boxes of books for reuse and recycling.

Transport

They promoted cycling and walking through a number of bike sales, support of National Bike Week in June 2009 and the installation of 6 new cycle shelters on campus.

The Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Julia King, has used an electric Smart car during the year (as they purchase renewable energy, this is a zero emissions vehicle).

They reduced stationery deliveries from daily to twice weekly.

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National Health Service (NHS)

Total NHS sector saving: 2,431 tonnes

Actions resulting in CO2e savings: Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital and South Birmingham Primary Care Trust

Case study: Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals

Total savings 2009-10: 2133 tonnes

Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust is one of the largest teaching trusts in the United Kingdom with a reputation for excellent staff who provide high quality care from hospitals including City Hospital in Birmingham.

Within the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals the following changes took place:

Expansion of the Trust Centralised Building Management System.

Enhanced thermal insulation provision to steam/hot water pipe work and bespoke insulated covers for valves and fittings.

Replacement of steam condensate return pumps. The estimated total capital cost is £429,500 and the estimated revenue savings is £199,000. The estimated payback period for the three schemes is 2.16 years.

City Hospital Birmingham Treatment Birmingham and Midland Eye

Centre Centre

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Case study: South Birmingham Primary Care Trust Total savings 2009-10: 298 tonnes NHS South Birmingham currently commissions services for a population of 383,000 people. Their Primary Care Services include 65 GP practices, 70 General Dental Practitioners, 85 community Pharmacists, and 51 Opticians. Energy Reduction in energy use was achieved against a background of a 0.73% colder year than 2008/9. The savings are a result of direct investment principally in a more efficient boiler plant and controls plus new greater efficiency general lighting and a staff campaign to try to reduce energy consumption by good housekeeping.

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The Transport Sector

Total transport sector saving: 58 tonnes

Case study: Centro Total savings 2009-10: 58 tonnes Centro, the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority, promotes and develops public transport across the region.

In 2009, Centro produced its Environmental Strategy (2009-15) and Action Plan.

Centro formed an Environmental Working Group to lead on the implementation of the Environmental Strategy’s Action Plan. Key areas of work being implemented include, raising environmental awareness, developing a Green Transport Charter and producing a design guide to ensure that sustainable design measures and products are embedded in public transport infrastructure builds and refurbishments.

They are also working towards the Carbon Trust standard Certificate and are implementing processes to measure, monitor and reduce its carbon impact.

Sustainability considerations are included within Centro Procurement Strategy.

Centro is a signatory to the UITP (Internal Public Transport Organisation) Sustainable Development Charter making a commit to demonstrate our commitment to sustainable development and report on measurable actions and policies.

Centro are raising staff awareness through various initiatives, including: o Promoting environmental awareness in Centro's In-House

newsletter (articles have included energy conservation and waste reduction/recycling)

o Sharing environmental information using staff notice boards o Produced an environmental information booklet for staff and information for new

starters. o Marking key environmental days (e.g. Green Office Week, World Environment Day).

Energy

Centro has recently refurbished Centro House and have installed motion

sensor/energy efficient lighting within open plan offices.

Waste

Within the period Centro has increased the number of waste streams being recycled.

New recycling bins have been introduced throughout Centro House.

Transport

Centro is implementing its Staff Travel Plan.

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Notes

Methodology

We asked organisations to send the data on electricity, gas, water, waste and transport savings made in Birmingham through actions taken from April 2009 to March 2010. We also asked them to provide details of how savings were made.

We used the 2009 Guidelines to Defra/DECC's GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting to convert energy, waste and transport data to carbon savings (see Annex 1 for conversion tables). Severn Trent Water provided the following conversion for water: 1Ml (mega litre) water = 377 Kg CO2e.

If the organisation already calculated data on its carbon savings, we used their figures.

Savings should result from actions taken between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 unless these savings were not realised until this period. E.g. Energy efficient measures taken in March 2009 may only have resulted in savings in 09/10 so these can be included. In certain cases the potential annual savings (capacity) of actions were included instead of the actual savings during the 09/10 year as the action was taken late in the financial year.

Only data on savings were collected i.e. this did not include any net increases in the use of energy, water, waste or transport.

Exceptions

There were the following exceptions to the above criteria:

Business Link West Midlands' Improving Your Resource Efficiency programme's data shows the potential (not actual) energy, water and financial savings.

Brindleyplace's waste management scheme has been improved since last year, to avoid counting last year's CO2e savings again; the amount saved last year (32 tonnes) has been removed from the figures used.

International Synergies figures assume that a litre costs £1 and the data is averaged over the period March 2009 to December 2009.

Mitchell and Butlers' figures are relative to information from October 2008 to September 2009 and are adjusted if something significant changed. The overall company figures were reduced to reflect the number of businesses that they have in Birmingham.

PowerPerfector's figures are estimates and are based on the capacity of their 13 installations is Birmingham.

