National Award for Council Energy Saving Scheme

Lib Dems and Mayor Dave Hodgson Continue Drive to Reduce Carbon

A pioneering council scheme, which is expected to save local taxpayers more than £32,000 every year, has won a prestigious national award.

A system called Evaporative Cooling has been fitted to the data centre at Borough Hall and has been awarded the Best IT/E-Commerce project at the Public Sector Sustainability Awards.

Lib Dem Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, said: "We are working hard to make a real difference in reducing the Council's impact on the environment, and it is great news that this excellent project has been recognised nationally.

"The introduction of evaporative cooling at Borough Hall provides real benefits by reducing our carbon emissions as well as saving more than £32,000 every year in energy costs. Once again this is a win-win situation; a win for the environment and a win for the local taxpayer."

A number of schemes and initiatives at Borough Hall have already reduced the energy consumption. However, the Data Centre in Borough Hall which houses the Council's servers and communications systems and requires constant cooling was a key area where savings could still be made

Evaporative Cooling involves pumping water from the mains supply on to a number of evaporative pads. When the pads are saturated air is drawn through them and the water evaporates. This makes the air much cooler and it is then blown into the data centre through fans.

This technology uses significantly less power than standard air-condition units and is expected to save 274 tonnes of CO₂ and £32,400 in energy costs every year.