The Opportunity

The government’s Building Energy Efficiency Survey shows that there is potential to reduce emissions and costs from energy utilised in the public and higher education sectors. These sectors use significant amounts of energy, since they have a large number of buildings and extensive landholdings and account for nearly 3% of total UK emissions (traded and non-traded).

In an effort to tackle this, and as part of the Clean Growth Strategy , the UK Government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) released a consultation document "Leading by Example: Cutting Energy Bills and Carbon Emissions in the Public and Higher Education sectors". The consultation sought input from energy stakeholders within these organisations on how we might tackle the challenge!

The Event

To provide a forum for North East of England regional response to the consultation, BEIS, Durham County Council and the EPSRC National Centre for Energy Systems Integration (CESI) jointly hosted a group consultation event. The event provided an introduction to the consultation from BEIS and allowed an open forum to discuss the savings potential for the region’s Public and Higher Education sectors.