Technical solutions to save energy and water

Energy efficiency and sustainability are in the spotlight more than ever. In many cases, government and industry have made agreements on this. But operating your business in a sustainable way is interesting in several aspects. Erik van Tussenbroek, Senior Consultant Compliance & Quality Technical Services, has some tips.

‘At Sodexo, we have extensive technical knowledge in-house thanks to our energy consultants, engineers, planners, electrical engineers, structural engineers, mechanical engineers and measurement and control engineers, as well as a large network of technical partners. Because of this, we can teach our clients techniques that lead to energy and water savings. We provide advice at the tactical and strategic level: from how to properly and efficiently manage the systems in a building to implementing sustainable business operations. It’s a bold statement, but any organisation can operate climate neutrally if it uses the right technology.’

Offices: minimum energy label C

Starting this year, every office building of 100 m2 and larger must have at least energy label C. If this is unsuccessful, the property may no longer be used as office premises. Sodexo can determine a building’s energy performance and draw up an energy conservation plan.

Sustainable replacement policy

Organisations may decide to opt for a more sustainable solution at natural replacement times. If traditional lighting is at the end of its service life, replacing it with LED lighting is a sustainable choice.

Solar panels

Solar panels, combined with an energy storage facility, offer a great solution for using your own energy. Using locally generated energy locally produces substantial savings.

Rainwater for toilet groups

Flushing toilets with ‘grey water’ instead of drinking water. This can be done with a system that stores rainwater, known as water harvesting. We advise on and implement such projects.

Read more tips on how Sodexo can help with energy and/or water conservation in office buildings here.

Sensors for more energy-efficient building management

‘By placing sensors, you can measure which days or areas have high traffic in a building and adjust the heating and cooling accordingly. You can choose to keep sections or floors of the building closed, which also saves on cleaning costs.’

Examples of projects we carried out for our clients:

• Car park lighting that switches on only when a car arrives. Savings of +30%.

• Smartly managing office occupancy, which allowed one of our client’s offices to close completely one day a week.

• Replacing traditional lighting with LED lighting: saves up to 80% on lighting costs.

Conserving energy in our own kitchens

Our kitchen teams:

- regularly check that refrigerator/freezer doors close properly. They defrost freezers regularly and use coolers/freezers efficiently.

- cook with the lids on the pans and use the right size pan for each gas stove/induction zone, so that the heat is used as efficiently as possible.

- do not preheat ovens longer than necessary and do not open the oven in between. This can save as much as 20% heat loss.