CARBON REDUCTION COMMITMENT
ONS INTO AN OPPORTUNITY
Environmental Strategist, Commercial explains, “We now have reduced our normalised carbon emissions by over 60%, while maintaining steady and organic growth year on year. In fact, as much as 70% of our recent growth can be directly attributed to our position as a leader in corporate responsibility and our CarbonNeutral® status.” To achieve this, Commercial
considered its offices and warehouses as separate entities and undertook a detailed energy audit followed by an extensive staff engagement programme. This enabled the company to prioritise the parts of the business which would have the most impact and to keep everyone involved in the programme as it progressed. Lighting was a major focus. In 2007, Commercial undertook a trial of different light technologies, including cold cathode, LED, fluorescent and discharge lighting, to decide which would be the new default technology. Each installation was monitored for power consumption, output and life costs, and also staff preference. Following the trial Commercial installed a new 11W light which, combined with PIRs, has reduced CO2
emissions by over 86%.
Subsequent technology development led to the installation of Commercial’s first LED lit showroom in 2009 that uses 4.5w lights, which when tested were as bright as the previous 50w halogen bulbs. New lights are now used in the offices, warehouses, toilets and reception areas, even the company gym, with a predicted annual saving of 91% over their predecessors. To significantly reduce the carbon emissions produced by the IT infrastructure, Commercial established a fully virtualised datacentre reducing the number of servers by a 10:1 ratio. It also consolidated IT equipment and opted for virtual storage. To further reduce the amount of emissions produced by the energy to cool the equipment, Commercial installed a fresh air cooling system, enabling the HVACs to be switched off and estimated to save £9,000 per annum in electricity costs. The company is now rolling out a virtual desktop which will further reduce emissions and has assisted customers in their own environmental projects – this will save over £2 million in the first year alone.
Simon Graham explains the significance of Commercial’s carbon
Rebecca Fay, Marketing Director, The CarbonNeutral Company.
reduction programme: “Implementing such an offset inclusive carbon management programme has helped us establish a cost on carbon and to focus on further carbon reductions. Our CarbonNeutral® status will be cost neutral, as well as increasing job applicant interest, raising staff motivation and yielding significant and meaningful environmental improvements.” Hammerson PLC, a Real Estate
Investment Trust (REIT), which is principally engaged in property investment and development, has achieved
CarbonNeutral® status for its head office since 2006. The group also invests in and develops shopping centres, retail parks and prime offices principally in the United Kingdom and France.
Since 2006, Hammerson achieved a further 32% reduction in carbon emissions from its head office and 16% reductions across its portfolio. Like Commercial, it achieved these further reductions through implementing a long-term internal reductions programme. Within its head office Hammerson introduced behavioural initiatives such as turning off computers and lights when vacating rooms, charging BlackBerry’s through laptops and not using additional chargers which are often left plugged in and still use energy. Other carbon reductions initiatives
included re-commissioning the lighting system so lights turn on with presence detectors, trialing LED lighting in the main lobby area and upgrading the main electrical plant. Paul Edwards, Head of Sustainability, Hammerson advises that, “Businesses need to look for simple initiatives to reduce carbon emissions. At Hammerson we have created Green Groups amongst our portfolio with the aim to educate and engage staff. For example, when we started our carbon reduction programme 80% of computer screens were left on each night however now 80% are turned off.”
Throughout its extensive portfolio Hammerson has achieved further reductions in carbon emissions through initiatives such as: • Investing in relamping from T8 to T5 fittings;
• Installing a voltage optimisation
programme which will reduce energy consumption by a minimum of 14%.
These two programmes will cost £3
million and are projected to have a payback of under three years, saving over 40% in energy consumption at a UK shopping centre. • Overhauling ventilation facilities. For example in Highcross Shopping Centre, Leicester, Hammerson converted an air conditioning mall into a naturally ventilated mall so reducing carbon emissions by 29%.
Figure 2: Once a company or product has measured and reduced its emissions to net zero in accordance with the CarbonNeutral Protocol, it is awarded the appropriate CarbonNeutral® certification.
CarbonNeutral® office space gives facilities management companies a unique opportunity to follow in the footsteps of organisations like Commercial and Hammerson. Differentiation of services, reductions in energy costs and establishing a strong environmental credential, are all benefits which can rapidly accrue to facilities managers and their customers. At the same time, they can make a dent in that 18% of carbon emissions that’s coming from commercial property in the UK.
The CarbonNeutral Company is a world leading provider of carbon reduction solutions. It works with over 300 major businesses and hundreds of small and medium sized companies in 32 countries to develop offset inclusive carbon reduction programs. Since 1997, it has purchased carbon credits from over 200 projects across six continents. The CarbonNeutral Company has offices in New York, London and Singapore, with a network of associates in Japan and UAE.
www.carbonneutral.com
SUSTAINABLE FM | APRIL 2010
|15
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36