Delivered as part of the ENWORKS programme the Sustainable Business Service consultants supported Protocol Skills in Ellesmere Port with their resource and energy efficiency.
The Ellesmere Port headquarters of Protocol Skills, a national vocational training provider, has 75 staff on site. It has made an immediate impact on its bottom line thanks to support from Sustainable Business Service team at Groundwork.
Energy efficiency
Initiatives have included reducing the standard boiler setting by 2.5ºC, saving £1,600 a year in gas bills. After a survey showed that 20% of power consumption was happening while the offices were shut, an overnight and weekends ‘switch off’ regime was also put in place for all office equipment, saving £1,000 a year on electricity.
A lighting ‘switch off’ campaign has been launched and low-energy light bulbs are being fitted, to save £1,800 annually. An energy monitoring survey and waste management review could help it to save another £2,200 a year.
Water & waste efficiency
Water saving devices fitted to urinals and toilet cisterns have saved £310 a year in mains water bills. The company has also implemented a teleconferencing policy to minimise unnecessary business mileage, and boosted its existing ‘Hate Waste’ campaign by sourcing a new waste contractor and starting to recycle paper and card.
Total efficiency savings
Protocol Skills has achieved annual savings of over £2,900 a year at no capital cost and work is ongoing to realise another £4,200 annually. The total cost savings come with annual environmental savings of 42 tonnes of CO2e, 190m3 of water and eight tonnes of waste diverted from landfill.
“ Other companies are missing out. A lot of people don’t realise how some really simple changes can make a huge difference. And it’s not just cost savings; knowing that we’re making a contribution to the company’s environmental performance is great for morale and our customers are impressed too.”
Nick Biglowe, Property Coordinator, Protocol Skills