Workplaces 'can improve their energy efficiency'

Article date : 02/07/2010

The financial gains a business can stand to make from improving its energy efficiency should act as a real incentive for them to change, one sector commentator has claimed.

Jim Haywood, environment director at Business in the Community, said that the average office wastes £6,000 every year simply through leaving equipment on when the office is empty.

Using research by the Carbon Trust, he added that in total, firms in the UK could save £1 million every week by looking at their energy efficiency.

Speaking at the Retail Now online event, Mr Haywood said that reducing their energy consumption by just 20 per cent could result in funds equivalent to those realised if sales increased by five per cent.

"Businesses who take these things seriously and manage their businesses well are going to be in a much better position to meet legislation like the [Carbon Reduction Commitment] and other new legislation which comes on stream as the years unfold," he explained.

Companies could consider modernising their central heating systems, such as by adding a condensing boiler and heating controls, as one way to save money - with the Energy Saving Trust claiming this could save them as much as £235 each year.

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