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Small and medium sized UK businesses foot an annual energy bill of about £3.5 billion. They can waste as much as 30% of their energy unnecessarily, however, which amounts to losses of £1.1 billion per year or £7,000 per business. Recent predictions from leading energy suppliers state that prices are likely to rise by up to 30% this year, triggering industry concerns about the impact on the bottom line. In this business climate, the Carbon Trust is calling on all businesses to take simple energy efficiency measures that can lead to substantial savings. For example, a saving in energy consumption of up to 20% can be achieved in many cases by introducing measures costing little or nothing. This can have the same positive effect as a 5% increase in sales.
To raise awareness among businesses of the costs of energy inefficiency and the potential for energy savings, the Carbon Trust offers a programme of free professional advice and assistance. Among the Carbon Trust’s services are:
- the provision of tailored information, targeted at individual sectors;
- in-depth advice from information centres;
- free on-site energy surveys, available to organisations with energy bills exceeding £50,000 per year;
- access to free tools and publications;
- interest-free energy loans.
Since introducing the energy loans initiative some two years ago across England and Wales, 150 small and medium-sized companies in England and Wales have been accepted as Carbon Trust loan recipients. One example in the south-east is St Helier's, a licensed retirement hotel consisting of 30 large en-suite bedrooms within two large mid-Victorian houses in Folkestone.
Although St Helier's has a policy of recycling waste and using energy efficiently, the gas boiler which provided heat and hot water for the buildings was inefficient. This resulted in extremely high gas bills, resulting in an annual energy bill of £15,000. To rectify the problem, St Helier's decided to apply for an interest-free loan and was awarded £17,500 to replace the 15 year-old gas-fired heating boiler with an ultra high efficiency, fully condensing boiler. Pipe work was also upgraded and the existing lighting was replaced with a more energy efficient system that now uses 70-80% less electricity for the same amount of light and will last 10 times as long.
The new, more energy efficient boiler and lighting system will save St Helier's approximately £3,600 per annum, allowing it to pay back the loan through the savings made within five years, after which any further savings will go straight to the bottom line.
A further Carbon Trust service, which can provide assistance to businesses, including those within the engineering sector, is the Carbon Trust’s publication library, the UK's biggest online collection of free, independent advice about energy efficiency. containing advice for specific sectors or technologies and more advanced tools designed for energy professionals.
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Dr. Garry Felgate, Director of the Carbon Trust, says: “As much as possible, we are attempting to provide business and public sector organisations with free, practical and impartial help and advice on how to cut their energy costs. We want British business to realise that by cutting back on carbon emissions, they are not only helpling the environment, but also their bottom line, thereby increasing their competitiveness”. For further information and advice, including how to apply for an energy loan, visit the Carbon Trust website at www.thecarbontrust.co.uk/energy.
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