Designing Workplaces for Sustainability Flashcards
Designing workplaces for sustainability Intro
Businesses are under pressure to reduce their carbon footprint and their unsustainable energy use. There are a number of ways that businesses can be run more sustainably, such as car-sharing schemes and incentives to encourage employees to work from home (‘flexi-working’).
The Carbon Trust is working with businesses and the public sector in the UK to help them cut carbon emissions. It provides practical expertise and resources, including funding.
M&S (Marks and Spencer) Case Study
Marks and Spencer has taken the management of energy seriously for a number of years and was a signatory to early government initiatives.
- Nearly every store operates a remote half-hourly energy monitoring system.
- The company has also invested in the most up-to-date refrigeration systems for its chilled foods, resulting in significant energy savings.
- Working with the Carbon Trust, Marks and Spencer has spent a significant amount of time training its store designers and builders, as well as the teams who maintain the stores, on the opportunities for saving energy.
- It has also run a number of energy-awareness campaigns targeting employees, including posters, stickers and a staff competition.
The company now has 30% fewer carbon emissions than in 2002.
Manchester United Football Club Case Study
A big modern stadium like Old Trafford uses a huge amount of electricity, and its energy bill in 2004 was more than £400,000, with carbon emissions calculated to be somewhere in the region of 1,500 tonnes for that year. Much of this energy goes on the lighting needed in the stadium, which seats 70,000 fans and broadcasts matches to millions of people around the world.
The Carbon Trust was comissioned to identify where energy savings could be made. It identified several areas, including introducing new electricity sub-meters in the north and south stands, employing wardens to ensure equipment is turned off, instigating an employee energy-awareness campaign and reducing the running time of heating and air-conditioning systems. Lighting in the hospitalilty suites and concourse areas is also more carefully controlled using photocells and timers.
By September 2006 the club had implemented changes that saved 265 tonnes of carbon a year, representing 18% of its total emissions. It intends to do more in the future and is investigating the potential for the development of onsite renewable energy generation at its Carrington training ground, 8km west of Old Trafford.
