By the Energy Reduction Manager (Michael Potter), RBWM.

The Energy Manager stated a company called Stark collated all of the Council’s corporate half hourly energy consumption data; that included energy consumption data from the Council’s mandatory half hourly meters, non-half hourly meters and automatic meter reading gas meters. He added that the half hourly data collated from the smart meters and mandatory half hourly meters could be reported in various formats. The data could be shown over various reporting periods such as daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.

The Energy Manager continued to explain that Stark could produce many different reporting formats using the data over the various reporting periods; some of that allowed more detailed analysis and some provided overview management information.

The Energy Manager directed Members of the Panel to page 31 of the report which detailed the top ten high energy intensity sites. He explained that car parks were on a different intensity ratio to other sites. The key issues highlighted were that River Street public convenience, Oakley Green Cemetery and Eton Library are sites with high electrical intensity. Eton Library were looking for replacement heating systems as a result of their high consumption. The Energy Manager also reported that the Manor Youth Centre’s gas consumption issues had been resolved and they had reduced their usage by 50%. When looking at gas and electricity consumption combined, some sites were still using more than expected. The Energy Manager stated he was going to investigate the public convenience at Riverside as the overnight consumption was still very high.

The Energy Manager explained how waterless urinals worked and how he was putting together a water baseline. To start looking at how the Borough could reduce its water usage he was looking into waterless urinals being installed in public buildings and public conveniences. The financial benefit of waterless urinals was estimated at between £100 to £200 per year; per urinal. The Energy Manager did not have the costs of the waterless urinals but, he explained they had a fast pay back rate of under five years. He added there were a number of different systems available in the market.

The Vice-Chairman stated he was not ready for a presentation at that point but that it was something worth investigating further. The Head of Governance, Partnerships, Performance & Policy (Monitoring Officer) stated a scoping paper would be organised for a future meeting.

The Energy Manager explained the Sustainability Strategy Action Plan for 2016/17 and stated the proposed sustainability Strategy Action plan for the coming year could be found in Appendix two of the report. It was recommended that the action plan be adopted in order for the Council to meet its strategy targets and aims. He added there was further investigative work to do on the LED projects and he was unable to confirm the waste target so that would be provided at a future meeting.

Councillor E. Wilson asked if there was a section in Around the Royal Borough where the Borough could show how much energy it is saving and what it is projecting to save. He added that a regular article and the column in Around the Royal borough could include a running total which would be updated each issue.

The Energy Manager explained to Members that the third recommendation of the report was that the large display screen in the foyer is used to display a slideshow showing the savings and positive work of the Sustainability Panel. The vice-Chairman stated he did not want a slideshow, he wanted something that displayed real-time events. The Head of Governance, Partnerships, Performance & Policy (Monitoring Officer) confirmed that was possible but at a cost. Councillor E. Wilson stated that he knew a school that had an electronic scoreboard displayed in their foyer with a card explaining what all the figures displayed meant. It showed figures for things like the school saved enough energy last year to publish 5,000 books. The Head of Governance, Partnerships, Performance & Policy (Monitoring Officer) stated it would need to be changed on a regular basis so people had access to the latest information. Councillor Mills stated there had been a letter printed in the local press saying the Town Hall should have solar panels on the roof. She added the Town Hall did have solar panels but that people did not know about it. The Borough needed to advertise that more widely.

Councillor E. Wilson commented that Big Belly Bins were a good idea as the solar panels on the lid of the bin provided power to the bin, this makes it possible to electronically let the Local Authority’s contractor responsible for emptying the bins know when the bins were full and to compact the rubbish so they filled up slower and needed emptying less frequently.

v  Action: The Head of Governance, Partnerships, Performance & Policy (Monitoring Officer) to discuss with Councillor Bateson to acquire a regular slot in Around the Royal Borough to show progress on energy save in the Borough.

v  Action: there should be a press release explaining it had been a year since solar panels installed on the Town Hall roof and show savings made.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED: That:

1.    The Panel noted the progress made and decided they were not ready for a waterless urinal supplier to attend a future meeting. They commented on the proposed work plan over the next period as detailed in paragraph 17.24.

2.    The Sustainability Strategy Annual Action Plan 2016/17 was approved subject to confirmation of the waste target. Further details could be found in paragraph 17.8 -17.10 and appendix 2.

3.    The existing large public display screen in the foyer is used to display a slideshow showing the savings and positive work of the Sustainability Panel with real time savings. Further details could be found in paragraphs 17.15 – 17.17