As energy becomes more expensive and our efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions grow more intensive, energy efficiency is increasingly vital. That this is the case is clearly shown by the success of the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) the Bristol-based non-profit that has been advising people on the subject for thirty years.
Today CSE employs forty people, having moving from the Create Centre to offices on Bedminster Parade, and at any one time it is involved in fifty-plus separately-funded projects around the UK. These range from studies of fuel poverty to an exercise in stimulating demand for biomass heating. CSE also plays the role of consultant, for example in assisting Devon County Council with its Renewable Energy Strategy.
CSE's overriding aim is to seek sustainable energy solutions that engage people and communities to meet real needs for both environmentally sound and affordable energy services. Working with the University of Bristol, CSE has developed a working Fuel Poverty Indicator, which can be used to predict fuel poverty and is thus a valuable weapon in the government's campaign to eliminate it.
The city council has its own team dedicated to increasing energy efficiency: the Energy Management Unit. Having achieved great success during the 1990s in making council buildings more efficient, the EMU is now working towards these challenging goals:
To reduce the city council's energy consumption by 10% of the 2003/04 figure by 2010
To buy 15% of the city council's electricity from renewable sources by 2010
To actively promote a sustainable energy future for the city
To reduce the carbon emissions of the council by 3% year on year up to 2020
The EMU's work is based around a Carbon Reduction Strategy, adopted in 2007, as well as the council's Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Strategy. It is also closely involved with the council's exploration of biomass as an alternative to fossil fuels for heating.
Following the success of the first biomass boiler at Blaise Nursery, the EMU is investigating the installation of biomass boilers at The Park, The Museum of Bristol, Ashton Court Mansion House, and Bristol South Pool.