The London Fire Brigade has been awarded a prestigious award at the Heating and Ventilation News Awards 2008 for the sustainable way it is heating and powering the capital’s fire stations.
The award was made last Thursday (May 1) at a ceremony held in the Grosvenor House Hotel last night.
The brigade’s green programme has led to more than a third of its 112 fire stations being fitted with some form of renewable energy source and includes the UK’s first solar powered fire station (in Richmond, 2005) as well as a number of fire stations being powered and heated by combined heat and power units, solar thermal systems, Photovoltaic panels and wind turbines.
The judges highlighted the “robust evidence of the results that have been achieved” by the Brigade, which is well on course to meet a target of reducing carbon emissions – its carbon footprint – by 1,900 tonnes (15%) by 2010 from 1990 levels.
To reach this ambitious target, LFB is also bringing in a new fleet of fire engines that meet EU emissions targets and is replacing inefficient lighting and boilers across the Brigade.
LFB Energy Manager Ian Shaw said: “This award is a real endorsement of our commitment to tackling climate change and of our programme of installing renewable technologies across our estate. Our green work is continuing apace, with more and more fire stations now being greener and far less reliant on traditional energy sources.”
