“This is a great initiative and one that will really benefit local businesses as well as the environment,” said Cllr Gregor Murray, executive member for climate emergency. “Not only will making their businesses more energy efficient help reduce their carbon footprint, but it can also help reduce their energy usage and cut bills now and in the future.
“And one of the best things about this initiative is that it offers businesses the opportunity to really think outside of the box and look at ways they can innovate to make their business more energy efficient. Not only can businesses use grant funding towards projects such as new LED lighting or a more energy efficient boiler, but the grants have also been used to fund wider initiatives such as electric delivery vehicles or, as in the case of one business, to buy a new air compressor to clean alloy wheels. Not only has this reduced their annual energy bills but it has improved productivity significantly with cleaning taking a third of the time it did before.”
Tackling the climate emergency is one of the council’s top priorities which is why Wokingham is pleased to be supporting the Low Carbon Workspaces initiative as it continues to roll out across Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Hertfordshire.
The initiative enables small medium enterprises (SME) business across the area to apply for Low Carbon Workspace grants to help make their businesses more energy efficient and show a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
The Low Carbon Workspaces initiative is funded by the European Regional Development Fund, backed by the Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnerships Growth Hub, and is being delivered in the region by local business Ngage.
Projects considered include lighting systems, renewable energy systems such as Solar PV, equipment upgrades, heating and cooling upgrades, energy management, as well as making building fabric improvements.
Grants can be used to cover 33% of the cost of improvements up to a maximum grant of £5,000. All projects must have a minimum total cost of more than £3,000 as the minimum grant on offer is £1,000.
“In addition to making grants available to local SME businesses, the Low Carbon Workspaces team at Ngage are also keen to help local green businesses promote what they do and have created a supplier section of their website where businesses can sign up to advertise what they do,” said Cllr Murray.
“Not only does this increase awareness of some great local businesses but it also offers those interested in having works done the opportunity to keep things even more local, reducing supplier miles, and building up contacts across the area.”
To find out more about whether the grant might benefit your business, or to investigate signing up as a local supplier, visit: www.lowcarbonworkspaces.co.uk