Gathering data is an important tool in the journey towards sustainability, that is often overlooked. Businesses that have a good understanding of their site’s energy data can manage their buildings in real time – saving valuable time, money, and hassle.

Optimised data, combined with smart energy management software, will allow you to track the progress of your sustainability journey. The use of these technologies will help you to monitor energy consumption and allow you to respond with effective remedial action. You will be able to make real time control adjustments based on system set points, quantify your savings and undertake benchmarking.

Taking control of your data management is crucial, as you strive to reach new levels of sustainability. Businesses around the world are recognising the importance of becoming greener, and more importantly, so are consumers. A greater awareness of your impact on the environment could lead to real gains, in terms of your clients and investors.

DSR participants must be a large industrial or commercial business, using high levels of energy day-to-day. You also need to be willing to be flexible with power consumption, whenever it is required. This is because the main purpose of DSR was to give immediate assistance to the grid, helping it to rebalance and prevent blackouts.

It is essential that your business gains quick and easy access to its data. And as your business becomes more efficient, you should see a significant reduction in costs. Reducing energy waste throughout your business will reduce the costs attributed to that waste. This frees up money, which can be reinvested in other areas of the business.

Effective data management will help to inform your business decisions, keep your energy costs low and help you to future-proof your sites. Understanding data – not only from your online systems, but also from your bills, for example – can help your business to avoid charges for consumption in peak demand periods, as well as identifying wasteful usage. Thousands of pounds can be saved through effective energy data analysis, as you can clearly identify any spikes in wasted energy usage.

A wasteful life is not a sustainable one. Unnecessary waste in any form is harmful to the environment, and in turn contributes to climate change. UK homes generate around 21% of the UK’s carbon emissions. Commercial buildings add significantly to this percentage, meaning that there should be a more refined focus on lowering energy consumption, and in turn waste.

Intelligent energy management is a holistic approach to energy optimisation, involving smart metering, identifying inefficiencies and managing energy-saving solutions. At EIC we don’t just find and fix problems, we seek out opportunities that will support sustainable growth.

Buildings and offices often fail to reach energy efficiency standards, due to inefficiencies that can often be easily remedied. Old boilers and radiator leaks can result in wasted energy and unnecessary costs. Updating equipment, installing smart meters, and upgrading your building insulation can make a significant impact on your business’s consumption. And subsequently your energy bills.

Regularly monitoring and metering your sites can help to identify inefficiencies and offer businesses the chance to correct them. Carrying out audits can help to monitor your overall energy usage, which can also help to reduce waste. Collecting real-time data based on actual usage, rather than estimates, improves your budgeting both in the short and long-term. Not to mention the energy cost and consumption savings you will gain.

Introducing voluntary emission reductions can bring a number of different benefits for businesses. For a start, they enable companies to support decarbonisation beyond their own carbon footprint – in turn accelerating the country’s transition to a lower emission future. They also help finance projects that aid the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But although the voluntary carbon credit market is continuing to grow at a rapid pace, it is still considered quite small. 

To accelerate the growth trajectory of the voluntary carbon market, and realise its full potential, it will be important to address some significant challenges. These include:

• the need to strengthen impact and quality assurance,
• to align stakeholders on the criteria for credible use of voluntary carbon credits as part of an overall climate strategy,
• build new market infrastructure, and
• reduce regulatory uncertainty. 

The IPCC report also states that the prices of solar and wind energy have dropped significantly since 2010. These price drops are reflected in the current price of goods such as electric vehicle batteries. While this encourages people to invest in green energy, it may also bring some disadvantages.

Heat pumps and hydrogen are fast-becoming a popular option for heating and cooling systems in buildings and industry, but they may not be as readily harnessed in other areas. The report explains that using electricity directly for these systems has been proven to be more efficient in boilers or fuel cells. This is down to the lengthy and expensive process behind generating hydrogen. This is also true of sectors such as transport and aviation. So, hydrogen may not be such a sustainable alternative after all.

At the end of 2020, wind and solar power generated a tenth of the world’s electricity. The report explains that, on average, worldwide emissions grew much more slowly in the 2010’s than they did in the 2000’s. This is, in part due to the shift towards green energy. With an ongoing stream of legislation from governments around the world, green energy is becoming preferable (if not necessary) for most councils, businesses and individuals in the route to net zero.

ESG is becoming increasingly prominent in the eyes of directors and stakeholders. This means that having an ESG strategy will become crucial for organisations that are looking to secure funding.  With businesses looking towards a more sustainable future, ESG reporting is becoming a central component of decision-making.

ESG reporting provides clients and investors with a snapshot of a business’s impact in these three areas. Further emphasising the need or businesses to consider their impact on the planet, and enabling them to become more transparent about the risks and opportunities that they face. This allows clients and investors to clearly understand where their environmental priorities lie, and will be vital moving forward.

Quality Lead Assessors are limited – There’s estimated to be only one Lead Assessor for every 10 organisations – even fewer are accredited to the more well-known bodies.

Get a head start on your competitors – An early start means you can avoid any bottleneck in resources as the deadline approaches. Audits should be started now and can be completed at any time during the phase. They should not be left until 2023, as this may increase the risk of non-compliance by the 5 December 2023 deadline.

Ensure compliance and protect yourself from fines – Start now to make sure you are compliant in time. In Phase 1, approximately 40% of organisations were still not compliant four months after the deadline. The ESOS scheme is heavily enforced and regulated – the fines are steep.

Start sooner, save sooner – You can achieve significant financial savings by improving energy efficiency. The sooner you comply with ESOS, the sooner you can start implementing recommendations from your report. We would suggest you use your financial reporting year or the 2022 calendar year for collecting this data.

Droughts, floods, heatwaves and other extreme weather patterns have already had a devastating impact on communities around the world. And as temperatures continue to rise, the repercussions are accelerating – along with increasing damage.

The end result is food, water, and home insecurity for millions of people. Many coastal homes are at risk of complete destruction as sea levels continue to rise – and levels are expected to rise between 12 and 18cm by 2050.

Between 2010 and 2020, 15 times more people died from floods, droughts and storms in very vulnerable regions compared to less vulnerable areas. Areas more at risk include parts of Africa, South Asia and Central and South America.

The report also states that diseases will spread at an alarmingly quick rate as climactic conditions continue to dwindle. Mental health has also been touched upon by the IPCC as extreme weather events impact many individuals through stress and trauma.