5 Year Energy Saving Guide

PROJECT VER 5 Year Energy Saving Plan How energy efficient has your business been over the past year? 42% In the last decade, companies big and small throughout the UK have been utilising advancements in technology to help make their office environment eco-friendly. of office workers believe the economic crisis has made it even more important to make the workplace sustainable. 61% would feel happier O if their offices were more environmentally friendly. If you think your office could do with being a little greener, take a look at our Energy Saving Plan to find out what you should be looking to do in the next 5 years. Which means they could be paying more than theiy need to for their gas and eectricity YEAR 1 40% of UK SMES have not switched energy suppliers in the past five years pod CONDUCT AN ENERGY AUDIT... Taking note of the monthly bills and monitoring meter readings in order to determine the causes of any spikes in your energy consumption. This will give you the information you need to identify where you can make savings in the long term. 62% OBSERVE KEY AREAS OF ENERGY USAGE... Paying particular attention to where your business is losing money and draining energy unnecessarily. ENLIST A TEAM OF EMPLOYEES... To help you correlate your findings and create a long term plan to improve the energy efficiency of your office. of those who did change suppliers, did so to achieve a lower rate, even in cases where their existing supplier had not announced a FIND OUT HOW MUCH YOU ARE PAYING YOUR CURRENT ENERGY SUPPLIE... And set yourself a target to reduce this amount over the next 12 months; this could be reached through negotiations with your current supplier, switching supplier or by introducing an energy saving strategy. price increase 16% In 2013, industrial consumption accounted for l6% of total UK final YEAR 2 CREATE A PDF consumption of energy products PDF ENERGY GUIDE... To be distributed throughout your business, outlining the impact your company is currently having on the environment. Detail your eco-team's key findings, highlighting the energy wasted during an average working week - for instance, a single computer START TO ALTER HABITS WITHIN YOUR OFFICE... Introduce clearly labelled recycling bins, switch to energy efficient light bulbs and ensure that all computers are switched off at the end of each day. left to function for 24 hours could cost a business up to £50 a year. TASK EACH INDIVIDUAL Team' ECO WITHIN YOUR ECO-TEAM... With a specific responsibility in order to make sure that these small changes begin to take place. FIND OUT IF YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR ANNUAL TARGET TO REDUCE YOUR ENERGY BILL. And set yourself a new target to achieve over the following 12 months. If your energy saving strategy has had little to no effect on your bill, consider shopping around for a new supplier. YEAR 3 UPGRADE YOUR APPLIANCES... With energy efficient alternatives; this should be an ongoing process as individual appliances require upgrading. SWAP BULKY FILING CABINETS FOR CLOUD STORAGE... Making everything on your server accessible from wherever you are; all you will need is a compatible device and a password. ENCOURAGE EMPLOYEES TO SHARE... The small things such as making tea and coffee in rounds rather than boiling the kettle and wasting energy numerous times throughout the day for single cups. Electricity and gas combined accounted for the following percentages of industrial energy: FIND OUT IF YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR ANNUAL TARGET TO REDUCE YOUR ENERGY BILL... 18% 57% 68% And set yourself a new target to lower this further over the following 12 months. Compare your bill from two years ago to your latest bill and if there are substantial savings, consider publishing this in a report to your employees to illustrate the impact their efforts are having on the business. 1970 1990 2013 19% of energy consumed per year in the US is from industrial or non-domestic buildings YEAR 4 INSTALL MOTION SENSITIVE LIGHTS... In rooms such as bathrooms and meeting rooms. This will ensure that as little energy as possible is wasted. 50% of this energy is used solely to light and heat buildings DISTRIBUTE REPORTS ON TABLETS AND SHARING PLATFORMS... To take your next step to becoming a paperless office. Introduce tablets and e-readers into your office or use Dropbox and similar media sharing platforms to ensure your content is seen by the relevant people in a far more time and energy efficient manner. START COLLECTING DATA... To demonstrate the positive effects your business's eco-conscious efforts have had, both financially and environmentally. Task your eco-team to survey employees in order to acquire feedback regarding your energy strategy. FIND OUT IF YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR ANNUAL TARGET TO REDUCE YOUR ENERGY BILL.. And set yourself a new target to lower this further over the following 12 months. YEAR 5 ENCOURAGE FLEXIBLE WORKING... Within your workforce, suggesting that employees work from home at least one day a week. Employees should use the Cloud, Dropbox and video conferencing to enable them to work remotely. MOVE ENERGY SAVING BEYOND THE CONFINES OF THE OFFICE... With incentivised schemes. Offer to subsidise the petrol costs of employees who car pool on their way to work, and ensure that your workforce are aware of initiatives such as 'Bike 2 Work'. Cycling and walking to work are both great ways to burn calories and reduce carbon emissions – one 30 minute walk can burn up to 130 calories. INTRODUCE DIGITAL PAPER TO THE WORKSPACE... Technology companies including Paper Logic and Sony have already introduced products onto the market that are designed for the office environment as an alternative to paper. COLLATE THE FINDINGS OF YOUR SURVEY... Completed in Year 4, add your latest energy bill to this and distribute a PDF report amongst your employees to inform them of the impact their efforts have had on the business and the environment. This year, companies have saved an average of £750 by switching to Project Lower. Call us to see how much you could save on 0330 333 4106