ENERGY MANAGEMENT & SUSTAINABILITY
PLOTTING A MORE SUSTAINABLE PATH
Anthony Ainsworth, COO, npower Business Solutions (nBS) powered by E.ON, explains why on-site generation makes environmental, commercial and reputational sense.
The issue of how businesses can play their part in the path to net zero is one that has significantly grown in importance, despite the challenges of the past 18 months. For facilities managers, meeting their organisations’ carbon reduction requirements has also been balanced with ensuring their premises have both operated efficiently during periods of lockdown, and are now adapting to new ways of working as occupants return to the office.
As a certain sense of ‘normality’ resumes, the focus is now firmly on how organisations from both the public and private sector can reduce their emissions. Facilities managers will be crucial to this progress, working alongside their colleagues to install the right measures to help their business meet set targets.
However, for many businesses, the impact of the challenging commercial environment has resulted in even greater scrutiny on how capital expenditure (CAPEX) is deployed, particularly when it comes to larger scale sustainability projects. While relatively ‘small’ changes - such as replacing lighting, heating and cooling - can make a big difference and should absolutely be in a business’ carbon reduction plan, making the case for larger investments, such as on-site generation, can prove to be more difficult.
With this in mind, we have developed a guide on the important role sustainable on-site generation can play in helping organisations plot their path to net zero to help facilities managers make the business case for the investment. This report - ‘Plot Your Path to Net Zero: A Focus on Sustainable On-Site Generation’ - includes information on the different kinds of generation available, from solar photovoltaic (PV) to combined heat and power (CHP), as well as the views of over 60 businesses of their
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on-site generation plans and the kind of support they would welcome.
Encouragingly, the research showed that, despite the challenges posed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, over 50% of our respondents said they had already invested - or were planning to invest - in ways to generate their own supply.
That said, despite the positivity around plans to invest in on-site generation, businesses also raised some of the issues they face when it comes to building a case for the investment. The primary barrier is proving the return on investment (ROI) of an on-site asset, closely followed by access to funding. A quarter (24%) also questioned the suitability of on-site generation for their organisation.
So, how can facilities managers make the business case for an on-site generation asset? For me, there are five clear reasons why on-site generation should be a key part of a business’s net zero strategy:
It reduces carbon emissions As we know, the UK government has set some very ambitious targets for the reduction of carbon emissions. As well as committing to net zero emissions by 2050, it recently announced a mid-point commitment of a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions reduction of 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels.
The most effective way to reduce emissions is by switching to a zero-carbon supply. On-site generation options that use 100% renewable sources - such as solar PV or wind - will help a business significantly reduce its carbon footprint.
It lowers energy costs Installing on-site generation technology can make a
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