LC Energy, business partner with The Land and Water Group and one of the UK’s leading suppliers of low carbon energy services and wood fuel, has won a five year contract to supply BAA’s Stansted Airport with 3,000 tonnes of sustainable wood chip for its newly installed wood fuel heating boiler which has formed a key part of a £50 million extension to the existing terminal building.
BAA press release below.....
BIOMASS AT STANSTED OUTPERFORMS EXPECTATIONS
With one of the coldest winters on record for 13 years fast becoming a distant memory, Stansted Airport has been excited to learn that its new state of the art bio-mass boiler, powered by woodchip to heat the terminal building, has out performed all expectations and is set to help reduce predicted annual gas consumption at Stansted by nearly 40%.
Part of the £50 million terminal extension completed in 2008, the biomass technology was introduced to make the development carbon neutral and designed to support the gas fired boilers that have heated the terminal since its opening in the early 1990s.
However, its performance since last November has proven so efficient that it’s now the airports primary boiler, and latest results indicate the biomass technology is set to help reduce predicted annual airport gas consumption at the airport by nearly 40%.
“To say we’re delighted with the performance of the new biomass boiler is an understatement,” said Andy Jefferson, head of environment at Stansted Airport.
“We set out to ensure the recent terminal extension would be carbon neutral but performance data so far indicates those savings go much further with results between November 2008 and March 2009 alone showing that gas consumption at Stansted was around 60% of the predicted forecasts for this period; and over 30% lower than the same period the previous year. And all this despite it being one of the coldest winters
on record for over a decade.
“Whilst initiatives such as our asset replacement programme have contributed to these overall results, the introduction of biomass technology has by far been the largest contributor.
“We have one of the largest biomass boilers in commercial use for heating in the UK at present and cannot express enough how satisfied we are with its performance to date.
“But we will not become complacent and will continue our efforts to influence schemes aimed at reducing emission sources on the ground at Stansted, a current example of which is our participation in a working group to encourage single engine taxiing of aircraft, information on which we shall share in more detail later in the year.
“We’re proud to maintain our leading position as the largest UK airport to hold ISO14001 accreditation for environmental management and shall also publish our first Airport Carbon Footprint before this summer which will outline how our footprint is comprised today, and help inform future decisions relating to emissions management at Stansted moving forward.”
To contact Stansted Airport press office:
Tel: 01279 680534
E-mail: stanstedmediacentre@baa.com
Website: www.stanstedairport.com
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- Between Nov 08 and Mar 09, target (predicted) gas consumption was 10,682,806 kWh. Actual consumption was 6,580,054 kWh. Therefore 38.4% of target (predicted) reduction and 31.7% lower than between November 2007 and March 2008 which was 9,632,327 kWh.
- DEFRA awarded a grant of around £250,000 under its prestigious Bio Energy Capital Grants Scheme in July 2007.
- Woodchip for the biomass is supplied by LC Energy. The wood for the boiler is sourced from sustainably managed woodlands across the east and south east of England. 1,070 tonnes consumed between Nov 08 and Mar 09. For further media information contact Rod Kohler, Revolution PR: 020 7928 9999
- The biomass boiler installed at Stansted is supplied by Broag UK and manufactured by Austrian company Gilles. For further media information contact Jane Hughes or Tamsin Aitken, Sans Frontiere Marketing, on 01273 487800
- The first ‘Airport Carbon Footprint’ will be published as part of the 2008 Corporate Responsibility |
