How green is your office (Part 2) – can green be profitable?

As I intimated in my previous article the power companies are very good at jumping on the green bandwagon but realistically it is difficult for them to back up their credentials. The majority of our utility suppliers still only get a small fraction of their energy from renewable sources and even those suppliers who report to be totally green are just buying what is available in the market rather than generating it themselves, thus their prices can be 30-40% higher.

So if they are only using small amounts now what are they doing about it for the future? All suppliers are investing in renewable energy but at only the fraction of the cost of other energy sources. In 2007 investment in renewable energy by the power companies ranged from £103.7M by Powergen down to £0 by Scottish & Southern (source www.whichgreen.org)

So, it appears, you are not going to save the world by choosing the right energy supplier but you can make a start by good management of your energy usage in your office. The recently created Legal Sector Alliance (www.legalsectoralliance.com) set up by The Law Society and leading figures in the legal sector to look at how the legal industry is impacting with the environment have created a checklist of ways to improve energy efficiency -   

• Ensure that all equipment and lights are turned off when not in use.        
• Install movement sensors to meeting rooms
• Switch off monitors when away from their desks for more than 5 – 10 minutes and shut computers down when they leave the office. Turning off a single computer when not in use instead of on standby can save as much as £5 every
• Reduce energy bills by turning down the heating when it is not needed and always ensure that this is done before opening a window – check that heating is not timed to come on overnight or at weekends
• Turning the heating down by one degree saves 8% of the energy bill a year
• If extra heating is needed, use oil-fuelled rather than electric fan heaters. They use 750w of energy as opposed to 3kw
• Ensure all light bulbs are energy efficient – LEDs are more efficient than halogen
• Ensure air conditioning vents or heating are not blocked by office furniture/boxes

Good energy management will mean lower bills and a smaller carbon footprint for you and your firm.