What we found in 2022

We found lots of simple and easy opportunities for SMEs to save energy and carbon, plus a few not so simple ones.

Here’s a very brief run-down of the sort of things we recommended to our clients in 2022.

Hotel

Simply the turning down of the thermostat. The communal rooms where significantly overheated, by probably 4 degrees Celsius. The potential saving on the heating cost by turning the temperature down a few degrees will be around 10%.

The installation of a draught lobby to the front door in order to reduce air changes in an exposed coastal location.

Construction Company

The potential to virtually eliminate carbon emissions for the mobile plant by switching to Biodiesel.

As simple as it sounds, replacing the on-peak electric heaters in the open-plan office with a log stove.

Medical Devices company

The company occupied a building previously used mainly for warehousing. The large overhead gas burners were a highly inefficient means of delivering heat to the staff working below, in the building’s new guise.

The building also had minimal wall insulation.

Recruitment and HR company

Staff commuting represented around 80% of the business’s carbon footprint. The client was not aware of the Cycle-to-Work scheme which is a tax incentive for employees to acquire new bikes and e-bikes.

Office based service company

Not for the first time, we found that ‘personal’ electric heaters, hidden under desks, were interfering with the office thermostat resulting in some employees being cold, others ‘just right’, and others being too warm and opening windows.

Engineering business

Once transparent polycarbonate roof panels had over time become almost opaque resulting in no natural light entering the workplace. Their replacement would be simple and low cost, and would transform the workplace, and reduce reliance on electrical lighting.

Almost every business we’ve seen…

Where the premises is owned, and there is a south facing or near south facing roof, the case for solar PV has been universally strong, with pay-back periods in the range 3-5 years, on a 20 year lifespan installation.

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