In 10 years we have reduced our 2011-12 kgCO2e emissions by79.5 tonnes.
A 63.5% reduction
Here’s how we do it
These little beauties turned the thermal images of our offices from red to blue
Check it out – click here
Cavity Wall insulation.
After doubling our roof space insulation we invested in cavity wall insulation. The thermal images below clearly illustrate the impact it had as the before thermal image shows bright red areas indicating where heat loss is prevalent
Before After
The after image illustrates the massive impact of the insulation as blue areas indicate no heat loss. This exercise showed how great the heat loss was through the office windows and the need for double glazing
The building is now much warmer- reducing heating bills and reducing our CO2 emissions by 22%.
Here comes the SUM
Find out how we reduce our electricity bill by £2000 on average per year
CLICK HERE
Solar power…a very bright idea
We managed to get to Glasgow –to Scottish Powers HQ to register our solar installation on the last day of registration in April 2012 and qualify for a Feed in tariff (FIT) of 43p per kw. This generates on average 4650 kw per annum reducing our electricity bill by £2000 per annum and is guaranteed for 25 years (2037).
The feed in tariff income has paid for the installation in 6 years - 3 ahead of prediction
Double glazing turns the final ‘red’ heat loss spots …….to blue
See just how effective it is turning red to blue Click here
We went to the top of the class for Double Glazing –
CategoryA.
This delivers an estimated 50% reduction in heat loss and combined with cavity wall insulation delivers up to 80%. The physical evidence is shown in the thermal images below which clearly show before double glazing - bright red heat loss in the window areas to after - virtually no heat loss
Before After
We
halved our vehicles environmental impact and reduced our carbon emissions by 87% Click here to find out how
Fleet transformation from Fossil to electric .. ….the environmental impacts
In 2019 we dipped our toe into replacing our fossil fuel powered small fleet of cars to electric and after one electric car we replaced a further 4 and added a self charging hybrid for our delivery work. The net effect of this change is that we have halved our environmental impact and reduced our CO2 emissions by a massive 87%. The impact on fuel costs and maintenance are significant but in the current (2022) volatile energy market difficult to guage. Pre-energy hikes we were running at 50% of the fossil running costs.
NextGreenCar.com
Fossil NGC* CO2 Electric NGC CO2 Volkswagen Passat Estate 2.0 TDI 42 128 Kia Niro e-Niro 3 23 0 Mercedes C350e AMG 70 218 Tesla Model 3 Saloon Performance Awd 23 0 Nissan Qashqai Diesel Hatchback 1.5 dCi 39 139 Tesla Model 3 Elec 241 Standard Range Plus 22 0 Skoda Superb Estate 2.0 TDI 38 136 Kia Sportage HEV SUV 2wd 1.6 h T-GDi 32 129 Mazda 3 Diesel Fastback 47 134 Peugeot e-2008 SUV Elec 50kWh 100KW 21 0 VW Touareg 3.0 TDI BlueMotion 69 239 Jaguar I-PACE SUV Elec 90kWh 400 HSE 30 0 305 994 151 129
* The NGC Rating expresses a vehicle's environmental impact as a score over the vehicles whole life cycle ranging from 0 for the greenest vehicles to 100+ for the most polluting. Source:
We saw the light 10 years ago …and recovered the investment in under 4.
See how – click here
LED lighting…a very bright idea!
In January 2012 we replaced all our office and external lighting with LED’s. The environmental and cost savings were compelling :
Annual reduction in CO2 emissions
8.81 tonnes
Annual reduction in energy consumption
75%
Annual savings based on kW/h costs
2012 £1992.
Total cost of installation
£6522
Return on investment
3.33 years
Our electricity supply in the UK is 240 volts. Our P.C’s and appliances are all designed to run on 220 volts!
Find out how we don’t pay for the surplus 20 volts …and reduced our carbon footprint
All PC’s and electrical appliances used in the UK are designed to work on 220 volts… but 240 volts is the UK standard electrical supply… sounds expensive!
With a view to saving money and reducing our carbon emissions we installed an ECO MAX voltage optimiser for the mains input reducing the electricity we use to 220 volts saving circa 8.5% on our electricity bill. The environmental bonus – an annual reduction of 2,296 KgCo2
For our file server room air conditioning unit we installed a COOLNOMIX Unit which saves 40% energy consumption. Where we were saving money we are now hedging against the massive energy cost increases we are all expereincing. A great measure of the effectiveness of this equipment, which we will have paid for with the savings in 2 . 5 years, is our electricity supplier Scottish Power –querying our meter readings. Too low was the cry!
Planting trees in the UK and Africa with …our tree planting partner
See how this sequesters carbon and creates habitat
Click here
Offsetting our carbon emissions and creating habitat
Up to and including 2022 we have planted 5,000 trees – 3500 in the UK and 1500 in Africa with our tree planting partner Tree Appeals tree twinning initiative.
www.treeappeal.com/Tree_Twinning.html
This will offset 12,225 tonnes of carbon and create hundreds of years of essential habitat for wildlife