Southern Water cuts carbon emissions

Southern Water has received an award for its efforts in cutting carbon emissions across Sussex during the last three years.

The company was recently awarded the Carbon Trust Standard.

The national standard recognises companies which have taken steps to measure and manage their carbon emissions over a three year period.

Southern Water says its 'green' achievement is a combination of the company increasing the amount of renewable energy it produces, increasing the efficiency of its operations and treatment works and improving the way emissions are measured and reported.

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The accolade also reflects efforts by Southern Water staff to adopt environmentally friendly ways of working, including car sharing, teleconferencing and recycling, and the company's plans to further mitigate carbon emissions in the future.

Renewable energy is currently produced at 11 Southern Water wastewater treatment works in the South East in Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units. These units take bio-gas created during the digestion stage of the treatment and use it to provide about 80 per cent of the power used on site. Any surplus is exported to the National Grid.

The CHP units have the capacity to generate about 41 million kWh of electricity each year, about 10 per cent of the company's annual consumption. Two more units are under construction in Kent and the company's aim is to increase the amount of renewable energy it generates to 20 percent by 2020.

Southern Water employees have adopted a 'Carbon Off' policy, including turning off computers, monitors, printers and photocopiers overnight, turning off lights and closing windows to prevent heat loss in winter.

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