Bradford's Big Switch-Off

2.05.44pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 10th Nov 2006

Dramatic new figures revealed by the Liberal Democrats show that, while Bradford is doing better than most authorities in the battle to keep down emissions of environmentally damaging greenhouse gases, it is still producing almost 3.5 times more CO2 per person than it should be doing on a global scale. (1)

This means that if everyone in the world was living the same way as people in Bradford, we would need 3.5 more plant earth's to sustain our current lifestyles.

David Ward, Chair of the Bradford North Area Committee says that:

"Although Bradford has a creditable record on the environment we need to go further if we are going to force emissions down to a sustainable level that will stop climate chaos, rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions.

"The figures are quite clear, while we are doing well in comparison to the other authorities in the UK, we are omitting more than our fair share of greenhouse gases globally.

"We only need to make small changes that could really make a difference. For example if everyone in the UK turned their appliances off and avoided using the standby button then we would save enough money to pay the wages of 10,000 new nurses.

"I want to see the council launch a campaign to persuade people in Bradford to switch off electric. We could have a whole week of activities and then have a two-hour "Big Switch-Off" and see how much energy and carbon we can save. I have written to the Chief Executive asking him to organise this and talk to energy suppliers to ask them to measure how much energy we can save for two hours say between 4:30pm and 6:30pm - the period when peak daily consumption usually occurs. I want to try to make everyone think about the needless items they have on every day around the home.

"Turning off equipment at home such as TVs and videos on stand by can prevent thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere causing climate change, and slash home electricity bills by up to a quarter. A television watched for just four hours a day, yet left on stand by for the remaining 20 hours will cost £61 a year, similarly an inkjet printer left on stand by for 20 hours a day will cost £33 per year, these costs can be dramatically reduced by simply turning them off rather than leaving them on stand by.

"The environment is now on the agenda of all the major political parties in the UK so we hope that the Conservative Administration recognise the serious implications of these figures and takes steps".