New funding has been announced to help businesses improve energy efficiency and fight energy waste in commercial buildings in Oxfordshire.
Businesses and organisations taking up the support stand to benefit from savings in energy costs year on year, making long-term investments that will mitigate climate change impacts and build resilience in the face of energy price spikes.
Buildings represent 19% of carbon emissions in the UK, but this can be vastly reduced by improving the energy efficiency of buildings, offices and workplaces.
The funding hopes to enable local businesses and communities to address the climate crisis by reducing CO2 emissions from their buildings. The assessors can provide technical advice on new technology, such as electric vehicle charging points, solar panels on roofs, and heating technology such as ground and air source heat pumps.
Those taking up the support can also apply for the Energy Pioneer Award to demonstrate their commitment to climate action, and ready their organisation to meet the Government’s legally binding targets to reach net-zero for 2050. Energy Solutions Oxfordshire (ESOx) will deliver the new funded support to organisations of any size, via a team with decades of experience boosting energy efficiency.
The team have carried out hundreds of energy assessments and audits across all business and community sectors in Oxfordshire. ESOx is a partnership with the Environmental Information Exchange (EiE) at Oxford Brookes University and the Low Carbon Hub.
The project has received £150,000 from the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund, managed in Oxfordshire by Oxfordshire County Council, and with thanks to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
The funding will be most useful for high-energy use sectors, such as manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, or any employers with large inefficient buildings, offices, or warehouses, and those who are most affected by fluctuating energy prices as well as potential government regulation on carbon emissions.
Alison Grunewald, Team Lead at Energy Solutions Oxfordshire, said: “This new support could have a dramatic impact on the energy efficiency and carbon emissions of businesses in Oxfordshire. Our team have delivered more than a hundred energy efficiency recommendations so far, and we are set to expand this support so more can benefit and reduce the energy they are wasting.”
The Energy Solutions Oxfordshire’s approach to decarbonisation was recently recognised as ‘award-winning’ through the Energy Pathfinders competition. The countrywide Energy Pathfinders: 2050 competition awarded a first place prize to ep group for its ‘ESCO-in-a-box’ ®️ project, the concept which started Energy Solutions Oxfordshire (ESOx).
The service has already been drawing in local contractors and hopes the new support will improve resilience and employment within local communities in the county.
