A special ‘green’ boiler that heats the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s offices in Grassington has won a top regional award – less than three months after it was installed.

The Authority took first place in the best public building installation category of the Yorkshire and Humber Microgeneration Partnership awards for its biomass boiler, which uses wood chippings to heat the Colvend offices.

The new, environmentally-friendly heating system was only fired up for the first time in December.

William Weston, the YDNPA’s Member Champion for Climate Change and Paul Drake, the Authority’s Project and Estates Officer, received the award from BBC Look North weatherman and climate correspondent Paul Hudson at a special evening in York.

Mr Weston said: “The Authority has already reduced its carbon emissions by an impressive 20 per cent since 2005. One of the main reasons for the decision to go ahead with the biomass boiler was our determination to reduce even further our carbon footprint.”

Paul said: “The award is fantastic recognition that the National Park Authority is doing all it can to reduce its carbon footprint by cutting carbon emissions.”

The Authority received a generous grant towards the installation of the boiler from CO2Sense (correct) Yorkshire, through the Wood Fuel Programme delivered by Yorwoods. CO2Sense Yorkshire is a not-for-profit company funded by Yorkshire Forward and the European Regional Development Fund and the programme is supporting and funding businesses and other organisations to develop the sourcing, supply and use of wood fuel in Yorkshire and Humber. For further information, see www.co2sense.org.uk or contact woodfuel@co2sense.org.uk, 0113 237 8478.

Every couple of weeks, a delivery of woodchips is tipped into the underground fuel store and a mechanical arm and an Archimedes screw gather them up and feed them into the boiler automatically. The boiler uses a hot air ignition system to get the woodchips burning and they then heat water that is piped underground to the offices where a heat exchanger pushes the heat into the existing radiators. The wood fuel is produced locally and sourced from sustainably managed woodlands within the Yorkshire region.

An interpretation board will be sited in the reception area at Colvend to explain the system to visitors and the Authority will offer site visits for members of the public to look around.

In 2007, the Authority publicly confirmed its commitment to helping counter the effects of climate change by joining more than 200 other organisations in supporting the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change, a voluntary pledge to address the issues of climate change.

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