Sedgefield Borough Council is switching to 'green' electricity to supply its large sites.

From this month the council offices at Green Lane, Spennymoor, Chilton Depot and the leisure centres at Newton Aycliffe, Spennymoor and Ferryhill will be supplied by green electricity.

The pavilion area of Sunnydale Leisure Centre in Shildon will also be supplied in this way.

Under the two-year contract with London Electricity, all electricity supplied to the sites will be produced from renewable sources such as wind, solar, wave and hydro.

Ferryhill Leisure Centre is already green, but electricity to the other sites is currently produced from conventional fuels including coal, natural gas and nuclear power.

Neil Barnes, energy officer for the council's Local Agenda 21 team, said: "We tender for our utilities every couple of years and we try to reduce the cost to the council as much as we can.

"Because we are also committed to Local Agenda 21 and sustainable development, we put in a specification that we should maximise the supply of green electricity. We got in a range of very competitive tenders and got a fair price for 100 percent green supply to the six main operational sites within Sedgefield Borough Council, which makes up 72 per cent of our total electricity consumption."

The additional cost to the council of switching to London Electricity is just over £8,000 a year, which falls within the budget provisions already approved.

The reduction in carbon dioxide emissions as a result of the switch is equivalent to planting 5,000 trees, or four acres of new forest, which would cost the council £25,000.

The Government has set a renewable energy target of 10 per cent across the UK by the year 2010 - this move will put Sedgefield more than three times ahead of the target already.

Mr Barnes said: "We're committed to saving energy and we're committed to sustainable development

"We're trying to enthuse that policy through council departments, business plans and throughout the community as well.