Flat Holm island: new green technology installed by council

Flat Home island is five miles from Cardiff. Photo cred: Sam Whitfield, Flickr

Cardiff Council has installed green technology on Flat Holm island in an effort to help cut carbon emissions.

The council-owned island, which is 5 miles from Cardiff, has been fitted with 14 solar panels, thermal-lined doors in the island farmhouse, and a new gravity-powered rainwater harvesting system.

Flat Holm island is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Local Nature Reserve (LNR) and has no mains water, gas or electricity.

The council estimates that the technology will reduce its overall CO₂ emissions by around three tonnes per year.

Installations cost £42,000 and were funded by capital funding as part of the local authority's One Planet Cardiff response to climate change.

Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Strategic Planning and Transport, Cllr Dan De'Ath said: "Every green choice counts, and together with all the other changes we've already made to reduce the council's carbon footprint - things like switching to LED streetlighting, starting the transition to an electric vehicle fleet and putting solar panels and heat pumps in new council homes.”

Cardiff Council's headquarters at County Hall Photo cred: Wikimedia Commons

Cardiff Council launched One Planet Cardiff in 2019/20, which sets out the council’s aims to reduce Cardiff’s carbon footprint and ultimately become carbon neutral by 2030.

According to One Planet Cardiff data, the local authority directly created 42,211 tonnes of CO₂ in 2019/20 and 37,284 tonnes in 2022/23 - a reduction of 11.7%.

Welsh Labour Cllr Dr’Ath, who also represents Plasnewydd, continued: “All of us as individuals need to make changes to how we live and work if we're going to play our part in tackling climate change. But so do Cardiff's businesses and other organisations, including the Council - and that's exactly what we're doing through our One Planet Cardiff strategy.”