National Trust to invest £30m in clean tech
UK conservation organisation will invest in clean energy technology as part of efforts to source half of its power needs from renewables by 2020
The National Trust will invest £30 million in clean energy technology as part of efforts to source half of its power needs from renewables by 2020.
The UK independent charity works to protect cultural heritage sites and will channel the investment towards solar panels, woodchip boilers and innovative heat extraction technology.
The trust is Europe’s largest conservation organisation with 3.7 million members and 250,000 hectares of land and has invested a total of £3.5 million in five environmentally-friendly pilot projects.
The charity launched a plan in 2010 to reduce its fossil fuel use by 50 per cent to address climate change and estimates that renewable energy schemes planned at 40 sites will prevent over 2,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year.
New energy efficiency measures will also result in a reduction in energy usage of about 20 per cent, according to the trust.
Two-thirds of the 40 projects will be powered by biomass, to take advantage of the vast areas of National Trust woodland areas.
Projects include a hydro-electric application in the Lake District and a lake source heating project in Norfolk which compresses and expands the heat from the lake, using a heat exchanger to convert it into energy.
