Cookstown Heating their Swimming Pool with Willow

As energy prices continue to rise, the dilemma facing Cookstown Council to keep it's leisure services in full has been greatly affected. Costs for heating their pools at the local leisure centre notched up a fuel bill in excess of £100 000, until they teamed up with five local farmers in a bid not only to keep a vital community facility but also to reduce their CO2 emissions (after ranking 429 out of 434 council areas for CO2 emissions in the Green Barometer III report from the Energy Saving Trust) and of course, energy costs.

The unlikely partnership has seen the five local farmers growing willow, a long grass, which has become known as an energy crop, for its fast growth and reasonably high carbon sequestration rate. Grown locally the crop is then transported to the leisure centre and with the use of a wood-chip burner, used to help heat the swimming pools. The partnership has seen the energy bill at the facility fall by £1 100 per week. Reducing the burden on the Council and those of the 12 000 households in the council area.