• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Wind and Solar Cheaper than Gas Plants in Ontario and Alberta, Study Shows February 7, 2023
AI Predicts World Over 1.5°C Limit by 2030, Undercuts Climate Progress Reports February 7, 2023
February Brings Record Cold, Widespread Power Outages to Much of North America February 7, 2023
Solar Geoengineering Banned in Mexico After ‘Rogue’ Stunt February 7, 2023
Lithium Mine Divides Nemaska Cree Over Impacts, Benefits February 7, 2023
Next
Prev

Quiet revolution cuts energy consumption

March 27, 2017
Reading time: 4 minutes
Primary Author: Paul Brown

 

Improving organisations’ sustainability and energy efficiency is reducing electricity use and carbon emissions far more than expected.

LONDON, 27 March, 2017 − Energy efficiency is a subject unlikely to grab the headlines, but there is a quiet revolution under way that is changing the electricity industry and helping to save the planet from climate change.

  • Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
  • A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
  • The Weekender:The climate news you need.
Subscribe

After decades of constant increases, the consumption of electricity in many European countries is going down. Coupled with the rise in the use of renewable energy, this has cut carbon emissions faster than expected.

Some countries, notably Germany, have been expecting and planning for this to happen, but the UK government has been surprised by the trend. It forecast a continued rise in the use of electricity − but it has been falling.

The use of electricity per person in the UK has gone down every year since 2008, causing the government to repeatedly revise its future forecasts for energy consumption.

Part of the reason for this is European Union regulations that have pushed the production of energy-efficient appliances, machinery and light bulbs.

But another significant factor is the appointment by many large companies and organisations of sustainability officers, whose specific job it is to find ways of using less resources – particularly energy.

Energy expertise

As this trend has gathered pace, more than 100 of the best-known organisations in the UK, many of them charities, have joined together to support the Fit for the Future Network, which has the simple aim of sharing expertise on ways of using less energy and cutting carbon dioxide use. The results can be remarkable.

The savings made on its energy bills in England by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution alone pays for 10 extra inshore rescue boats a year, and have allowed the National Trust, which looks after the countryside, to find the extra money this year to restore 36 kilometres of footpaths.

Collectively, the organisations saved 4,144 tonnes of carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere in 2016, and saved themselves £1.2 million on their electricity bills. They also increased by 50% their own output of renewable energy, reducing the need for new power stations.

The success of the Fit for the Future Network, which only started life in 2012, is down to the simple idea of sharing experience between people who have the same job in different organisations.

By discussing ideas, success stories and knowledge of potential setbacks with dozens of other people trying to achieve the same objectives, experience shows that energy saving and renewables schemes are implemented far quicker and at less cost.

The idea grew from an award won by the National Trust in Wales in 2012 for saving 40% on its energy bills.

“If you can make a castle energy efficient than
any other building should be a piece of cake”

A practical side of the award from the Ashden Trust sustainability charity is that winners get expert advice on how to continue their work and are asked to share some of their experience so that others can benefit too.

Simon Brammer, UK programmes manager at Ashden, and Trust Executive at the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts, says he had to find a way of helping others to learn the National Trust’s secrets. “After all, if you can make a castle energy efficient than any other building should be a piece of cake,” he argues.

He says that there were many large property-owning organisations that could benefit from saving this quantity of energy. “We asked: How could they learn from each other? How do we prevent the wasted effort of re-inventing the wheel every time, and how can we ensure organisations trust the advice they receive?”

Renewable resources

The result was the Fit for the Future Network. Organisations as diverse as Guide Dogs for the Blind, the Tate Gallery, Cancer Research UK, the Natural History Museum, the Canal & River Trust and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds came together with the same objectives of cutting the use of energy and increasing renewable resources.

Sarah Butler-Sloss, founder director of Ashden Sustainable Solutions, says: “What is so important about this network is that it brings organisations together to accelerate their energy reduction plans. And, not just that, the money saved on energy can be ploughed back into the organisation’s core services, whether its buying lifeboats, fighting cancer or preserving the UK’s heritage.”

As a result of its success and growing membership, the network is widening its remit beyond energy to include wastewater, food and other issues that need to be improved to make businesses more sustainable.

Members believe that although the organisation began in Britain its ideas could be used in any country and would have a direct impact on the cutting the use of fossil fuels everywhere. – Climate News Network



in Climate News Network

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

U.S. Geological Survey/wikimedia commons
Biodiversity & Habitat

Climate Change Amplifies Risk of ‘Insect Apocalypse’

December 1, 2022
43
Alaa Abd El-Fatah/wikimedia commons
COP Conferences

Rights Abuses, Intrusive Conference App Put Egypt Under Spotlight as COP 27 Host

November 14, 2022
26
Western Arctic National Parklands/wikimedia commons
Arctic & Antarctica

Arctic Wildfires Show Approach of New Climate Feedback Loop

January 2, 2023
28

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Peoplepoweredbyenergy/Wikimedia Commons

Wind and Solar Cheaper than Gas Plants in Ontario and Alberta, Study Shows

February 7, 2023
282
Beckyq6937/Wikimedia Commons

Solar Geoengineering Banned in Mexico After ‘Rogue’ Stunt

February 7, 2023
127
Michael E. Brunk/flickr

Green Building ‘Heroes’, Climate Contrarian ‘Zombies’, Shell Lawsuits, and ‘Sponge Cities’ to Solve Flooding

February 7, 2023
103
Peter Broster/wikimedia commons

Ottawa Mulls Higher-Speed Trains on Busy Toronto-Quebec City Corridor

February 7, 2023
89
The hottest summer days in a typical New York City year are now about 11 times more frequent than in the 19th century. Image: Andreas Komodromos via Flickr

AI Predicts World Over 1.5°C Limit by 2030, Undercuts Climate Progress Reports

February 7, 2023
80
Brian Robert Marshall/Geograph

Canada’s Solid Renewables Growth Falls Short of Net-Zero Ambitions

February 7, 2023
75

Recent Posts

Andre Carrotflower/wikimedia commons

February Brings Record Cold, Widespread Power Outages to Much of North America

February 7, 2023
43
Nemaska Lithium/Facebook

Lithium Mine Divides Nemaska Cree Over Impacts, Benefits

February 7, 2023
27
Mike Mozart/Flickr

BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022

February 4, 2023
366
Gina Dittmer/PublicDomainPictures

Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB

January 31, 2023
213
CONFENIAE

Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty

January 31, 2023
82
Ken Teegardin www.SeniorLiving.Org/flickr

Virtual Power Plants Hit an ‘Inflection Point’

January 31, 2023
141
Next Post

Soil microbes hold key to climate puzzle

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}