Making a commitment towards carbon reduction

For a small percentage of UK companies the introduction of the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) increases the financial emphasis on reducing carbon emissions. However, the CRC scheme should not be ignored by those businesses who currently fall outside of it. The mantra behind the scheme of “measure, monitor, manage and improve” is one that all companies can benefit from.

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme is the UK’s climate change and energy saving scheme. Established in response to the 2008 Climate Change Act, the scheme aims to encourage organisations to alter their behaviour and corporate infrastructure in order to reduce carbon emissions and increase energy efficiency.

Due to start in April 2010, the mandatory emissions cap and trade scheme will affect some 5000 organisations in the UK; ranging from energy intensive SMEs to major multinational firms across a multitude of sectors (in particular retail, banking and distribution). The CRC scheme demands that such organisations begin prioritising their energy efficiency improvements and carbon reduction measures.

As the launch of the scheme approaches, it is becoming more important for the affected organisations to begin taking action. Despite the CRC’s efforts to relieve the financial burden on participant organisations through the offer of ‘free’ first year emissions, the importance of devising carbon-abatement strategies is crucial in order to avoid future financial losses from the scheme.

For numerous organisations attempting to steer their businesses through a challenging economic climate, CRC compliance may seem to be an unwelcome distraction. Many have neither the time, nor the resources, to comprehend their organisation’s building energy performance.

However, in order to make their commitment towards carbon reduction, and to at least break even in the overall CRC scheme, it is imperative that contributing companies make an effort to ascertain their existing energy performance and subsequently make plans for improvement. Although the long term goal of the CRC is to reduce CO2 emissions within the UK, simply establishing and understanding current performance is the first necessary step that organisations must take.

In order to present the annual submissions to the scheme, organisations must compile their historical energy use data. Despite being a complicated and time consuming task, once understood, this data can be used to help formulate improvement strategies which are central to accomplishing carbon reduction.

In order to achieve the compilation of historical energy use data, metering strategies (with sensible sub-metering) are essential. In addition to providing tangible benefits through the CRC’s “Early Action Metric”, such strategies will offer organisations the opportunity to monitor the energy use within their buildings far more accurately.

Linking sub-meters with Energy Monitoring and Targeting (M&T) software further propels the benefit of sub-metering to the next level. With the ability to track actual energy use against expected benchmarks and targets, whilst simplifying the reporting process, the system is particularly useful for CRC data submission and targeting future improvement works.

The need to plan for such improvements is now more essential than ever. Targeting the areas of greatest priority, cost effectiveness and carbon impact (as well as gaining a clear understanding of procurement routes and the potential for implementation), will enable organisations to act in a considered manner, at a time when the benefits from the CRC are most financially advantageous.

Stroma can provide assistance at all stages of the CRC process including: management of participant registration, data collection and rationalisation, planning and implementation of sub-metering strategies, supply, installation and training for M&T software, the provision of prioritised Carbon Reduction Strategies and project management of the most suitable retrofit improvement works.

For help with any aspect of your organisation’s Carbon Reduction Commitment Scheme obligations, contact Stroma at: energy@stroma.com or call Rob Molyneux on Tel: 0845 621 1111