As of today (03 March), Hackney Council in London is sourcing all of its electricity from 100% renewable sources through its services company.
The borough is now sourcing the energy for its council buildings from wind and solar, including a large rooftop solar panel scheme.
This switch forms part of wider efforts by the council to address the climate emergency. The council’s publicly-owned energy services company, Hackney Light and Power, recently announced the Green Homes programme, for example, which will offer free insulation and renewable heating upgrade to residents in the area.
By the end of 2020, the council is set to install 182 electric vehicle charging points, as well as conducting a feasibility study into whether it’s possible to install chargers on every street in the borough.
The Mayor of Hackney, Philip Glanville, said that even in the difficult time we are living through due to COVID-19, “we must still take the long-term action we need to reduce our energy consumption and switch to cleaner energy”.
“In our 2018 Manifesto, we committed to transforming the way we generate, consume, and purchase our energy, and just two years later, we’ve become one of the first councils in the country to be completely powered by clean electricity, showing significant progress towards meeting our stretching targets of 45% decarbonisation against 2010 levels by 2030, and net zero emissions by 2040,” Glanville continued.
Councils around the country are increasingly switching to renewables in an effort to tackle the climate emergency.
Islington Council in north London is aiming to reach net zero by 2030, including transitioning its 500 strong fleet of vehicles to electric. As part of this switch, it launched a vehicle to grid (V2G) project with energy technology firm Moixa and automotive giant Honda earlier this year.
In February, Wandsworth Council in London announced that it will transition to 100% zero carbon energy following approval of the Wandsworth Climate Change Action Plan by councillors.
And a number of councils are pursuing onsite solar in an effort to decarbonise, including Newport City Council in Wales and Oldham Council in Manchester.
