Climate change has not gone away during the pandemic, as the increased size and frequency of devastating forest fires in California is harshly demonstrating.
Big progress has been made in the last decade reducing the UK’s contribution to climate change especially in the power generation sector, reducing carbon dioxide intensity per unit of electricity by 52%. Energy efficiency has also played a substantial role in long term decoupling economic growth from carbon emissions. Heating and transport remain big challenge areas.
There is evidence CO2 emissions fell by as much as 31% during April due to dramatic falls in road & air travel, industry fuel usage and power generation but it remains to be seen if this will be anything other than a blip on the long term trajectory.
Changing Work Patterns?
The Covid19 response forced an almost overnight shift to working remotely for some or all staff for many companies. According to research by the CIPD 61% of staff who were not furloughed worked from home during the height of the crisis and it seems likely that although most will return to some level of office based working there will be a substantial increase in the proportion of home working compared to levels before Covid19.
There are many pros & cons to working from home instead of the office, but what are the environmental impacts? Thinking about greenhouse gas emissions, in the spring/summer there is generally an energy and carbon dioxide saving from reduced transport use and some building energy savings. In autumn/winter the net outcome depends on the mode and distance of the commute avoided and if the house is already heated or not. If the whole house is heated especially for the home worker then this additional energy use could outweigh the commute saving but if this is not the case, or just the home office room is heated then it is likely there is still an overall saving even in the winter.
Electrification of heat
As rural counties, Herefordshire & Worcestershire have many businesses off the gas grid using heating oil, LPG or direct electric heating. Air Source Heat Pumps can provide a lower carbon option and in many cases lower running costs. The capital cost of implementing this switch can be offset by a Business Energy Efficiency Programme grant for upto 40% of project costs for eligible SME businesses. Even compared to grid natural gas heat pumps can now offer a lower carbon alternative.
Low carbon transport
The uptake of electric vehicles is increasing and many businesses are now looking seriously at these options where total cost of ownership can be lower than internal combustion models. Software developed by cleancar in Worcestershire and supported by innovation funding from the Low Carbon Opportunities Programme can calculate and compare total costs for different vehicles using ‘real world’ journey data to enable an informed choice.
The UK Government provides incentives for businesses to install Electric Vehicle charge points at business premises through a voucher scheme for up to 75% of project cost or maximum of £350 per socket. Further details are available here.
In broad terms electric vehicles charged from UK grid electricity offer a greenhouse gas saving of 70% compared to petrol or diesel cars, linking to your own solar power will increase this saving.
Generate your own?
There are now over one million solar PV installations in the UK. Properly sized and for a Monday to Friday business these pay back on their investment in 8 – 11 years but with grants available in Herefordshire & Worcestershire this can be reduced as low as 4 – 5 years. Solar PV provides a predictable electricity output for a known price for a period of twenty or more years and a significant reduction in an organisations carbon footprint. Factoring in any increase in the cost of grid electricity can accelerate financial payback as does a business operating at weekends.
With grants available 2021 (Herefordshire) and 2022 (Worcestershire), this winter could be a good time to investigate the scope for your business with a view to deployment in spring next year to capture the clean energy available.