DIO lights the way to carbon cuts on MOD estate
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) is lighting the way to hit Government energy saving targets, whilst saving money and providing a better working environment for staff at its Birmingham head office .
DIO has upgraded lighting across its Sutton Coldfield site, installing a new range of lamps and tubes under the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) ‘Spend to Save’ initiative. This reduces DIO’s annual carbon footprint by as much as 120 tonnes of carbon per annum.
Working with its industry partner Carillion Enterprise to install the new lights, the upgrades contribute to a brighter working environment. They will also save some 290,000 kWh of energy each year and cutting the site’s annual £186,000 electricity bill by 16 per cent (£30,000)
Tracy Buckby , from DIO’s Utilities team, said:
““DIO’s priority is to support our Armed Forces as they prepare for operations, but the MOD has a duty to balance delivery of this support with measures that help to achieve Government targets that will help combat the threat of climate change.
”The MOD has one of the largest built estates in theUKand Overseas, which uses a huge amount of energy and water. The MOD is committed to theUK’s Greening Government Commitment to significantly reduce government’s impact on the environment through reducing emission of greenhouse gases, reducing water consumption and production of waste.”
The Government has set the target of reducing carbon emissions by 25% by 2015 from a 2009/2010 baseline. In addition, energy prices are continuing to rise - with MOD’s energy bill last year of £379,411,069.
At Sutton Coldfield, DIO has installed new LED recessed light fittings within its conference rooms enabling savings of up to 30 per cent in energy consumption and providing up to four times extended lamp life.
These lights are the first of their type to be installed for evaluation within the Regional Prime Contract Central under the Spend to Save initiative. If trials at Sutton Coldfield are successful, they will be included in future re-lighting programmes across the region.
All old materials will be recycled, providing a sustainable scheme and ensuring maximum utilisation of resources.
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Further information:
Press enquiries to Tony Moran, Senior Communications Officer 0121 311 3879 or email tony.moran572@mod.uk
DIO website:www.gov.uk/dio
Twitter: @mod_dio
Read DIO’s blog: https://insidedio.blog.gov.uk/
Notes to Editors
1. The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) plays a vital role in supporting our Armed Forces by building, maintaining and servicing what the men and women who serve our country need to live, work, train and deploy on operations. We are working hard to become even better by becoming a world-class infrastructure delivery organisation over the next few years.
2. DIO is part of the Ministry of Defence (MOD). It is responsible for managing and maintaining land and properties, as well as providing related support services, to meet the current and future needs of the MOD and personnel at home and abroad, and to support current operations.
3. Our work includes supporting operational units by providing and improving single living and service family accommodation; training areas and historic military sites. DIO actively manages these to ensure the needs of Defence are met,value for money is achieved, and its heritage is protected, and to achieve its environmental goals.
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