With a raft of legislation such as the Climate Change Act, the carbon reduction programme and the 2010 Kyoto agreement targets fast approaching, pressure is being placed on the public sector to reduce their carbon footprints.
In order to facilitate these requirements the government is offering interest free loans to local authorities and other public organisations in England to help cut their energy bills.
This new initiative follows the budget announcement of some £51.5m of new loan funding to be made available this year. Applications are now being invited for the first call by 17 July. Other calls will follow until the end of the year or until all loans have been committed.
The department of energy and climate change is providing this new funding in partnership with Salix Finance and the Carbon Trust. Salix Finance is the provider of loans to public sector organisations for energy saving initiatives.
It is estimated that the loan fund will help save around £18m and 100,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. It will complement the existing match funding programme offered by Salix Finance which has some £90m of funding operating with 128 public sector clients in the UK
The interest-free loans will be repaid over four years and will be made available for 100% of the projects cost provided that they meet agreed criteria that deliver energy efficiency savings and reduce costs.
Further information on the application process, criteria for project funding and further deadlines for applications is available on the Salix Finance website http://www.salixfinance.co.uk/loans.html
