A massive upgrade of lighting at schools and other council buildings across Dumfries and Galloway will drastically cut energy usage – and save more than £500,000 every year.
Following an audit of energy usage in its buildings, Dumfries and Galloway Council has now identified 62 schools and 68 other buildings where old lighting systems can be replaced with more energy efficient LED lighting.
Retrofitting these 130 buildings in a “spend to save” programme will save the local authority £468,000 each year and will reduce energy usage by more than 1.6m kWh per year.
However, council chiefs are also tapping into hydro electric schemes which offer grant funding for such energy efficient schemes, which will save even more energy usage and around £60,000 per annum.
The schools included are spread across the region, covering everywhere from Eastriggs and Closeburn Primary Schools to Wigtown and Portpatrick Primaries.
Meanwhile, other council buildings to benefit will include the libraries in places such as Castle Douglas, Stranraer, Dalry, Lockerbie and Gatehouse of Fleet, as well as the town halls in Daleattie, Annan, Lochmaben, Moffat and more.
In order to roll out the light switching programme and reap these benefits, the council must invest £3.355m (£1.8m in 2024/25 and £1.555m in 2025/26).
The matter was discussed at the council’s finance, procurement and transformation committee last Thursday.
A report tabled at the meeting states: “The council has seen energy prices rise significantly over several years and work has been ongoing to identify opportunities to reduce energy usage.
“Energy audits of all council buildings have been undertaken that have identified measures that will reduce consumption and support the delivery of agreed savings reflected within the council’s change and savings programme.
“In terms of the most efficient use of funding, LED lighting and associated controls have been identified as having the shortest payback period and will be the focus of this work.
“This will be carried out across both the schools and non-schools estate.”
Requesting that councillors sign-off on the £3.355m investment, the report added: “Savings of £528,000 per annum will be achieved as a result of this investment, based on a reduction in consumption of 3.2m kWh/yr, and there will also be a reduction in the council’s carbon emissions by circa 500 tonnes.”
Councillors unanimously agreed to invest this money in order to save in the long term.
