National Trust to cut fossil fuel use in half by 2020

The UK's largest private landowner says the move will cut emissions from energy use for heat and electricity by 45%
Rebecca Smithers, consumer affairs correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 11 February 2010 09.22 GMT
The National Trust has unveiled plans to reduce its use of fossil fuels by 50% over the next 10 years, to achieve its goal of reducing its energy consumption by 2020.
The trust – the UK's largest private landowner and custodian of many of Britain's most treasured historic buildings – said the move would cut its carbon emissions from energy use for heat and electricity by 45%. That would exceed the government's overall target of a 34% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020, though the trust said the initiative would not cover the millions of car journeys by visitors.
The plans are set out in detail in a new report, Energy – Grow your own, which analyses the challenges of harnessing renewable resources in a sustainable way within the context of the natural and historic environment.
The initiative will apply to the trust's entire building stock, which includes 300 major historic houses, office buildings, visitor centres and 360 holiday cottages. The trust currently spends nearly £6m a year on electricity, oil and gas and said there was "a direct business incentive" for better use of energy.
Fiona Reynolds, director general of the National Trust, said: "World leaders may not have provided a political solution to the climate change problem at Copenhagen, but that should not delay us from delivering practical solutions on the ground.
"The trust has a responsibility to look after the special places in our care for ever, requiring us to make longterm decisions that will protect them for future generations to enjoy."
The reduction in the use of mains electricity, gas, oil and LPG (liquid petroleum gas) would be the equivalent of removing 4,500 family cars from the road. In 2008 the trust consumed 86,193 megawatt hours of energy in its operations, generating nearly 32,000 tonnes of CO2.
But with visitor numbers holding up well – there were 16 million visits last year, despite the challenges of adverse weather and the recession – Reynolds said the initiative would not apply to reducing the massive carbon footprint of the millions of car journeys to and from National Trust sites.
The trust anticipates that most of the schemes will break-even over the next decade, even allowing for the variability in the price of energy and uncertainty over the future of government grants and subsidies which are vulnerable in the run-up to a general election.
It already has more than 140 renewable energy systems in operation on sites across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with an installed capacity of 2.3MW heating and over 1MW of electricity generation. Twenty-seven of these initiatives have been installed with the help of the trust's energy partner, npower, which has developed National Trust Green Energy. Revenue from sales of this product helps fund the trust's green energy initiatives, which includes helping two communities in trust-owned villages cut carbon emissions and save money on energy bills.
The trust has plans to install more than 50 new wood-fuel boilers into its mansions and larger buildings over the next five years. The fuel will be sourced either from the trust's own estates or from local suppliers, with replanting and maintenance benefiting woodland and wildlife habitats. Other examples of existing practice include recently installed solar panels on the roof of Dunster Castle – a Grade I-listed building in Somerset – and on Greenway, Agatha Christie's Grade II-listed holiday home.
The trust is also looking at hydropower, making use of existing infrastructure such as old mill sites with dams and leats to harness energy sustainably. It is planning the restoration of historic hudro systems at Castle Drogo on Dartmoor and Quarry Bank Mill in Styal, Cheshire.
Reynolds said the trust started looking at fresh ways to reduce its energy consumption in the 1980s. "Much has been achieved since then but we now need to work much harder and faster to reduce our use of fossil fuel energy," she said. "Many properties in our care are based in the countryside, away from mains gas and in some cases from mains electricity. We have a special interest in helping rural communities find alternatives to coal and oil for heating and to contribute to a renewable energy grid."
Jonathon Porritt, founder-director of Forum for the Future and former chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, welcomed the initiative. "This is exactly the kind of ambition level we need to help us navigate our way towards a low-carbon society," he said. "Millions of people will be inspired by the trust's initiative, especially on some of its older properties."
The trust also unveiled a new strategy – Going Local – designed to give more local control and community involvement to fund-raising and management of its properties. And in the first major exercise of its kind and as a spring bonus, the trust is opening its doors for free to all members of the public on the weekend of 20 - 21 March. Reynolds explained: "You are never more than 40 minutes away from a place looked after by the National Trust, wherever you are in the country. This is the perfect excuse to discover what's on your doorsetep, perhaps revisit somewhere you pass regularly or explore somewhere totally new."
In other developments, the trust is planning to introduce a wider range of its own branded food – including biscuits, bread, jam and pies – to supermarkets later this year.