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PLANS have been unveiled to reduce the carbon footprint of the region’s biggest airport.
Newcastle International has published its energy policy, which sets out a series of measures that will be taken to make the site more environmentally friendly.
It comes as the business was awarded the Carbon Trust Standard in recognition of the work done to reduce energy use, making it one of the only airports in the UK to achieve the accolade.
The policy states Newcastle International will strive to reduce its carbon footprint by up to 15% of what it is today by 2015.
To do that, it is introducing a range of measures, including switching lightbulbs to LEDs and testing different sections of the site to discover how much energy is being used by various devices like telephone, computers and lamps.
Finance director Simon Fisher said: “Our Energy Policy plays an important part in Newcastle airport’s future business strategy. Our commitment to delivering the goals we have set out in our policy is underlined by the financial and management investments being made to deliver energy and carbon reduction. As one of the UK’s leading airports, Newcastle International takes its environmental and climate change obligations seriously and we are committed, as a team, to operating the airport in a sustainable manner.
“As such, our climate change policy was developed to outline the carbon reduction targets we aim to deliver over the next five years.”
The airport terminal and associated buildings uses around 18,000 megawatt hours a year in electricity and 7,000 in gas. The policy states the intention to reduce this by 2.5% in the year ending March 2011, while various members of staff will be named “energy champions” to share advice on how to lower consumption.
The Carbon Trust Standard has been awarded by the Carbon Trust Standard Company, which is a Government-funded body aimed at promoting energy efficiency in business.
Mr Fisher added: “We are delighted to have been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard by the Carbon Trust. This is a great accolade as Carbon Trust sets the highest standards in the industry and it is rare for an airport to achieve this award.
“The standard requires a business to have systems and schemes in place to reduce its energy consumption and carbon footprint and we pride ourselves on being highly proactive in this area.”
Harry Morrison, general manager at the Carbon Trust Standard Company, said: “We congratulate Newcastle International Airport on their certification.”