11 minute read
Net Zero 60
Measuring and monitoring
TLT’s heating and cooling is provided by highefficiency air source heat pumps with VRF consisting of internal units in the ceiling void and outside units on the roof. Each floor has two separate systems to allow sub-division of the floor. There’s a DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface) lighting control system with graphical front end, which includes energy saving features such as time channel control, presence detection and daylight dimming. Multifunctional MID approved meters are connected to each distribution board and loads greater than 10kW. All metering is linked back to the landlord’s energy management system (EPMS) to monitor energy usage and charges.
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The feedback
It’s still early days to predict cost savings as TLT haven’t been in situ for long enough to provide an informed answer. But social media is awash with praise from happy employees.
“And am genuinely blown away by the quality of this workspace. The attention to detail, the tables made from recycled suits, the smell (!) and just the feeling you get in is second to none.”
“Today was my first day in the new TLT LLP offices in the Cadworks building in Glasgow. I was not disappointed! It is a smashing place to meet and work with colleagues and clients.” “What a fantastic space in which to work. Very proud of Team TLT World for all their work and a big thanks to everyone involved in making our first day in the Cadworks such a great experience. BTW, the photos, stunning as they are, don’t really to justice to the spectacular citywide views. I’m getting a whole new perspective on our beautiful city.” Does Cadworks represent the future for the working office? “Absolutely,” says John Paul. People today are increasingly, and rightly so, concerned with ESG. People want to work for businesses that are taking the right steps to help improve the environment and our society, whilst also offering benefits to enhance mental health and wellbeing at work. “One of the ways which employers can achieve this is by paying particular attention to the environment in which they choose to establish themselves. Choosing an office space that delivers on all these fronts will be a win win for employers and employees, as well as the local environment and community.”
Cadworks has been awarded:
‘Excellent’ standard by the Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) – the world’s leading sustainability assessment method for masterplanning projects, infrastructure and buildings.
An A rated Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).
TLT LLP
tlt.com
CARBON PLANNING: AN EASY GUIDE
We are all aware that something needs to be done to reduce our carbon footprint, but many of us have no idea where to start. Dr Torill Bigg, CEng MIChemE, of Tunley Engineering, offers some simple tips for business.
Naturally the best place to start anything is from the beginning and in carbon planning the beginning is to measure where you are now - what your current carbon emissions are. The principle is exactly the same as setting out to decorate a room; when you go out to buy paint you need to know how much to buy, and for that you need to measure your walls.
1. Measure
In carbon planning you need to set a baseline by measuring your current carbon footprint. To complete this you will need to decide what to include - and what to leave out; this is called setting your scope and boundary. It’s like deciding which rooms to paint and how many of the walls you are painting. You want to include all relevant emissions sources, and what is relevant is decided by what you have control over and what you are able to make changes to. So, make an inventory of the assets and activities of your business that are within your control and this is your list of carbon emission sources. If you have a large number of assets such as a fleet of pumping systems then you can record that list at a higher level such as at process level rather than individual component asset level. Next you’ll need to be able to calculate the amount of carbon emissions from each of these sources and you’ll be doing this for one years’ worth of carbon emissions. Start by recording data that you already have against each of your assets and activities. For example, you might know the total amount of electricity used per site or per submeter, by all of your electrical equipment in kilowatt hours from your electricity invoice or from your meter reading. Or you may be operating a 12 kilowatt pump at 80% power for 5 hours a day and so could calculate in kilowatt hours the electricity used by that pump. So, record either electricity in total kilowatt hours over a year, or record an inventory of assets and sum up the total power requirement in kilowatt hours for the year. For your baseline an annual figure of kilowatt hours of electricity is sufficient. Later more detail will allow you to create a carbon reduction plan itemised asset by asset, but at this stage we are looking to find your starting point. Likewise, you’ll want to list items that use fuels directly on site such as heating boilers which use gas, or assets that burn oil, all solid fuels or other gaseous fuels. And, again, the writing of the item or the amount of that fuel purchased for one year will give you in kilowatt hours a value for those assets. You can repeat this for vehicles recorded in litres of fuel used, or you could calculate the carbon footprint from the number of miles covered by the vehicles. And then you want to include items such as water used, which can be completed from invoices in cubic metres of water purchased and wastewater treated. Finally, you want to include materials used and also those disposed of. In an office you might be using office paper for printing or photocopying, you might be using cardboard or plastics, manufacturing using metals or glass, or constructing using aggregates - so a list of all of these items will form list of emission sources that you can calculate your carbon footprint from.
2. Calculate
Calculating your carbon emissions is not as tricky as it might sound. There are a number of online calculators, or you can consult the information provided by the government. This information is readily available from the UK government, the United States government and the Canadian government, to name a few, so consult the relevant government information on carbon emissions. This will tell you how to convert kilowatt hours of electricity, cubic metres of water and miles driven in a car, into carbon dioxide equivalents. If you add these numbers to your list you now have a list of assets and activities that are emission sources, the amount of relevant emissions for carbon dioxide, such as kilowatt hours of electricity or litres of diesel, and the emission figures from the government information multiplying the emission figures per litre or kWh by the number of litres or kilowatt hours gives you carbon dioxide equivalents in tonnes or kilogrammes for each individual item. A sum of these is your carbon footprint.
