National Trust commits to 50 per cent reduction in fossil fuel use by 2020

Just add solar panels

Britain's favourite gardener, the National Trust is to reduce its use of fossil fuels by 50 per cent within the next 10 years, using a mix of micro generation schemes and cutting heating at its sites by 20 per cent.

The move will reduce the Trust’s carbon emissions from energy use for heat and electricity by 45 per cent, beating the Government’s target of a 34 per cent reduction by 2020.

It should save money for the Trust too, which currently spends around £6 million a year on power and heating for its buildings. In 2008 the Trust used 86,193MWh, equivalent to the energy used by 4,500 households (for example a town roughly the size of Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire, according to the Trust), emitting nearly 32,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide

“It makes good business sense,” said Fiona Reynolds, director-general of the National Trust. "By cutting our energy consumption and growing our own energy, locally, from renewable sources we will have more money to spend on the places we look after, and a more sustainable and resilient operation."

The feed in tariffs and the proposed Renewable Heat Incentive will help financially, the Trust says, and it anticipates that most of the schemes will break-even within the next 10 years.

“It will also give us greater energy security so that we’re not subject to fluctuating energy prices," added Reynolds.

The Trust has plans to install more than 50 wood fuel boilers into its mansions and larger buildings over the next five years. The fuel will be sourced either from Trust estates or local suppliers.

Other projects include solar panels on the roof of Grade I listed Dunster Castle in Somerset, a wind turbine at Middlehouse Farm in Malhamand and wood-pellet boilers at Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire and Scotney Castle in Kent.

The Trust already has more than 140 renewable energy systems in operation on its UK sites, with an installed capacity of 2.3MW heating and over 1MW of elec tricity generation

The initiative will involve the Trust’s entire building stock of historic houses, office buildings, visitor centres and holiday cottages.