At Work
“Switch it off” week was the ideal time to launch your company’s own campaign.
Reducing your energy bill doesn’t have to mean investing in a fancy new heating system or splashing out on mega expensive photovoltaics. If fact, it can cost you nothing at all. Promoting this message of no-cost energy efficiency measures to your workforce can cut your bills and reduce your contribution to climate change. We invited any business to use our “Switch It Off” business toolkit to promote this 'waste not' attitude and simply turn things off when they’re not in use. | |
Take a walk around your building today and you’ll be surprised at how many electrical items are left on when they needn’t be. Companies in the area have done just this kind of survey and have then got serious about changing the culture in their businesses to a ‘waste not’ way of working.
When bosses at SME Premier Sheet Metal on Bayton Road Industrial Estate sat down and looked at their energy bills, they realised that they were spending thousands of pounds a year on equipment left on overnight, when no-one was in the factory. Leary Williams of Premier said, “Now, through awareness-raising with all staff, logging the operating times of major machines and making the most use of a free resource by keeping factory skylights clean, we predict we will cut our energy bill by 20%, saving £18,000 and 130 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.”
Energy and Facilities Engineer Peter Everill of BMW Hams Hall revealed, “The challenge of reducing our energy bills is one of the most important objectives we currently face.” Their energy awareness training programme has not only reduced their energy use, but has also generated many innovative energy saving suggestions from staff. Overall the measures have saved 2 million kWh of energy, that’s 860 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
There's also some simple steps you can do about the office environment:
- Switch off all computer equipment, appliances, motors and machinery when not in use.
- Take the stairs, not the lift.
- If your workplace is too hot, turn the heating down instead of opening a window.
- Report over-heating caused by equipment or poor ventilation to your line manager.
- If it is too cold in winter, ensure radiators and heaters aren't obstructed.
- Check if lighting is on unnecessarily in the middle of the day.
- If you are the last to leave, make sure you turn everything off behind you, including machinery, printers, drinks' machines, fans, lights, etc.
- Remember the green travel plan – car share, cycle, use public transport or walk.
- Recycle, think about how you can reduce waste, use paper printed on one side for note-taking.
- Print on both sides of paper, re-use envelopes.
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