Reducing our carbon footprint
We're looking to trim our carbon footprint down to size and we're working hard to deliver energy efficiencies.
We started voluntarily publishing our operational carbon footprint in 2004 and have been reporting our footprint annually to our regulator, Ofwat, since 2008. This year we reported for the first time under the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC).
All the fuel we burn, energy we consume and emissions we create from treating water and waste water result in more than 420,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions every year.
Our operational footprint can be found on our website
www.yorkshirewater.com/reports and more information on the CRC can be found on the Environment Agency's website
www.environment-agency.gov.uk.
Making sure the drinking water we provide to customers and the waste water we return to the environment is safe is a very energy intensive job, below we talk about the work we are doing to become more efficent and generate more electricity from renewable sources.
The action we've already taken
The way we supply water has been altered to improve energy efficiency through enhanced automation and control at pumping stations. Electricity and gas use at our head offices has been reduced through the installation of new, efficient boilers and improved heating control systems, reprogrammed light sensors and by raising employee awareness.
Our
renewable energy page explains how we have successfully increased our renewable energy generation. We now produce sufficient renewable energy to meet around 10% of our electricity needs and aim to increase this to 14% by the end of 2015.
Like all water companies, we're a high energy user because of the power requirement of our waste water and water treatment processes; in fact, the water industry accounts for around 2% of all power use in the UK. Our energy use is likely to increase substantially as we treat effluent to higher standards as a result of EU legislation.
It's therefore essential to work closely with regulators and the Government to ensure that the regulatory framework is supportive of carbon mitigation if we are to reduce emissions in the future. We are keen to play our part in tackling climate change and will continue to work in partnership to achieve this. We're involved in Water UK Climate Change and Carbon Mitigation Groups to share best-practice and establish agreement on areas of mutual interest.
Carbon accounting
We understand the overall operational and embodied GHG emissions impact of our current investment programme.
To build on this high level understanding we are now investigating the potential to accurately model the emissions which result from each specific scheme in our investment programme.
Doing this will enable us to actively consider low carbon options in every pound we spend in our capital programme.
