Being Green is Easy and Saves Money!

Over here at the Crown Spa Hotel we are presently fitting 22 solar panels to the roof and hopefully they will save around 9 standard UK households of CO2 per year. This is the final stage of our progress to reduce our carbon footprint from our 2005 levels.

Since 2005 we have reduced our CO2 from fossil fuels by 25% from 1,005,000 KG to 761,662KG CO2 in 2009. This reduction has mainly been down to behavioural changes like turning off lights, turning off unnecessary heating, computers etc...and factoring in power usage into the cost of equipment we buy.

The recent much publicised changes at the Crown Spa like wood burning boilers and solar panels have as yet to really kick in and affect the CO2 figures, these are what I call "quick fixes" as they instantly reduce CO2 emissions without the need to change behaviour.

Changing behaviour will reduce your power usage the greatest amount, 3 simple things we put into place which worked for us;

·         Using cheap monitoring systems like "energy monitoring devices" (Google it!), which monitor local Phase 1 to 3 electrical feeds and give instant feedback as to usage and you can even pre-program an audible alarm when a pre-set KW limit is reach, they are relatively cheap at £25 - £50. These monitors can be located at sub power panels not just the mains feed meter. These units allow you to see what is using power when you “shut up shop”, I was amazed that a PC used 20Watts when turned off, £10 per year per PC, when not switched off at the mains! We also lent these "energy monitoring devices" to managers to try at home, many have reduced their electricity costs per quarter by £30 and hence usage by turning lights off in unused rooms, TV off at mains at night, these habits are then replicated at work..

·         Assess heating and drafts, just like at home close the door or window to prevent drafts which suck energy out of the building, the main pain of my life in the hotel is the air conditioning being on when it is not needed! Or doors wide open and heating on! Yes you need fresh air but not too much, just encourage clients to close the door behind them or team members to be more aware of closing doors and windows

·         Factor in power usage in your purchase decisions, many websites allow you to calculate running costs (in power usage and £’s) for comparable electrical items. For example the GU10 LED bulbs from China cost around £8 and use around 2.5W each lasting around 50,000 hours (and can now give the equivalent of a 50W halogen light), the equivalent GU10 Halogen light uses 50W of power and lasts around 5,000 hours for £1.20 per bulb. So which choice is the best financially? Well the halogen is much cheaper to buy especially if you are buying in quantity. However, if you assume that each light is lit for 8 hours per day then in 1 year the total cost to power the Halogen light is £16 and the LED £9, effectively the LED has paid for itself in 7 months! Plus it last 10 times as long.

So reducing your CO2 footprint from fossil fuel derived power is not an expensive exercise, it does not require lots of knowhow, just changing habits, behaviours' and most importantly it can be justified financially even in a recession.

Posted via email from davidfrank's posterous