Each project focusses on an area that generates emissions and will look to change the way we deliver services to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Buildings
We will make improvements to buildings to reduce energy consumption.
Update: Energy data is being analysed to help with the development of decarbonisation plans and projects for specific Council buildings.
Net carbon zero plans are being integrated into the asset management strategy and existing policies related to building design, refurbishment and maintenance are being reviewed to integrate net zero requirements.
Staff travel
We will work to reduce the number of business and commuting miles travelled and encourage staff to choose low carbon and active travel options.
Update: A travel survey has been developed to capture staff commuting and business travel choices. This information will be collated periodically to ensure information relating to staff travel behaviours and working practices are kept up to date and consider current and future working models.
Research has been completed into staff commuting policies and the aims for a Staff Travel Policy are being developed.
Carbon offsetting
We will use opportunities for carbon offsetting on Council owned land.
Update: Data is being collected to establish the impact of urban trees on Conwy County Borough Council’s carbon footprint, including the estimated canopy cover, urban tree species, diameter and height. A method to capture the required tree data for all tree planting schemes in Conwy is being developed.
We are looking into opportunities for biodiversity enhancements at locations across the county.
A tree nursery has been constructed to facilitate growing locally-harvested trees and seek to maximise the harvesting of species with the greatest carbon absorption potential. There are currently 2000 immature specimens planted in the nursery, once they are more mature they will be planted out in the County.
Since the Council declared its Climate Emergency in May 2019, an additional 2,073 trees have been planted in Conwy County.
We are working with Cartrefi Conwy to share good practice on adjacent property.
Fleet
We will reduce emissions from fuel use in the fleet by using low carbon vehicles.
Update: Data has been analysed relating to fleet age and fuel type as part of profiling the fleet for current and future demand. Research has been completed into workplace electric vehicle charging policies which will be used to develop a policy for Conwy County Borough Council.
Electric vehicle charging infrastructure is being installed at 2 Council sites, Builder Street and Bron y Nant depots.
At Builder Street depot, 7 charging stations will be installed, powered by a 50kw PV array, with some grid resilience, as a pilot to test the efficiency of the PV array in charging electric fleet, including HGVs.
At Bron y Nant depot 6 charging stations will be installed, powered by the grid.
The first of seven electric recycling vehicles (RCV) has been delivered and its performance is being monitored. We are investigating additional sources of funding for the replacement of current Conwy County Borough Council vehicles with low carbon alternatives.
Local Area Energy Plan (LAEP)
We will develop a plan to decarbonise the energy system within Conwy County.
Update: The final plan has been produced and democratic approval was received from Economy & Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet. A programme management workshop was held with Consultants Arup and project documentation will be updated to reflect the outputs from the workshop.
A project management approach will be used to deliver the interventions identified in the LAEP.
Street lighting
We will reduce emissions from street lighting using low carbon technology
Update: The objectives of the Street Lighting LED Carbon Reduction Project have been delivered with approximately 7,300 street lighting lanterns replaced with LEDs. The 1.5GWh target has been exceeded by approximately 3,000kWh.
We are currently trialling the use of PV lighting (SOLAR) as an alternative approach to cable network replacement. Multiple trials are underway at different locations targeting amenity lighting, so as not to impact road safety. Early stage trials have been held during 2022/23 to date and we will continue to monitor the performance of the equipment over the upcoming winter period to determine if the battery capacity and charging method is sufficient to sustain the light through the night.
Solar lighting has been installed at Abergele Road/ Rhuddlan Road roundabout and will also be installed on the trunk road at Capel Curig, on behalf of Welsh Government.
Supply chain
We will work with suppliers to decarbonise Conwy’s supply chain.
Update: We are analysing spend data and the carbon impact of the Council’s key suppliers including supplier location, supplier type and spending department.
Questions are being drafted for potential suppliers to establish how they monitor their carbon emissions and the Corporate Procurement Strategy is being reviewed to integrate supply chain decarbonisation.