The people and the place
In the early 1990s, following the Rio de Janeiro Conference on Sustainable Development, leading Woking Members became interested in what their Council might do to help address climate change. Woking conducted an environmental audit of its work practices and purchasing policies and shortly afterwards started energy saving schemes in council buildings and housing stock.
However, members wanted to have a bigger impact on reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Woking and in particular to meet the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's target to reduce CO2 emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 on 1990 levels. This meant working out how Woking could reduce its CO2 emissions from 1 million tonnes to 400,000 tonnes annually.
By 2002 the Council's policies were embedded in a wide-ranging climate change strategy including plans to adopt a carbon-neutral approach to future services and activities.
At officer level, the key players were: Allan Jones, who was Energy Services Manager at Woking and now leads the London Climate Change Agency; Ray Morgan, who was Executive Director and Director of Finance and is now Woking's Chief Executive; and Mick Company, Climate Change Project Coordinator.
The innovation and the impact
Woking has developed a portfolio of innovative initiatives as part of its climate change strategy. It has remained at the forefront of innovation as the policy agenda and technology in this area have developed.
Woking currently has 13 Combined Heat and Power (CHP) schemes that supply the Council's civic offices, other council buildings, some council owned housing, and a number of town centre customers with heat and power. CHP generates electricity locally and uses the waste heat for space and hot water heating. This process reduces CO2 emissions because it uses natural gas much more efficiently than a conventional power station or boiler and produces both heat and electricity. The Council took technology in use in the private sector and made it work for a local authority.
To capitalise on its sustainable energy innovation more fully Woking needed the finance and expertise of the private sector to fund and implement bigger schemes and so innovated in this area too. Two partnerships were set up. Thameswey Limited (an energy and environmental services company) enters into public/private joint ventures to deliver energy and environmental projects, and Thameswey Energy Limited (a joint venture energy services company with Danish partner Xergi Ltd) finances, builds and operates CHP energy stations for public and commercial customers.
The impact Woking is having on its carbon footprint is impressive. Since the baseline year of 1990, a reduction of 21 per cent in CO2 equivalent emissions Borough-wide has been achieved (as at March 2006). The Borough now has some 9 per cent of the total UK installed photovoltaic (converting light into electricity) capacity. The Council has also reduced heating costs for residents of council homes. Approximately 1,200 council owned properties benefit from low heating and power charges and up to March 2006, 4,489 households had been provided with free or subsidised insulation.
These innovations have spurred further ideas for improvement and efficiency. The Council installed the country's first commercially operating fuel-cell powered CHP plant in Woking Park, which generates electricity using hydrogen reformed from natural gas. In 2001, Woking was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise for Energy Services for its groundbreaking approach to sustainability. It is the only local authority to have won this award.
How did the innovation happen?
The 1995 Energy Act encouraged local authorities to promote energy efficiency, something the Authority had already made a commitment to. Woking's politicians wanted to be more active than the minimum requirements of the Act, and they increased investment in housing stock to make energy savings through insulation of roofs, double-glazing and cavity wall insulation.
Woking had both the managerial and technical skills to support this ambition, and a non-hierarchical council structure. Resources were clearly directed at corporate priorities - with the management team signing off resource allocations collectively. Early work was funded through a £250,000 fund with any savings made ploughed back into energy saving projects.
Once the Council had commenced its environmental and energy saving projects, members started talking about moving beyond energy savings and cash savings and considering how they could make carbon savings. The first step was building the town centre energy station that uses natural gas to generate electricity. The Council uses some of this electricity for its own needs. The technology for the energy station was readily available and being used in the private sector, and Woking's contacts in professional engineering bodies and the energy sector helped with working out the practicalities of making the project viable.
However, it wasn't possible for the Council to develop the energy station on its own so it looked for a joint venture. They began negotiating with London Electricity which introduced them to its Danish technical partner, which was looking for an outlet in the UK. The legal process to set up the company was complex and cost some £300,000. The company was eventually inaugurated in 1999/2000.
Obtaining funding has been important for the feasibility of individual projects in Woking. The Council has received money from a wide range of organisations including: the Carbon Trust; the Energy Savings Trust; the Department of Trade and Industry; and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Woking's climate change measures have led to an 82 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions from its own property. External review has confirmed that Woking has annual exemption from the government's Climate Change Levy.
What helped to get it started?
The innovation dates back to a political desire to reduce the impact of Woking on climate change and its contribution to it has been enabled by the ongoing drive of officers and cross-party support from politicians. Moreover, politicians have a clear vision about outcomes, based on what they see as important to local people.
Ray Morgan, Woking's Chief Executive, articulates the ambition of the Authority in terms of a creativity gap: 'If you are trying to drive improvement or change or innovation, you have to say what you are trying to achieve, you have to articulate what arrangements or resources you need to have in order to achieve it, and you need to realise that between this and where you are now, there is a gap, and that is where innovation gets created'.
Woking successfully cultivated an external outlook on climate change, tapping into professional networks (the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution), and looking outside the sector for ideas. Mick Company meets professional colleagues through the Combined Heat and Power Association and uses publicly available data from the professional bodies to benchmark performance and set targets.
What helped to keep it going?
The Council has monitored progress continuously and there has been ongoing political interest and support. The Council has a cross party Climate Change Working Group that monitors actions and targets under the Climate Change Strategy.
Addressing environmental concerns corporately has also been important in bringing together technical and managerial skills from across the organisation. As Executive Director, Ray Morgan's previous role was cross-cutting, covering the legal and property portfolios.
What helped to share the learning?
Woking has been keen to share its story and success and help other councils benefit from its experience. The Council receives many visitors including from local and central government and has been asked to speak abroad on several occasions. They are also a Beacon authority for both sustainable energy and promoting sustainable communities through the planning process. Ray Morgan still feels that other councils have not responded to the climate change agenda to the same extent.
Officers have been willing to spend time talking to others and networking. In particular, Allan Jones, the Authority's former Energy Services Manager, spent 15 per cent of his time working with government agencies to develop the climate change agenda and has since left Woking to take up a London-wide role.
Challenges along the way
This area of the Council's activity is very technical and not necessarily accessible for politicians or for residents. Woking uses the local magazine and media to communicate its messages on climate change to the public in as straightforward a way as possible.
Funding has always been a potential barrier to Woking's innovative approach. Ray stresses the importance of looking to partners and outside funding sources in order to put together a creative funding package: 'If I can get money from a range of partners for their element of a particular solution, and I can demonstrate to them that the solution exists, then I stand a better chance of getting an outcome.'
What next?
Woking's capacity in this area of its activity has enabled it to consider bigger projects outside the Borough; for example it has contracted with English Partnerships to be the energy provider for a private sector housing development in Milton Keynes.
Woking's overall strategy on climate change is currently being reviewed. Woking wants to strengthen its energy companies. Within Woking the Council is investigating the feasibility of installing a small number of individual wind turbines and is looking at creating 1,000 low carbon homes through raising awareness of and increasing take-up of energy efficiency and micro generation technologies among private householders. Woking is also investigating innovative and economical mini-CHP schemes as part of a plan to make sustainable energy more readily available to domestic users.