GAIA’s thrilled to be a finalist in the FSB Small Busi
ness Awards for for the Environmental Responsibility Category.
The Winners will be announced next week at the FSB Awards Gala in Leicestershire. The GAIA team are crossing their fingers!
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Last weekend I was on a DIY trip and noticed this rather fancy wind turbine aloft a well known store. In this really contributing to reducing the energy consumption of this site? Is this a business that has taken energy waste by the scruff of the neck and squeezed? Within the store were staff noticeably behaving in ways to reduce energy wastage? Or has the council just forced this DIY store it put it up to get planning permission?
There’s nothing wrong with what this store is doing. Every bit of renewable energy we can create contributes to saving carbon yet at the same time we have to things more seriously. Staff behaviour alone influencing excessive lighting or heating will outweigh the renewable generation many times over. The only difference is that staff behaviour cannot be placed aloft on the top a building.
GAIA May 2010
My understanding is that the UK Electricity Grid flows only one way. So if you feed in power into the grid much of that energy is not fed in but just lost in heat. Therefore a feed in tariff is merely a payment of goodwill from the energy companies until the grid can accommodate two way flows of power.
Is this true?
Haydn @ GAIA
Last week I was in a newly built car park in the Midlands and noticed some new bays for Electric cars offering ‘free’ power charging. Free energy, just imagine being offered free Petrol. This sound like a very good deal for shoppers.
The question is: Is this a good intention to encourage the use of electric cars (the bays may well have been imposed to get planning permission) or a greenwash intention in the hope that it will never be used?
GAIA (Haydn)
Part 2: Green Wash is now a Car Wash
Well it seems the free energy has not caught on. Maybe they were hoping for a sudden flurry of customers eager to buy an electric car just to charger it at their car park. Anyway now it is a nice and shiny new ‘green’ Car Wash..
Large offices with multiple light switches are a classic energy hungry environment. The first person in will turn on all the lights as they have no idea which switch turns on the light over their desk. The lights are likely to remain on all day – even when it’s light and bright inside in late morning and early afternoon.
With lighting accounting for up 40% of your electricity bill a simple label next to each switch can instantly make a difference for little or no cost. It also begins selling an energy saving message encouraging further initiatives by employees.
Gaia Active works with businesses to drive down and control energy consumption. If you would like to hear more about how we can help your business, feel free to call us on 02476 236446 or email enquiries@gaiaactive.com.
The easy answer is NO. Expecting AMR to automatically save money is like asking ‘will buying some running shoes help me be a marathon runner’. Having the tools is only the start.
AMR and Smart Metering will open up a world of information for companies to grasp on and save energy, but unless they know what to do with it or know what to look for it is just data. In fact assuming that ‘more’ information is better than what you already have is also a red herring. More information is only good so long as it offers detail that enables actions you could not have envisaged before, otherwise it is just sub sets of what you already know.
Too often we meet companines in a state of data paralasis who monitor everything but don’t really know what it means or what to do.
If you are considering AMR or Smart Metering feel free to call GAIA for help. We don’t sell these devises – we help companies save money by using them effectively. Call us on 024 76 23 6446.
GAIA May 2010
With the electioneering over and the negotiations away to form a coalition government it seems that the environment caught little interest in the recent election.
Maybe the problem is that all parties largely agree on the pressing issues of energy security and climate change? Or maybe the parties are less clear on what they will do to tackle these differently? With many new forms of energy efficiency legislation underway the UK market needs clarity on how they will continue these initiatives and what moves they will make to ensure the UK meets our Kyoto agreements.
GAIA May 2010
One common misconception in energy efficiency is that a modern factory with modern machinery is energy efficient. Overall it will be much better then an old factory with old kit, but that does not mean it is as efficient as it could be.
Why is this? Well the key missing ingredient is staff behaviour.
Many companies run energy saving campaigns in small groups rarely interacting with the staff around them. If they do communicate their plans they often fail to achieve employee buy in.
It is important to get staff buy in as they are the ones interacting with your machinery on a daily basis. So if they leave machinery on idle or heating to early this all contributes to energy wastage.
For Tips on How to Make Energy Saving most effective read our Top Tips Page Here.
Run the fridge at between 3-5 degrees C and avoid putting hot or warm food in the fridge, let it cool down first. If you have to site your fridge next to the cooker or boiler, then leave a gap between them. Both of these ideas will stop your fridge from over working and putting an unnecessary strain on the motor.
With many large businesses frantically installing AMR devices to secure early advantage credits for the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC Energy Efficiency) there’s much talk of AMR but also smart meters. Often these names are either overlapped or confused. So whats the difference?
AMR stands for Automated Meter Reader and essentially provides Half Hourly data to meter points whereby Half Hourly data is not yet available. These can be Gas, Water or (Non Half Hourly) NHH Electricity Meters. Note: By installing AMR to NHH Electricity meters provides Half Hourly data but does not mean you become a half hourly customer.
Smart Meters provide information beyond AMR. Generally Smart Meters are a domestic product aimed at educating the home owner of how much energy they have used, what the cost has been and where they can save.
AMR devices for businesses are often then connected to Monitoring and Targeting systems, GAIA offers one of these alongside our Training Programmes. These systems can then educate and inform the use on energy usages within their businesses.
GAIA