Smurfit Kappa's electricity figure is based on January 2009 to December 2009, their gas figure is an estimate based on January 2010 to March 2010.

Birmingham City Council (BCC)'s fuel data is an estimate based on fuel use from January 2009 to March 2009 compared to fuel use from January 2010 to March 2010. This was adjusted to represent one year.

Birmingham City Council (BCC)'s waste figures are lower than those for the previous financial year. The CO2e savings figures are based on the CO2e emissions that have resulted if this waste hadn't been reduced. When converting tonnes of household

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waste into CO2e emissions, the conversion factors used in last year's reporting were used for consistency. These are as follows:

o 1 tonne of waste land filled = 0.0497 tonnes of carbon o 1 tonne of waste incinerated = 0.614 tonnes of carbon (note this does not take into

account electric generation)

If the Defra/DECC's GHG conversion factor for municipal waste was used, 1 tonne of virgin material = 2.86 tonnes of CO2e emitted, so the above factors give a very conservative figure.

The HECA report data is an estimate of the savings made by BCC's programme for all housing in Birmingham. Whilst the official reporting timescales which ran up to 2005 have now ended continued reporting enables local authorities to provide an estimate of CO2e saving achieved as result of its activities for saving energy and CO2e targeted at housing.

University of Birmingham's figures are provisional and are based on a financial year from August 2009 to July 2010.

Double counting

To avoid double counting the same savings:

All domestic waste is included in Birmingham City Council figures. As Government Office for the West Midlands (GOWM) is one of the organisations

listed under PowerPerfector's savings, the GOWM figure for energy has not been included as part of the overall GOWM CO2e saving.

Where data protection led to the inclusion of data from unnamed organisations, we checked that these organisations were not already included with the person supplying the figures.

For housing only data from the HECA report (which is 83,000 tonnes of CO2e saved) has been included. This has also been done to avoid any overlap and for consistency as only HECA report was included in last year's report. The Energy Saving Trust has reported CO2e savings of 62,276 tonnes based on its influence on private sector housing to take action and to provide advice, support and resources to deliver carbon reduction. The domestic sector figure we have reported is therefore very conservative. We recommend that this is reviewed when setting and monitoring targets for 2010/11.

Exclusions

There were many cases where organisations did not collect data, were awaiting external audit or felt their data was unreliable which means that carbon savings have not been included despite actions to reduce emissions.

Data from Severn Trent Water, Birmingham City Council, Birmingham International Airport Ltd. and the Energy Saving Trust were not included for the following reasons:

Severn Trent Water could not separate Birmingham from their data on the region savings so they have not been included. Regional savings amounted to 10,911 tonnes of CO2e saved.

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Birmingham City Council internal carbon management estimates savings of 4943 tonnes of CO2e saved. These are currently being verified so have not been included.

Birmingham International Airport Ltd. Made CO2e savings of 242 tonnes but have not been included as they are located outside of Birmingham.

Energy Saving Trust's figure of 62,276 tonnes was not included as there is a possibility of double counting with the HECA figure. See notes above on double counting.

Potential financial savings

In terms of financial savings, the Carbon Trust estimates that a saving of 1 tonne of CO2e, that is achieved through the most cost effective measures (e.g. efficiency, resource reduction), equals £100 business saving. Therefore the financial savings by organisations included in this draft statement could potentially equate to £12,074,500.

Underestimate of CO2e savings

As discussed above, the domestic sector figure is conservative as only the HECA report figure has been included and Energy Saving Trust reported savings of 62,276 tonnes of CO2e saved.

Only a small proportion of the accounted for savings come from outside of the domestic sector. This is due to 3 main reasons:

Lack of resources to contact more than 40,000 organisations directly . Many organisations do not measure CO2e savings. The proximity of Birmingham's report back to the end of the reporting year (31

March) meant that the majority of organisations who do measure their carbon footprint had not yet undertaken this for 2009-10.

Suggested improvements for next year

The following measures could help to address the above issues leading to an underestimate of CO2e savings:

The domestic figure could be calculated to include any savings through actions not reported in the HECA report.

An increase in time and resources could lead to more organisations being contacted. Many organisations will measure their CO2e savings due to newly introduced legal

requirements which will lead to more being included in next year's data. If the report came out in July rather than June more organisations which measure

their CO2e savings could be counted. The 2010/11 this target needs to be revised to reflect the new information from this

report. The report could collect data in terms of net reduction, including both increases as

well as savings rather than only collecting the savings.

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Contact details For more information, or if you would like to report your savings, please contact Keith Budden, Birmingham Environmental Partnership Manager on 0121 464 9169 or [email protected].

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Annex 1: 2009 Guidelines to Defra/DECC's GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting For electricity (Annex 3, 2007), natural gas (Annex 1), waste (Annex 9) and travel (Annex 6) the total CO2e conversion factor was used in calculations. The website address to the 2009 Guidelines to Defra/DECC's GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting is http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/reporting/conversion-factors.htm.