Friday 25th February 2011

"We mustn't underestimate the importance of tackling climate change" - Secretary Of State For Energy and Climate Change Rt Hon Chris Huhne MP visiting Chesterfield yesterday.

After the high profile visit to Chesterfield yesterday by Lib Dem Deputy Leader Simon Hughes, the town completed the double with Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, The Rt Hon Chris Huhne MP, also making a visit to see for himself the work done by Chesterfield Borough Council and the private sector, in order to try and reduce the carbon footprint by using renewable energy. The Council has also been trying to raise domestic awareness of the issue.

Chris Huhne MP visited Chesterfield a few years ago to see the excellent examples in renewable technology being set by the Borough Council. On this visit  he visited the latest major private development in Chesterfield - the four-star Casa hotel.

The Rt Hon Chris Huhne MP (centre) visits the CASA hotel in Chesterfield with Cllr Ray Russell (right) welcomed by hotel owner Steve Perez (left)

The hotel, which opened in November 2010, has several energy saving technologies including air source heat pumps that divert energy from one zone of the building to another as the sun moves around the building throughout the day.

The building design itself uses materials that reduce energy consumption and the low energy boiler system minimises the energy required.

Cllr Ray Russell, Leader of Chesterfield Borough Council said: "We have led by example to the private sector on how renewable energy technologies and building design can benefit both their business and the environment generally.

"There are a growing number of private sector companies in the Borough who have introduced such technology to their buildings and we now have strict guidelines in our planning policies for new builds to incorporate energy efficiency measures."

Council buildings that have renewable installations include the Healthy Living Centre at Staveley,Queen's Park Sports Centre, the Tourist Information Centre, the Town Hall and its business innovation centres.

The Chesterfield Post was able to speak to Chris Huhne during his short visit to the Hotel and he explained why the issue is such an important one - "Clearly, we have to be concerned about the future and the future of our children and grandchildren, we need to look at long term damage, not short term costs.

"Flood damage claims have cost the country £4.5 billion in the last 10 years alone, a rise from £1 billion in the previous 10."

He added, "Chesterfield has a really good track record. I visited 5 years ago and the Council has pioneered a lot of important thinking in this area, and I am delighted to see the hotel has continued this tradition. If you have a council that thinks about this long term and works with planners you can do sensible things - the siting of this hotel is brilliant and good news for residents, coming from sensitive planning. Chesterfield has a proud reputation."

We asked him if it would be cost prohibitive for existing businesses to change over to a greener way of working, he told us "Capital construction costs are higher but running costs are a lot lower and that more than justifies the capital costs.

"A language any business will understand is that you have to invest something to get something - a hotel like this which doesn't use oil for example, is much more stable in terms of cost as it's not driven by variable oil and gas prices. Getting off the oil and getting onto green, clean, secure energy hook is what we're trying to do at Government level and Chesterfield is walking the walk."

He told us that some of his job is about spreading the word, "We're gradually building energy issues into people's thinking. It's beginning to change, but we have to make sure we have the technology to do what we want to do but in different ways. Next year, we're bringing in a big subsidy of £5,000 for electric vehicles, again, it's still a more to buy an electric car but there are less running costs - charge it up every night, it's less than buying diesel or petrol."

He also commented on the instability in the oil markets, "The more difficult International markets become, the more expensive and risky, it makes sense to move business to a low carbon economy."

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