One of David Cameron’s first acts as PM was to increase the pressure to shrink Whitehall’s carbon footprint. James Patterson says that a combination of common sense and modern technology can yield impressive results.
When David Cameron announced that government departments would have to reduce their carbon emissions by 10 per cent within 12 months, the target was widely seen as laudable but achievable. However, the big challenge lies in continuing to reduce emissions beyond 2011. In the face of severe budget cuts and under the watchful eye of the Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG), how can central government continue to improve its energy performance?
There are, of course, a number of ‘easy wins’ to be found, and it is often the simplest measures that produce the biggest and most immediate reductions. It’s possible to cut the carbon emissions created by most commercial property by 20-30 per cent simply by monitoring consumption more effectively and minimising wastage (see box). But if, in its bid to become the greenest government ever, the coalition insists upon ongoing, year-on-year targets of 10 per cent, departments will need to look at more innovative ways to reduce energy usage across their estates.
Collect and understand the data
One of the simplest steps is to use spreadsheets to record monthly gas and electricity consumption data: figures for usage, costs, standing charges etc, taken from invoices and ideally backed by actual meter readings. Having this basic data is invaluable in starting to understand how and when energy is used.
As departments run out of easy wins, they’ll need to find the capital to install Automated Meter Reading (AMR) or temporary electrical logging equipment to analyse energy usage. Such ‘smart metering’ will be mandatory in all business premises from 2014 and, although there are capital costs involved, typically the payback on investment is less than one year.
Once data has been collected, it must be understood and profiled. For example, a department occupying several commercial offices should start by conducting some simple benchmarking, identifying key performance indicators such as kWh/m2 used per building or using publicly available benchmarks such as those published by the Carbon Trust or the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers. Departments can then rank buildings by energy efficiency, identifying where the most significant savings can be made – and, if the department is shedding staff and consolidating offices, which buildings should be abandoned.
Concentrating on the worst-performing buildings, departments can commission energy surveys to examine the dynamics behind poor performance. Be alert to control settings which are leading to excessive energy use – particularly high heating or low cooling set points: dropping the thermostat by one degree centigrade can cut emissions by ten per cent. Check that your heating and cooling system’s operating hours match business hours, and look for evidence of ‘control issues’: poor local temperature regulation can lead to staff bringing in additional heaters or fans.
Identify low-cost investments
If central government is to continue to deliver emissions reductions in future years, monitoring alone will not be enough. Although departments currently have little scope for capital expenditure, low-cost investments such as lighting controls, simple heating/cooling/ventilation controls, insulation (pictured) and draft-proofing usually pay back in less than a year.
Once this initial capital spend has been justified, departments will be in a better position to consider higher-cost investments, including more sophisticated controls on heating, air conditioning and ventilation plant, variable speed drives on fans and pumps, high-efficiency motors, and replacement of lighting. These measures have higher costs but commensurately larger savings and carbon-reduction potential over the longer term, with paybacks still reasonable at one to three years.
Central government should also consider the possibility of generating its own clean energy on-site. Energy secretary Chris Huhne recently overturned the ban on local government selling locally-produced energy back to the grid, which marks a shift in focus towards on-site, renewable energy production – a strategy which could also be implemented by central government. The introduction of feed-in tariffs, requiring energy distributors to pay small-scale generators for their surplus production, has certainly given investment in small-scale renewables a more compelling business case, and it is only right that the government should lead by example.
Improve your lease management
A significant proportion of the office space occupied by central government departments is leased from private sector landlords, which can create a lack of clarity around the responsibility for monitoring and improving energy efficiency. One possible solution is that of ‘green leases’: contracts that set out landlords’ responsibilities and tenants’ freedoms to improve buildings’ energy efficiency.
To this end, the Office of Government Commerce – now part of the ERG – recently published an Energy Efficiency Code, which gives guidance to central government departments and their facilities-management providers on working in partnership to reduce energy use and carbon emissions. It covers issues such as ensuring that natural ventilation optimises the effectiveness of heating and cooling systems; setting out a service schedule for building systems in order to deliver optimum energy performance; and seeking funds for energy- and carbon-saving investments.
Change behaviour
While it’s important to improve the buildings themselves, equally substantial savings can be made by increasing the use of remote working, hot-desking, IT-based information sharing and teleconferencing. Such techniques reduce not only the amount of office floorspace required for a given number of staff, but also carbon emissions resulting from travel, printing etc.
Continuously driving down emissions will require staff in central government to change their behaviour. Departments should consider running a hard-hitting energy awareness campaign, backed by senior management and focused on those staff who can make the biggest impact on reducing energy usage.
For the meantime, though, departments can make fast progress by adopting simple, low-cost measures. In the longer term, making further cuts will become more challenging; but by tackling the quick wins first, civil servants will make savings now and help build the business case for future re-investment in more costly measures.
James Patterson is an associate director at global environmental consultancy WSP Environment & Energy