DECs put thoughts into action
Employees are ready to help save energy and money in the workplace.
New research commissioned by Communities and Local Government shows that employees have strong green intentions with more than nine in ten believing energy efficiency is important.
Communities Minister Iain Wright has called for Display Energy Certificates (DECs) to play a key role in helping employees bring their energy efficient behaviour from the home into the workplace.
The polling showed that whilst 82 per cent of people believe they are energy efficient at home, only 44 per cent translate this behaviour to the workplace.
Further research from the Carbon Trust has confirmed that nearly nine out of ten employees (87 per cent) believe it’s important to help employers cut costs in the current climate and over three quarters are willing to be more energy efficient to save money.
Communities Minister Iain Wright said: "It's encouraging that so many people are willing to take steps at work to be more energy efficient, but we now need to translate these good intentions into actions. Display Energy Certificates (DECs) are an important first step in helping public sector employees and employers achieve this, with commercial organisations also introducing them voluntarily I'd encourage people to take a look at their DEC and find out how efficiently they are using energy in their workplace.
“Taking simple steps like switching off lights, computers and monitors when they’re not in use or having a heating system on a timer are things that many of us already do at home but which we could also do at work too.”
Communities and Local Government introduced DECs as a simple and realistic first step to finding out the energy efficiency of public sector buildings across England and Wales. Some commercial organisations are also introducing them voluntarily. They show the actual energy usage of a building
and increase transparency about the energy efficiency of buildings. The DEC comes with an Advisory Report listing cost effective measures to improve the energy efficiency rating of the building.
They inform people about the building in use and that buildings energy consumption. The certificates look similar to energy labels currently provided with vehicles and appliances, such as fridges, and use the same A-G efficiency scale - A being most efficient and G being least efficient.
Hugh Jones, Solutions Director at the Carbon Trust said: “Our survey shows that employees want to do their bit and are increasingly seeing saving money around the workplace as part of their responsibility too. This could help most businesses save up to 20 per cent on energy bills through low cost or no cost action on energy efficiency. Simply by switching machines off after use, or turning the heating down in warm weather, organisations can make real savings on their energy bill. This is a winwin situation for UK employers.”
Sophie Hanim, Employee Engagement Manager at The Energy Savings Trust added:"We'd like to see more companies engaging with their staff to show that we have a collective responsibility to reduce our carbon footprint. Many companies have Corporate Social Responsibility or environmental policies, but these need to be made more meaningful to staff. The best way is to give staff straightforward advice on what they can do to reduce their carbon footprints, both at home and at work. Using a Display Energy Certificate Advisory Report as a starting point for advice is a useful way to do this.
Buildings are responsible for almost 50 per cent of the UK’s energy consumption and carbon emissions, and commercial and public sector buildings alone are responsible for almost 20 per cent. Even small improvements to energy performance and the way we use our buildings could have a significant effect on our fuel bills, carbon emissions and the UKs commitment to tackling climate change.
Last month, the Carbon Trust launched its One Million A Day campaign, urging businesses of all sizes to join up and prioritise actions to kick-start immediate energy savings, reduce carbon emissions and make significant direct costs savings. The campaign's target is to help save the UK economy £1 billion over the next three years and reduce the UK's carbon emissions by at least 17m tonnes CO2 - the equivalent to annual emissions from heating nearly 5.5 million average UK homes.
The Carbon Trust has identified three key areas which employers should focus on: Energy Management – Last year UK businesses working with the Carbon Trust implemented energy saving measures including metering and monitoring, staff awareness and setting board level policies to effectively identify opportunities and monitor results, that will save over £64 million a year Improved Lighting Installing controls, replacing and upgrading lamps to energy efficient versions and installing motion detectors are a few examples of action that will enable over £11 million worth of savings
in one year.
Efficient Heating – Upgrading inefficient boilers, installing controls, improving insulation and improving maintenance schedules will lead to savings of over £8.5 million a year.
