Energy Management

What is it?

Energy management and the use of renewable sources of power are increasingly significant issues as the impacts of climate change become apparent.

Burning fossil fuels produces large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. Unless these processes are brought under control severe impacts are likely. They include major changes to weather patterns and the loss of habitats. Reducing the use of fossil fuels and replacing them with low or no emission, renewable sources of energy plays a key role in tackling climate change.

We take these issues very seriously and our Sustainability Projects Team has a remit to promote carbon reduction and energy management through:

• Minimising energy consumption and carbon emissions.
• Promoting energy efficient design in new and refurbished buildings within its ownership and across the city.
• Increasing the amount of renewable energy generated by Glasgow City Council.
• Promoting behavioural change in Council operation and management
• Carbon Management Plan.

Sustainability Projects Team

The Council employs a Sustainability Projects Team in order to support progress towards this plan. It provides a 'one-stop' utility service to all services and to the wider Council family. This includes everything from arranging connections through to reducing consumption. The team is housed within Neighbourhoods, Regeneration and Sustainability and provides support to all services of the Council and its family.

The work of the Sustainability Projects Team can broadly be split into two distinct responsibilities:

Utility management involves the management of the electricity, gas and water supply contracts for Council premises. It also relates to the associated metering arrangements, monitoring contracts and invoicing. Carbon management involves reducing the impact of the Council and its family services in relation to carbon dioxide emissions.

Sustainability Projects means the Sustainability Projects Team is currently working on a variety of projects which seek to reduce the consumption and/or cost of gas, electricity, heating oil, petrol and diesel for the Council and their associated carbon emissions. In addition, a number of city-wide programmes are managed by the team - for example, the growth of district heating, and a range of renewable energy projects.

Carbon Management Plan (CMP)

Glasgow City Council (GCC) has long recognised its role and responsibilities in mitigating emission from its own activities.

CMP Phase 1 saw the Council emissions reduced by 9% between 2008 and 2013.

Phase 2 of the plan, CMP2, built on this work and helped the Council to reduce its carbon emissions by 46.6% between 2013 and 2020. A full breakdown of this can be viewed here.

 The Climate Emergency Plan [13Mb] approved by the City Administration Committee in June 2021 sets out 61 actions that, cumulatively, will meet the ambition to make the city Net Carbon Zero (NCZ) by 2030.

The next iteration of the Carbon Management Plan (CMP3) is currently under development the third and will set out how the Council intends to support this ambition and utilise the Council Estate, assets and resources to catalyse this transition for the City.

In line with the ambitions for the City, the target for the Council estate and activities will be to achieve NCZ emissions by 2030.

Given the persistence of CO₂ in the atmosphere, the rate of decarbonisation is, perhaps, more important than the absolute target.

Hence, this plan also endeavours to adopt the principal of 'reducing carbon early', in essence, prevention is better than the cure.

The ambition for any carbon strategy should be the integration of zero and low carbon technologies, methodologies and processes throughout all organisational plans, strategies and activities, hence this plan is an opportunity to support a number of other Council strategies and objectives that have begun to do so whilst setting out the Council's position for those that have yet to be developed.