Nottingham City Council won two awards at the East Midlands Energy Efficiency and Healthy Homes awards last night. The event gave recognition to East Midlands’ organisations for their excellence in delivering energy efficiency schemes and innovations. Set up in 2014 their aim is to help motivate the energy efficiency sector to reduce energy bills, tackle fuel poverty and reduce Carbon emissions.

Nottingham City Council was awarded the prestigious Council of the Year award in recognition of its efforts to reduce energy bills and tackle climate change. Recent central government statistics show a 33% reduction in the city’s carbon emissions since 2005, beating the target set by the Council to reach a 26% reduction by 2020. A major part of this achievement was due to schemes to tackle Nottingham’s cold and energy inefficient homes, helping those in the worst fuel poverty whilst also making strides on the City’s carbon emissions.

The Council has tackled domestic energy bills through its cross-city energy efficiency scheme – Greener HousiNG –delivered with Nottingham City Homes and Nottingham Energy Partnership. To fund these schemes, Nottingham City Council secured one of the highest shares of Government funding of all UK councils. Over 2,500 private homes and 4,200 social houses have been insulated in the city, as well as fitting solar panels to provide free electricity to 4,000 Nottingham City Homes tenants.

The Council is also leading by example and reducing energy demand from its own operations; saving money to safeguard front line services and to reduce its carbon footprint. The council has implemented a variety of clean technologies to reduce energy demand as well as to generate their own energy to reduce demand on the grid and to increase the local low carbon supply.

The Council won a second award, Regional Small Scale Project of the Year, alongside EvoEnergy for their solar car parks at Harvey Hadden and Ken Martin Leisure Centres. Nottingham City Council was the first council to install a solar carport, and the award recognised the innovation shown by a public sector organisation in developing solar panel schemes to further utilise property stock to generate their own electricity, significantly reduce their energy bills and tackle climate change.

The City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Energy and Sustainability, Councillor Alan Clark, said: “It is a great recognition to be named as East Midlands Council of the Year in these awards I’d like to thank all the Council services and our local partners who have worked really well together over the last ten years to tackle energy efficiency in our city. Nottingham City Homes and the Council have achieved one of the largest rollouts of external wall insulation in the country and enabled private homeowners to benefit from the schemes too, opening up savings due to economies of scale and simplifying access to Government funding”

“Nottingham is the most energy self-sufficient city in the UK and we are ambitious to stay ahead, solar power is a key part of our strategy and I’m really pleased that the solar car parks have been recognised in these awards.”