New online tool from Carbon Trust - employees can help tackle rising energy bills

Monday, January 9, 2012

Employees could save UK businesses and public bodies £500m and two million tonnes of CO2 thanks to a new, online office tool called ‘Carbon Trust Empower™' launched recently by the Carbon Trust.

By engaging employees in cutting energy use, paper waste and travel, Carbon Trust Empower has the potential to save a typical small business over 15% of their energy bill or more than £6K per year – equivalent to powering 3.5km of street lights for a year.  Larger businesses* that base their approach on this tool could save £150K and over 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

Each individual employee’s efforts can amount to carbon emissions reductions (220kgCO2) equivalent to heating the average household for a month**. Staff can use the online tool to make practical commitments through an interactive animated tour of a typical workplace. Employees are able to explore energy saving opportunities throughout their office – starting by considering how they arrive for work, with options to join a company carpool or travel by public transport, before moving on to their desk, where they can commit to switch off their PC when not in use, print double-sided, and teleconference rather than travel. The virtual journey also helps staff cut energy waste in other parts of the office, such as the reception area, kitchen, corridors and toilets.

As well as helping individuals create and keep track of personal action plans, Empower provides a wealth of engaging workplace facts and enables office managers to view the sum of their employees’ individual energy savings.

Companies can encourage their employees to sign up to energy saving at www.carbontrust.co.uk/empower.

By following the Carbon Trust’s top tips for office energy efficiency, companies could make annual savings of over £200 per employee:

  1. Turning off your PC and monitor in the evening could save £39/yr per person
  2. Keeping blinds open and turning off lights when there is enough daylight, or when areas are unoccupied could save more than £10/yr per person
  3. Accepting a slightly (1°C) reduced temperature in the workplace could save over £4/yr per person
  4. Using the phone or video conferencing to avoid four car journeys could save £150/yr
  5. Reducing paper use by only printing when needed, and printing double sided could save £20/yr each per person