Historic Scotland has revealed its plans to cut carbon emissions at Edinburgh Castle are ahead of target.

The Castle’s carbon footprint was reduced by 18% in the year 2011/12, compared with its baseline year of 2008/9. This indicates an improvement on the original target of 10%.

Last year’s energy bill was £291,000; down from £400,000 in the baseline year.

This 27% drop came despite rising fuel costs and increasing visitor numbers at the Castle.

Historic Scotland’s Head of Sustainability, Research and Technical Education Ewan Hyslop said: "This remarkable reduction has been achieved through a multi-faceted approach that involved upgrades to boilers, an improved building energy management system, enhanced lighting controls, and better insulation.

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"We’ve also worked to increase staff awareness – simply closing doors and windows can make a huge difference, and involved other Castle users such as the Army, National Museums of Scotland, and catering staff."

Mr Hyslop added: "We’ve recently installed new boilers, controls and pumps at Edinburgh Castle, and we’re just starting to see the benefits – analysis of year 2012/13 to date show we are on course for carbon reductions of 24 per cent against the baseline year.

"However, these cuts are very much our first steps. The real challenge will be maintaining them consistently, year-on-year, particularly in light of the more extreme weather we’ve been experiencing in recent years, which can have a dramatic effect on energy consumption."

Energy use at Edinburgh Castle is sufficient to power around 300 homes, according to Historic Scotland.

Around a tenth of Historic Scotland’s carbon emissions derive from business travel and fuel consumption and the processing of water and waste.

The agency has set a carbon emissions reduction target of 25% by 2015.

(IT)