Simple – and cost-effective
The supermarket giant Sainsbury’s and postal services company the Royal Mail Group are demonstrating commitment to clean technologies. But, says Tom Idle, for both companies the economics must stack up
And in Gloucester, a brand new green energy system is creating 30kWh of electricity an hour using ‘kinetic’ plates in the car park. Whenever cars drive over the plates, the tech- nology captures the energy from the move- ment to power its checkouts. It’s a European first, described by environment manager, Alison Austin, as “revolutionary”. “Not only are we the first to use such cutting-edge tech- nology with our shoppers, but customers can now play a very active role in helping make their local shop greener, without extra effort or cost,” she said.
The store at Gloucester Quays is also using harvest rainwater to flush the staff and cus- tomer toilets and solar thermal panels to heat up 100% of the building’s hot water during the summer.
Like Sainsbury’s, the Royal Mail Group, is open to using any clean technologies – as long as the economics stack up.
The company, which includes the Royal Mail, Post Office and Parcelforce Worldwide, has been using marginal abatement cost curves (MACC) for the past few years in order to decide the technologies it should use at its depots and offices. “The board aren’t going to
listen to me a great deal about carbon reduc- tion. But they will listen to me about cost reduction and efficacy,” says Martin Blake, the Group’s head of sustainability. Two years ago, the company hiked its renewable energy target up from 10% by 2010, to 50%. Considering the firm uses 450 gigawatt-hours of electricity every year, that’s £25M of energy costs we’re talking about. But with such an ambitious goal, the business has concluded, after conducting a survey of Group sites that might be able to install on- site wind turbines, that they alone would not
generate sufficient energy. The firm has dab- bled in just about everything – from voltage optimisation to looking at high temperature molten carbonate fuel cells – “you name it, we’ve played with it”.
But by using MACC, Blake and his team could clearly see the difference between those technologies that might give you some brown- ie points from a reputational point of view, and those that could get a serious amount of carbon off the books. “Certain technologies, like Sabien’s boiler optimisation technology, paid back in six weeks,” says Blake. “That’s the sort of thing we’re looking at.” For Blake, it’s about removing the financial and technical barriers so that the board makes the right decision. “Carbon is important. But my mantra is: carbon costs money and we should save as much of it as we can. “We have to recognise that by 2019, wheth-
er we dabble or play will be taken away because it will be driven by regulation.” And echoing the Royal Mail Group’s cor-
Sainsbury’s is using large wind turbines in Scotland and maximising natural light and refrigerants
porate message: “As with the company’s day- to-day business operations, when it comes to cutting carbon, it is flexibility and creativity that are the name of the game.”
Sustainable Business | Microgeneration | October 2010 | z9
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 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52