Carbon Trust urges businesses to ‘switch off and save’ this Christmas

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20 December 2006
Failing to turn off non-essential equipment will cost UK businesses £6.2 million a day over the Christmas period.


Figures released by the Carbon Trust today show that, although many organisations will be operating with less staff and for fewer hours over the festive season, poor energy efficiency will still result in more than 550,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide being needlessly emitted into the atmosphere.

With business responsible for producing up to 45 per cent of carbon emissions in the UK, the Carbon Trust is urging organisations to switch off all non-essential equipment when not in use. As well as reducing energy bills, improving energy efficiency also cuts carbon emissions – the main cause of climate change.

Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust said: “We all know that Christmas can be an expensive time of year, but for businesses the seasonal break actually provides a great opportunity to reduce energy bills. By simply switching off equipment that will not be needed, such as lights, office equipment or reducing heating levels, organisations could make significant savings as well as cutting their carbon emissions.”

Top three straight forward, energy saving measures are:

  1. Always switch monitors off when not in use. They account for almost half of a computer’s energy use.
  2. Label light switches to encourage staff to turn off lights whenever and wherever they are not needed. Businesses can save up to 15% on their bills by implementing this simple measure.
  3. Reduce heating in areas needing less warmth during the Christmas period when the building is empty. A reduction of only 1 degree can save 8-10% of the annual heating bill.

 

 
 
Footnotes
 

The Carbon Trust

  • The Carbon Trust is a private company set up by government in response to the threat of climate change, to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy. The Carbon Trust works with UK business and the public sector to create practical business-focused solutions through its external work in five complementary areas: insights, solutions, innovations, enterprises and investments. Together these help to explain, deliver, develop, create and finance low carbon enterprise.
  • The Carbon Trust's annual funding is in excess of £100m in grants from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and Invest NI.

Overview of methodology to calculate the energy costs and carbon emissions

  • The aim of the analysis was to estimate the savings that UK public, commercial and industrial buildings could make by switching off all non essential equipment over the Christmas break.
  • In order to do this it was assumed that the energy demand for holiday periods is the same as it is at night.
  • The night time energy use figure was calculated using the National Grid seven year statement and estimates from BRE.
  • The ratio of night time to day time demand for energy was then used to estimate the proportion of buildings related energy use that is consumed over Christmas.
  • Estimates could then be made in respect to the energy saving capacity of activities which are carried out over the holiday period.
  • Christmas is defined as being from 5pm on Friday 22 December to 8.30am on Tuesday 2 January.