Managing Carbon

REDUCE YOUR CARBON EMISSIONS

2010-06-27T01:17:00.000-07:00

The reassuring thing about reducing your carbon emissions is that you can decide how far you want to go. The important thing is getting started, and, as you may have heard the government is supporting SME’s by offering them funding through Carbon Trust loans.

It is timely help indeed as companies, who tender for public sector work, and/or supply an increasing number of major organisations, are finding they require a Carbon Management Programme. This leaves many, especially smaller companies wondering how to progress. They need the business, but they can't tender without taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint.

Knowing where to start can be bewildering but there are a number of ways that companies can find support. For instance, I'll be the non-executive 'dedicated Energy Manager' for my clients, and take the onus away from them by creating and writing the Carbon Management Programme which states what the company wants to achieve, and how to achieve it. Then if funding is required, I'll present the plan to the Carbon Trust and arrange the loan. The crucial point is that the monthly repayment will always be less than the saving made, and you don't pay any interest.

I am also very interested in Carbon Offsetting, and I feel that local businesses could benefit hugely from the good PR it can bring if this is done in the correct way. Most people think about planting trees, but, this can be an inefficient method of offsetting your carbon. Money seeps out of the system along the way, the private companies and auditors that are involved in the scheme will obviously be taking a percentage, then money has to be paid to the tree-planters and land-owners etc, therefore leaving less available for the programme itself. I have built a relationship with a local charity who raise money to buy photovoltaic cells for schools in Sri Lanka. Their focus is education and the children, my focus is finding an efficient way for companies in the UK to offset their carbon. Nobody takes a percentage, and the marketing and PR value is tremendous.

Display Energy Certificates (DEC's)

2010-06-01T00:30:00.000-07:00

Non-dwellings are responsible for almost 20 per cent of the UK’s energy consumption and carbon emissions. Display Energy Certificates (DEC’s) promote the improvement of the energy performance of buildings and form part of the final implementation in England and Wales of the European Directive 2002/91/EC on the Energy Performance of Buildings.

The purpose of introducing Display Energy Certificates (DEC’s) is to raise public awareness of energy use and to inform visitors to public buildings about the energy use of a building. DEC’s provide an energy rating of the building from A to G, where A is very efficient and G is the least efficient and are based on the actual amount of metered energy used by the building over a period of 12 months. An affected organisation must display a DEC in a prominent place clearly visible to the public and have in its possession or control a valid Advisory Report. This report contains recommendations for improving the energy performance of the building. Affected organisations have buildings, with a total useful floor area currently greater than 1000m2, (it is believed that this will reduce significantly later this year), occupied either by a public authority or an institution providing a public service to large number of people and therefore frequently visited by those persons.

Climate Change or Increased Profitability?

2009-12-27T06:54:00.000-08:00

There is a lot of politics and controversy surrounding climate change, however as a business you don't need to concern yourself with this. All you need to focus on is: by managing your carbon emissions, you will increase your profitability and win you new business. Reducing your carbon emissions, means you are increasing your energy efficiency and therefore reducing your energy costs. Energy costs are one of the fastest growing and most unpredictable costs in your business, so why would you not want to manage and reduce them?

If you are dealing with the Public Sector you will be required to have a Carbon Policy, and you can use your green credentials in your marketing, thus differentiating your company from your competitors and winning more business.

There are also zero interest loans available, which are repaid using the savings made from the investment in energy saving products.

Yet there is very little interest from business owners to use energy and carbon management to increase the profitability of their company and win new business. WHY IS THIS?