09-01-2008
Commit your business to a greener future in 2008
by Karen Baldwin
It doesn’t seem very long ago that when we referred to carbon in the workplace we were talking about the sheet of paper we used to make multiple copies of a document. Similarly, greenhouses were simply places to grow tomatoes.
However, terms such as carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions are now very much part of the vernacular both at work and home.
Climate change is increasingly recognised as a major challenge globally, and governments in many countries are now making positive moves towards finding a solution, most recently with the signing of the Global Climate Change Treaty in Bali.
It seems, then, that 2008 is the year for everyone to take action and businesses should be thinking hard about how they can reduce their carbon footprint. A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organisation, event or product.
Committing to make your business greener doesn’t just provide environmental benefits in slowing down the rate of global climate change; it makes good business sense.
Go green - save money
According to The Carbon Trust – a private company set up by the Government in response to the threat of climate change and which advises businesses on how to reduce their emissions – small and medium sized companies (SMEs) spend £6 billion a year on energy. Of this, £1 billion is wasted and an additional 12 million tonnes of carbon are needlessly produced and released into the atmosphere.
They estimate that the UK’s SMEs – who are responsible for 20 per cent of the country’s emissions – could achieve business energy savings in the order of £3 billion.
Climate change is already making its mark, with a recent Carbon Trust survey by finding that more than a quarter (26 per cent) of all UK businesses have already been affected by it in some way.
What can your business do?
However, it’s not all doom and gloom. About 27 per cent of UK businesses now see climate change as a business opportunity, primarily by providing the chance to re-think products and services, and reduce costs.
As you ponder the upcoming year and begin your business planning for 2008, consider how you can incorporate some initiatives to make your business more environmentally friendly and reduce your costs. Many businesses have already done so; 32 per cent of all UK companies have a plan/policy or target in place to cut emissions.
Measuring greenhouse gas emissions and calculating the carbon footprint of the business is the key first step in a program to reduce the emissions generated but, to date, only one per cent of all UK businesses know their carbon footprint. So where do you start?
The Carbon Trust has developed a range of tools for UK businesses of all sizes to measure and assess their carbon footprint. Businesses can apply online for a free Carbon Survey, where an expert consultant will carry out an on-site visit and help measure the carbon footprint and identify ways to reduce it.
An online business carbon footprint calculator on The Carbon Trust’s website ( HYPERLINK "http://www.carbontrust.co.uk" www.carbontrust.co.uk ) also enables businesses to quickly quantify their key carbon impacts and understand where action might be required to reduce emissions.
The tool uses a series of screening questions to ascertain your business’s emission levels. Based on these questions, the user can enter details of their energy usage and other potential emissions sources, including fuel usage, vehicle usage, electricity bill data and employee travel.
Consideration can then be given to ways of reducing emissions. These solutions don’t necessarily require investment in expensive equipment or technology; a series of small initiatives can reduce overall energy use by up to 10 per cent.
Combined with changes that only require minimal investment, your business energy bills could be reduced by a fifth.
Some basic measures that can easily be adopted include:
• Measure energy usage. Unless you know what you’re currently paying, you won’t know what impact your introduced changes have made.
• Switch off equipment when you’re not using it. On average, offices waste £6000 each year by leaving equipment on over weekends and bank holidays.
• Speak to your colleagues about saving energy. Ask employees where they think energy is being wasted, and encourage them to think about how they can all use less.
• Switch lights off in empty rooms. This could cut your lighting costs by as much as 15 per cent.
• Don’t use more light than you need. If you’re only working in one part of the room, why have all the lights on?
• Make the most of natural light. It’s free and it won’t damage the environment. Keep your windows clean, and make the most of the daylight.
• Don’t turn up the heating unless you really need to. Try to keep your thermostat at 19°C. Your heating costs increase by 8 per cent each time you increase the temperature by just one degree.
• Leave plenty of space around radiators. Putting furniture in front of a radiator means it will need to work harder to heat the room.
• Don’t heat unused space. Storerooms or corridors don’t need to be kept as warm as areas in which people spend long periods of time.
• Keep doors and windows closed, and draught-proof, in cold weather. If employees are too hot, try turning the heat down first. In warmer weather, when the heating is off anyway, you can let more air in.
• Keep the thermostat away from draughts or hot and cold spots.
Not doing so will distort the temperature readings and automatically increase your heating costs.
• Don’t put hot equipment, like photocopiers, near cooling vents. The cooling system will need to work harder to cool an area that is constantly being heated.
• Maintain your equipment properly. If you don’t regularly check your heating equipment, you could be adding as much as 10 per cent to your heating bill without knowing it.
In instances when you need to replace or upgrade existing equipment to more energy-efficient versions, interest free loans are available through The Carbon Trust.
In 2006/07, £18 million was offered through the scheme to help small businesses realise annual savings of almost £7 million and 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Making an effort to be greener in all areas of your business will pay off financially and ethically and the New Year is the ideal time to introduce your new environmentally friendly policies to the workplace.