Mayo County Council makes energy savings
The local authority has reduced its energy bill.
Mayo County Council has reduced its energy usage by more than 7%.
The council’s Climate Change and Agriculture Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) heard a report on the strides the local authority has made in the past year.
Mayo County Council’s Climate Action co-ordinator, Laura Dixon told the SPC that 75% of the county’s public meeting is now LED. The amount of solar energy being generated across council sites and working is continuing to transition the council’s fleet of vehicles to EV.
Cllr Peter Flynn welcomed the energy reductions, noting that a saving of €1.4 million has been made since 2024.
He said the benefits can be seen when funding is spent in the right way on retro-fittiing buildings. “There is nearly 35% savings on the heating system at Aras an Chontae,” he remarked.
“When you put money in the right places it can mean so much,” Cllr Flynn added. However, noting a recent reshuffle of council officials, Cllr Flynn said the impact of moving staff further away from where they reside seems to be lost on the executive of Mayo County Council. “We should be matching employees with where they live and where they work,” said Cllr Flynn. He said recent changes in the council have “no correlation” with this and serve to hit staff in their pockets on fuel costs while increasing their carbon footprint.
The Westport councillor also asked what progress is being made on the dimming of public lighting outside of peak hours. Ms Dixon said dimming and trimming is happening but it has to be in line with current national guidelines.
