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'Energising Southampton' builds on 25 years of experience working with sustainable energy as they now look towards future developments of the city and the environmental impact that these may have.

Working in partnership with Utilicom, Southampton City Council have developed an integrated geothermal, combined heat and power (CHP) and the UK's first district chilling scheme in the city centre. Since the project started in 1986, over 40 customers have joined, including civic buildings, commercial offices, pubs, hotels and dwellings.

The city's Geothermal aquifer goes 1 mile deep into the ground. The temperature of the water is 76°C at its source and two degrees less by the time it reaches the surface.

The water rises naturally in the well to within 100 metres of the surface. It is then pumped to the heat station. The hot brine is passed through a heat exchanger, working in conjunction with an absorption heat pump. The heat exchanger transfers the heat to clean water. The cooled brine, at about 28°C, runs out to the sea.

A CHP Engine supplies 30,000 MWh of heating and 1,200 MWh of cooling provided to network each year.  Typically, 10-15,000 MWh of electricity from the city's CHP is sold back to the national grid each year.  They estimate that 11,000 tonnes of carbon is saved each year.

Councillor Gavin Dick, Cabinet Member for Environment and transport, will be leading the launch of 'Energising Southampton', he said:
"Our vision is for Southampton to be the most sustainable city in the UK.

"We want Southampton to be the number one energy efficient city and this vision is outlining the changes that will take place to achieve this. Our key aim is to contribute to reducing the impact of climate change as much as we can, so that we can provide a good quality of life for everyone in the city."

Springhill School played host to the official launch today with pupils having special lessons on sustainability and recycling, including an energy quiz, set up by the Environment Centre (tEC), for the pupils to take part in. Funding will also be given to the school for books and information to enable pupils to learn more about sustainable energy, encouraging this generation to use such methods in the future.