Posts Tagged ‘Energy Costs’

Environmental Measures and Common Sense

January 28th, 2010

Readers of my regular articles will know that I always advocate environmentally friendly measures and it is becoming increasingly clear that these measures are becoming the norm rather that the exception.

Measure 1 – I drive a Hybrid car – Not only does this car give me a good miles per gallon figure, it is comfortable, I pay only £15 per year road tax and I am exempt from congestion charges;

Measure 2 – By reducing my speed from 70 to 65 miles per hour, I have found that I now get between 55-60 miles per gallon. With fuel cost now becoming a significant expense this is a considerable saving.

Measure 3 – By reducing the thermostat by one to two degrees my heating bill will be reduced; it may not offset the huge rises in energy costs but it must go part way.

Measure 4 – I now turn off lights that are really not needed during the day; I open the blinds to let in natural daylight. The savings may not be great but contribute to then overall saving even with energy saving lighting.

Measure 5 – No equipment is left on standby; to do so would be wasting energy and money.

Measure 6 – If I feel cold; I put on a jumper rather than turning up the heat; I am often staggered to see people in summer clothes complaining about feeling chilly.

Measure 7 – I have changed Banks- not only because my previous Bank gave me such rotten service but my new Bank is within walking distance. No Car needed.

Measure 8 – We recycle as much as we can to reduce our impact on the environment.

Measure 9 – We buy in season food to reduce then air miles that our food travels; some of our food has travelled 10′s of miles rather than hundreds.

Measure 10 – We buy our goods and services locally, wherever we can to reduce our carbon footprint.

Environmental Measures and Common Sense

December 14th, 2009

Readers of my regular articles will know that I always advocate environmentally friendly measures and it is becoming increasingly clear that these measures are becoming the norm rather that the exception.

Measure 1 – I drive a Hybrid car – Not only does this car give me a good miles per gallon figure, it is comfortable, I pay only £15 per year road tax and I am exempt from congestion charges;

Measure 2 – By reducing my speed from 70 to 65 miles per hour, I have found that I now get between 55-60 miles per gallon. With fuel cost now becoming a significant expense this is a considerable saving.

Measure 3 – By reducing the thermostat by one to two degrees my heating bill will be reduced; it may not offset the huge rises in energy costs but it must go part way.

Measure 4 – I now turn off lights that are really not needed during the day; I open the blinds to let in natural daylight. The savings may not be great but contribute to then overall saving even with energy saving lighting.

Measure 5 – No equipment is left on standby; to do so would be wasting energy and money.

Measure 6 – If I feel cold; I put on a jumper rather than turning up the heat; I am often staggered to see people in summer clothes complaining about feeling chilly. » Read more: Environmental Measures and Common Sense

10 Reasons Why You MUST Improve the Environmental Performance of Your Business

December 14th, 2009

1. You are wasting money

Between 2006 and 2008 I carried out simple half-day environmental health checks in 26 businesses ranging from catering through printing, engineering and construction to major pharmaceutical companies. I identified an average saving in waste, raw material, energy and water costs of £175,000 per annum, per company. And those health checks barely scratched the surface.

One of my favourite definitions of waste is ‘anything you buy that you cannot sell’ . Savings from cutting waste (whether that is wasted materials, energy or water) comes straight off your bottom line. If your profit margin is 25%, every £1 saved in this way is equivalent to £4 worth of new sales. And unlike cutting staff, cutting waste costs improves rather than detracts from your ability to deliver value to your customers.

2. The true cost of your waste can be immense

I despair at the number of businesses who go to great lengths to manufacture a high value product and then reverse a forklift truck into it or spill it on the floor during packaging. Most businesses know how much waste costs to dispose of, but the true cost of this type of waste is much higher as it includes:

• Disposal costs;

• Raw material costs;

• Energy and other utility costs for manufacturing;

• Labour costs both from the original manufacturing and the clean up;

• The cost of the disruption required to fulfil orders including knock-on effects on other orders;

• Opportunity costs of not being able to sell that product;

• Opportunity costs from poor customer satisfaction (eg lost future orders).

3. Your energy, water and waste costs are rising

Energy costs doubled between June 2007 and 2008. Waste costs continue to rise as landfill tax escalates and the type of materials that can be landfilled are restricted. Indications from the government are that it will continue increasing the Landfill Tax by £8 per tonne each year up to a level of at least £48 per tonne (from £32 per tonne today). In areas such as the South East of England, water resources are becoming ever more scarce so costs are rising. Doing nothing on environment performance means going backwards rather than standing still. » Read more: 10 Reasons Why You MUST Improve the Environmental Performance of Your Business