But it seems this message has yet to filter through to most small business owners. Research commissioned by British Gas revealed that while 79% thought that energy efficiency could help them save money, 71% also said they didn’t feel there was much they could do to save energy. In fact, energy costs account for nearly 10% of most small companies’ annual operating costs, and by adopting fairly simple changes in energy use, many companies could cut those costs by up to 20%.
Most energy suppliers now offer plenty of help to small businesses keen to use energy more efficiently. For example, British Gas has produced a free booklet about energy efficiency, available from its website; and Thames Water provides guidance that enables companies to carry out self-audits on water efficiency.
It might seem odd for utility companies to be deliberately encouraging customers to use less of their products, but the utility providers are simply joining businesses of all kinds in recognising the potential value of good environmental practice as a competitive differentiator. Indeed, a growing number of companies can now attest to the additional positive effects to be gained from adopting greener business methods in attracting and retaining customers, business partners and staff.
There are, of course, dozens of small steps you can take in the workplace to reduce energy consumption (see separate box) but for an expert view you could contact the Carbon Trust, which offers a support for companies interested in improving their environmental impact. This includes carrying out free on-site energy surveys for companies with energy bills costing more than £50,000 per year.
Even a few basic calculations will usually reveal how much money could be saved. For example, Amy Robinson, sustainable development manager at the environmentally sustainable restaurant Bordeaux Quay in Bristol, looked at the number of light bulbs used in the restaurant and quickly identified significant potential savings. “With the lights for the front-of-house area on a conventional tariff with regular light bulbs, the cost of lighting over the year was about £2,100,” she says. “With energy-saving light bulbs it’s about £300.”
The use of more advanced metering – already widely used by large corporates – might also help. The Carbon Trust is currently conducting a three-year trial into advanced metering for small businesses, installing meters at 582 sites across the UK. So far, companies participating in the trial are saving over £1,000 per year on energy bills, with particularly large savings being generated by multi-site businesses and by high energy users such as manufacturing businesses. The Carbon Trust believes the widespread adoption of advanced metering across the UK small business sector would result in annual cost savings of around £300m for those companies.
There are a wide variety of other technical innovations in which companies could invest to help reduce energy consumption. These might include small-scale innovations like Bye Bye Standby Office, a computer solution based on extra fittings for electric sockets which makes it easier to switch off equipment remotely when not in use, rather than wasting energy in standby mode. Alternatively, you might choose to spend money on improving insulation; fitting motion-sensitive lighting systems that turn off lights automatically in unoccupied rooms; or on solar energy; rainwater capture and re-use; or natural ventilation systems.
Small firms that have been trading for more than a year can apply to the Carbon Trust for interest-free, unsecured energy-efficiency loans to help meet the cost of energy-saving equipment or projects. Companies based in England, Scotland or Wales can borrow amounts from £5,000 to £100,000 repayable over periods of up to four years, while those in Northern Ireland may be able to borrow up to £400,000.
Seacourt
There is much to be learned from small companies that have chosen to put their environmentally sustainable business practices at the heart of their business proposition, even if you don’t intend to do anything so radical. Oxford-based printer Seacourt has transformed its business processes over the past 11 years, and is now one of only eight mainstream waterless printers in the UK.
‘We definitely get staff who have come here because they wanted to work for a restaurant that does more to minimise its environmental impact. Often they were fed up with the waste they saw in the industry’
The company has reduced emissions of polluting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by 98%; is now carbon-neutral; uses only electricity generated using renewable sources; and prints using only vegetable oil-based inks. Recycling materials including paper, packaging, pallets, cardboard, ink and CDs has enabled it to reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill by 80% in three years.
A revolution in working methods began when senior managers decided to rebuild its factory and start using environmentally sustainable and responsible processes in the early 1990s. “The prime motivation was the realisation of how damaging to the environment the print industry is,” explains Gareth Dinnage, marketing director at Seacourt. “Luckily, the directors had the foresight and determination to transform us from a jobbing printer into the environmentally-focused organisation that we are today.”
The fruits of this approach have helped to sustain the company through a very challenging period for the printing industry. “We’re attracting the clients we’d like to work with and that, in turn, is helping us to increase our client spread and turnover,” says Dinnage. In 2007 the business was one of only eight UK companies to be awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for sustainable development.
Abel & Cole
Organic food home delivery specialist Abel & Cole, based in south London but with several other depots nationwide, has always placed an emphasis on sustainability at the heart of its strategy and brand image. It works with growers to plan which crops are planted, so less is wasted; and organises deliveries based on when delivery vehicles are in a specific area, not according to the whims of its customers.
The company has grown quickly in the last eight years, and its energy bills grew quickly too, reaching about £100,000 a year by 2005. As part of an energy-efficiency strategy devised at that point, it then contacted the Carbon Trust for a free business energy survey and, following the implementation of recommendations in the Trust’s report, was then able to reduce proportional spend on electricity and gas by 40% in 2006.
It now employs one full-time member of staff dedicated to an internal audit of its environmental and ethical performance. It uses minimal, recyclable or reusable packaging. “We hated that thing of unpacking food at home and finding that your bin is fuller than your fridge,” says company director Ella Heeks. “The box is both reusable and returnable. And that obviously saves us money too.”
Additionally, Abel & Cole has been experimenting with alternative fuels to run its fleet of about 70 delivery vehicles, including working with biofuel technology specialist Regenatec to enable vans to run on fuel derived from chip fat. It has installed a rainwater tank at its London depot that is used to wash the vans. Heeks says they considered using rainwater to flush toilets at the building, but adds that this can’t yet be justified from a cost perspective.
“It’s all about pragmatic ways to improve our environmental impact,” she says. “We don’t have masses of money to spend on this.” But at the same time she is sure some staff joined the company precisely because of its sustainable approach; and it clearly helps attract the environmentally aware consumers who form the company’s target market.
Bordeaux Quay
Bordeaux Quay can report similar success in attracting staff and customers. The restaurant was opened in September 2006 by two Bristol entrepreneurs, and has been marketed from the beginning as an environmentally sustainable business. Its design and layout is based around a need to maximise natural light and air flow, so that less electric lighting is required and the restaurant can exploit fully its airy riverside location, removing the need for air conditioning. Low-energy light bulbs are used throughout, with a solar panel system to heat water.
The restaurant is not housed in a new building, so existing fittings and equipment have been refurbished and reused wherever possible, including lifts and fridges in the bar area. Any new furniture has been constructed using sustainable resources, and even the tablecloths are made of organically grown cotton. Captured rainwater is used to flush the toilets. Naturally the restaurant buys all its ingredients from organic suppliers, most based in the south-west of England. The restaurant tries only to work with suppliers that use recyclable or reusable packaging; and waste food is recycled as compost (it produces large amounts of methane and carbon monoxide in landfill).
Robinson believes the publicity the restaurant has had in relation to its environmental approach has attracted both customers and staff. “We definitely get staff who have come here because they wanted to work for a restaurant that does more to minimise its environmental impact,” she says. “Often they were fed up with the waste they saw in the industry, or wanted to learn about good environmental practices. We’ve had a lot of support from people who want to eat here because they want to support what we’re doing, and from organisations who want to have events here because they want to be seen to be putting their money where their mouths are.”
If the environment really is starting to make a difference to companies’ bottom lines, and to the way they are perceived by customers, business partners and both current and potential staff, perhaps you need to take a long look at what your business is doing in this area. You could save the company a lot of money, as well as helping save the planet, thus safeguarding future sales revenues, if you still won’t go for the environmental angle.