Energy and Climate Change – No Cost. Or Low Cost Effort?
Following the world climate change conference in Copenhagen, our whole life cost and sustainability team has collated learning from work done during 2009, knowledge gained from the wide range of energy reviews/audits and benchmarking analyses undertaken on behalf of a range of private and public sector clients.
Over the year, we have been appointed by financial directorates and estates departments, presented with the challenge of delivering energy efficiency savings across their property portfolios, larger organisations responding to the impact of Carbon Reduction Commitment legislation, and other smaller energy intensive clients wishing to drive out energy and resource efficiencies and save money.
Our top down approach for benchmarking energy and operating costs provides an output where data can be presented relatively easily in a variety of pictorial/graphical forms which immediately enable finance and estates managers to ask questions, analyse and investigate poor performers and take action to improve energy usage.
We have recently completed a major efficiency assignment which included desk top analysis of energy usage, in support of high level technical and condition survey visits by T&T building services managers to understand the potential to retrofit renewables and energy efficiency systems to reduce energy usage on office buildings.
Surprisingly our analysis showed that a significant amount of energy performance, over 15% by volume could be achieved by no cost, low cost effort, measures such as simply managing buildings efficiently, ensuring that FM contractors are delivering what is contracted under their agreements, and that buildings are re-commissioned to reflect churn and changes which many organisations subject their working environments to over time. Our study also analysed energy and carbon management, and considered the most appropriate cost benefit and return on investment choices for retrofit of viable renewable technology and energy efficiency installations.
Potential Climate Change Global legislative agreement pressure combined with the increasing cost of energy and the impact of carbon taxes in the future, means that individuals and organisations must become more energy efficient. It makes economic and environmental sense.