GAIA are pleased to sponsor the theenergyclub.org network for 2012.
Our sponsorship ensures the network remains free for attendees.

The Energy Club is a self help network of practitioners accountable for energy reduction in their own workplaces. The Energy Club aims are simple: to share experiences, gain knowledge, debate legislation and support one another in achieving their energy reduction and sustainability goals. To learn more visit: www.theenergyclub.org

GAIA Comms

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So this is it, 2012 is ‘the big year’ where real energy reduction success will be revealed in the CRC League Tables and energy price rises bite further into profit margins. There’s no better time to drive that initiative forward and make those reductions.

To get you started here are two tips to consider.

1. Create a clear strategy that others can follow:

As with any ‘journey’, a sustainability strategy must be well planned, thought out and easy to explain. After all you don’t want programmes to conflict, duplicate or baffle the audience.  The GAIA Path is one such simple methodology to help decide what to do and when. It works on the premise that actions need to be placed in the right order and scheduled at the right time to maximise impact. For example employee engagement sits in the ‘Manage’ step at the front with carbon trading at the end in the ‘Offset’ step.  Learn more about it here:  GAIA Path.

2: Recognise your role is to influence others:

Once you’re clear on what your plans are you need to engage others.  An Energy Managers success greatly depends upon their ability to influence others from the Chief Executive to the Cleaner. To do this we advocate starting with a compelling message. It has to be more than just ’saving money’ or ‘reducing carbon’ which will have little appeal and make everyone feel guilty. Consider something aspirational like a commitment to ISO 14001 or a Green Policy commitment to your customers.

To understand how to do this and obtain 19 more ideas on how to enable a sustainable culture in your business, request a Free copy of our Sustainability Handbook Click here to request booklet.

Good Luck!

Haydn

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BSI 4th Annual Energy Management Conference.

Wow what turn out to our Behaviour Change session at the BSI 4th Annual Energy Management Conference in London.

Running a facilitated workshop with such a large audience was great fun and I hope attendees went away with some great ideas on how to embed sustainable change in their organisation.

As promised,  here are the presentation slides for you to ‘read and recall actions’.  Feel free to call GAIA for behaviour change guidance on 0800 433 4040.

BSI Click here to read

Haydn GAIA

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GAIA is pleased to announce the publication of our Sustainability Handbook.

The handbook contains 20 ideas of what you can do to make the change towards sustainability in your organisation. It DOES NOT contain patronising advice to avoid “overfilling the kettle”. In fact, some tips may appear to fly in the face of conventional wisdom but they represent our experience of successfully implementing these programmes since 2007.

To obtain your copy email enquiry@gaiaactive.com with your contact details. The booklet is free.

GAIA Comms

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Many thanks to all those organisations who attended the  Workshop at the ‘Innovation & Investment for a Low Carbon Future’ Conference at the NEC on 3rd December.

GAIA conducted a session on how to promote Behaviour Change in the Workplace.

As promised we have uploaded the presentation for you to revisit again.

Click here for: Innovation & Investment Conference Slides

Haydn – GAIA Dec 2010

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Many thanks to all those organisations who attended the TUC South West Conference on Green Workspaces at the@Bristol Centre in Bristol on Friday 19 November.

The plenary speeches from Jonathon Porritt and Frances O’Grady were very enlightening and the workshops engaging with many enthusiastic attendees; so I hope you all went away with ideas on how to achieve ‘environmental change’ within your organisation.

As promised I have uploaded the presentation for you to revisit again.

TUC Green Workspaces/Champions for Change Conference – click here to download

Haydn  – GAIA 2010

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So the Chancellor has now changed the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme from a cap and trade programme rewarding businesses and organisations who save energy into a stealth tax costing £1bn per year.  It seems the temptation to hold on the all this so called ‘recycled cash’ and not give it back was just to appealing for the Chancellor. He knew that this choice would be seen to be underhand and devious, so chose to not mention it in the Spending Review speech and leave it for the broad sheets to unearth from the Spending Review documents and comment ‘off air’ the following day.

So was this a good move for the Low Carbon Future or knee jerk short term-ism lacking proper consideration?

Well consider the the ‘drivers’ to save energy. The CRC had various drivers for businesses to react the the CRC.

The credibility issue having a league table showing who does best and who does not, this will remain in the new scheme.

The recognition issue getting money back from the programme as a result of success. In  other words being rewarded for successes. This will now not happen as the Chancellor will not give you the money back.

The profiting issue. Well very few businesses believed they could make money from the CRC league table, any gains would be made from their own energy savings not other participants. You could however make good money from selling/trading your carbon credits.

The last was creativity. The CRC encouraged businesses to think about energy saving in a positive way. Realising that investing in activities makes good business sense and if you did well and could sell your carbon credits then maybe rewards could be possible. The CRC was not a tax but a clever enabler encouraging businesses to see the environment as a business opportunity.  The more you do the better you may perform. Well this has now all changed. Energy Managers are no longer drivers of businesses opportunities but now tax minimising managers.

Over the next few months we will see the reaction of businesses to the new CRC scheme. Clearly saving energy still makes good business sense and by doing so business will be praised and will financially benefit.  However, the environment may have a bitter taste of taxation and lost the sweet taste of opportunity.

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Energy Awareness campaigns are commonplace focusing on the communication of messages to educate staff about the implications of their actions. They can be effective if staff are ill informed about what items use but poor in terms of sustainability and staff empowerment. With so many forms of education available from websites and Government messages education is now less effective. Many of us know that the kettle uses more energy when filled up – the challenge is to make sure staff don’t do it.

Behaviour Change is all about staff empowerment encouraging staff to become engaged in saving energy for a common goal.  Behaviour change is about making what is new now normal, and what is unique now a standard practice.

For example every day many of us jump into a car and drive. We don’t think about putting a seat belt on we just do it. It’s now a natural habit. Once energy saving and how staff work becomes a natural habit it is significantly more sustainable than an awareness programme alone.

Chris GAIA

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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

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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..

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