Westmorland and Furness Council has been awarded £370,000 to carry out a major decarbonisation assessment of its 69 schools.
The cash, from the Government’s Low Carbon Skills Fund, will be used to look at where changes and improvements can be made to increase the green credentials of buildings and how budget savings could be achieved on school energy costs.
Council officers undertook a review to support the application, the results of which looked into energy usage at every school, through a combination of energy certificates, reports and physical assessments.
Councillor Peter Thornton, Westmorland and Furness Council’s cabinet member for highways and assets, said: “We spend £4.3 million every year on maintenance and this study will allow us to understand the scale of funding needed to upgrade them for the benefit of pupils, staff and the environment when assessing funding opportunities.”
The final report is expected to outline proposals for improvements to the buildings through work such as better insulation and options for introducing renewable energy to help schools run more efficiently and reduce costs.
Westmorland and Furness Council will be going out to tender in the autumn to produce a carbon management plan for each school by the end of March next year.
