FUNDING for green energy projects including generating hydro-power at Ebley Mill and installing solar panels at sheltered housing schemes will be discussed at a special meeting of Stroud District Council’s cabinet on Thursday, January 6.

Members will explore three options for creating electricity from the weir at Ebley Mill, which would ensure savings of between 44,000 and 86,000 Kg of Co2 each year.

The efficiency of the current boilers at SDC’s head office will also be discussed, as will the possibility of installing a combination of renewable energy systems - such as those to create power, heating and hot water - at sheltered housing schemes across the district.

Another possible option will be to install electricity-producing solar photovoltaics (PV) at Dursley Pool, all of which would see a financial return for the council under the government’s Feed-In Tariffs (FiT) scheme, which gives cash back to clean energy producers.

Councillors will also look at encouraging private funding for an Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant in the district, to recycle local food waste into another form of renewable energy.

All these options tie in with SDC’s Environmental Strategy, which it adopted in 2007 to reduce its carbon emissions by 35 per cent by the end of 2010/11.