At the end of last year, the government announced its target to reduce emission rates 57% by 2030 on 1990 levels. However, with the continual delay of the Clean Air Bill and scepticism from many about the priority of climate change in Brexit negotiations, it is becoming more unlikely that these targets will be met.
I recently read an article in which the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), argued that lowering the cost of decarbonisation was one of the biggest challenges businesses faced. According to the PIA Property Data Report, commercial buildings account for 14% of the UK’s CO2 emissions and about 10% of the UK’s energy consumption. As a result, there is a large amount of pressure on businesses to help the government meet its carbon reduction targets.
Many companies are now looking towards the latest technological innovations as a way of reducing their CO2 emissions. In the article, Nigel Pargiter, acting head of energy supply chains at BEIS, said: “We are invested in energy innovation and remain committed to supporting the competitiveness of the UK’s energy-intensive industries. We are dedicated to minimising business energy costs over the long term to help them meet climate change targets in the most cost effective way.”
A large concern for most of our customers is the rising cost of energy and many are looking for ways to operate more sustainably whilst reducing costs. According to the CBI, ‘decarbonisation and economic growth go hand in hand’, and I agree with them.
Our range of energy saving, smart EcoCurve hand dryers has been designed to help companies improve its carbon footprint. It delivers unrivalled levels of sustainability, energy savings, operational resource savings from the analysis of meaningful data and providing new revenue streams.
One of our customers, The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), is currently facing this issue. It is one of the largest banks in the UK with over £1 trillion of assets, approximately 700 branches and an office block in Central London. Currently, the company goes through approximately 14 tonnes of paper towels each year in their London office. In a bid to improve its carbon footprint and reduce costs, the company opted to trial the EcoCurve 550D Smart Dryer in one of its high use washrooms in the building.
The Smart Dryer uses just a third of the energy compared to other market leading dryers whilst providing live usage and footfall data to help businesses manage washroom facilities efficiently. The RBS project was a huge success and as a result of the trial, we installed the EcoCurve 550D throughout their flagship office in Liverpool Street, London. Looking at the data captured since the installation of the hand dryers, the company has saved £84,057.49 on paper towels as well as 7835.14 of CO2 .
In response to the trial, John Hayes, Head of Supply Chain Services at RBS, said: “There is a great deal of pressure from the government on UK businesses to operate in a more sustainable and eco-friendly way. As a leading bank with branches and offices across the country, we felt it was important that we reviewed our carbon footprint. However, moving to a more environmentally friendly way of operating can be costly and time-consuming.”
He continued: “We were thoroughly impressed with SAVORTEX and the EcoCurve. They understood our requirements perfectly and created a simple yet innovative solution which would not only help us to decrease our CO2 emissions but also to reduce costs.”
To conclude, regardless of the Clean Air Bill and Brexit negotiations, much of the responsibility for meeting the government’s targets will still rest on UK businesses. However, the way in which we produce, store and share energy is changing, making it easier for companies to operate more sustainably. At SAVORTEX we fully understand the challenges businesses face and we believe that using innovative products that harness the latest technology is one way of overcoming them.