3. Reduce
Set realistic changes for each one of the assets and activities that are potential emissions sources. For example, you might be able to change your electricity tariff to an eco-tariff, whereby the electricity you purchase is generated by a renewable source such as solar panels or wind turbines. You might even be able to set a plan longer term to fit solar panels of your own and so generate your own
renewable electricity and also reduce your reliance on the National Grid. You could fit water saving devices, and so reduce the cubic metres of water, reducing at the same time the carbon dioxide equivalents associated with that water. You might elect, longer term, to buy electric vehicles instead of fossil fuel vehicles and even install charging points on the company premises and, with additional use of batteries, this could even be charged from solar panels. The first thing to do at this stage is to reduce demand on energy so you want to look at your assets and consider their efficiency. Any asset giving out too much heat, noise or vibration is running inefficiently and the energy is literally being wasted. So, a maintenance intervention would reduce that wasted energy and automatically make your assets both more efficient and cost effective but have the effect of reducing your carbon footprint too. Win win.
4. Report
Now is the time to share with all of your stakeholders; your customers, your suppliers, your employees, your senior management, if you haven’t told them, and the community. Let everybody know that you are on a carbon reduction journey. Let them know that you have measured your carbon footprint. Let them know that you have set yourself carbon reduction targets. Go forth and put the plans into action. Monitor your success; with each new initiative measure electricity used before and after servicing machinery and equipment that had previously been inefficient, measure gas use before and after implementing insulation, calculate carbon emissions from diesel vehicles and compare them to the new calculation with electric vehicles. Monitor monthly over the year and in a year’s time remeasure your carbon footprint - and again tell the world how well you have done!
Dr Torill Bigg is a Chartered Engineer with over 20 years’ experience in industry specialising in innovative solutions to environmental protection. Torill holds a PhD from Cranfield University’s School of Industrial and Manufacturing Science, is the author of 7 published peer reviewed papers and is a Member of the Institute of Chemical Engineers. Her work at Tunley Engineering over the last year has helped cut carbon emissions by 10,000,000 kg of CO2e; she works with companies to assess their Carbon Footprint and develop roadmaps to net zero.
DR TORILL BIGG
Chief Carbon Reducation Engineer, Tunley Engineering
tunley-engineering.com
FAILURE TO DELIVER ON NET ZERO IS NOT JUST THE FAULT OF POLITICIANS
Concerns about unsustainable business practices and inertia within industries may well lead to the downfall of our carbon neutral future, says Professor Ian Thomson, Director of Lloyds Banking Group Centre for Responsible Business.
PROF IAN THOMSON
Director, Lloyds Banking Group Centre for Responsible Business Whilst this does not account for all business in the UK, the fact of the matter is most UK business are nowhere near on track to achieving net zero targets. There are many reasons for these shortcomings but one of the most egregious is unreliable carbon accounting systems set against the backdrop of a significant gap between consumer expectations on sustainability and action taken by business. Recent research from The University of Birmingham Business School shows a worrying mismatch between the most commonly used measures of carbon and their true impacts, meaning bogus netzero claims are being made by businesses across the UK. This means when it comes to ‘decarbonising’ the country it can be nearly impossible to identify impactful ways forward. Under current international carbon accounting standards, emissions from supply chains and after-sale product use and waste are excluded from calculations. This means that supermarkets selling food from more local UK farms have higher reported carbon emissions than those that import their products from overseas. It can also cause walking or cycle to work schemes for staff to add to reported carbon emissions, and nature-based solutions to be ignored altogether. With this confusing and simply nonsensical way of measuring, or not measuring, carbon emissions and the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives, it’s no wonder there is a lack of activity from business when it comes to net zero. A recent survey commissioned by Birmingham Business School’s Lloyds Banking Group Centre for Responsible Business, facilitated by YouGov, demonstrated that an astounding 50% of senior business decision makers have no net zero strategy at all whilst 74% of British adults expect businesses to have a net zero strategy. Further to this, there is a disproportionate focus on profitability even as the public expects a turn towards sustainability; nearly a third of senior business decision makers subscribe to the myth that success is intrinsically and exclusively linked to profitability. In contrast, 42% of the British public maintain that there should be a balance between business profits and ESG attributes. Increasingly, consumers and investors are placing value on social and environmental justice. But as of now, few businesses are planning to take the necessary radical steps towards sustainable change. More than that, businesses seem actively unaffected by public pressure; only 7% of businesses responded that a public boycott would make them more sustainable.
Following Net Zero Week earlier this year, we must encourage all business to view sustainable practice and social justice as part of their business model and urge business and government to come together to work on more honest and effective ways of measuring carbon emissions. Sadly, 60% of small business at present do not regularly collaborate with external forces when solving complex issues – this needs to change. With a climate emergency rapidly accelerating in severity, business must view it as a collective issue, not a luxury unafforded. With social inequality skyrocketing, and time ticking forward to our 2050 net zero target, businesses must not only meet the expectations of the British public but take proactive and necessary steps to combat these issues, in turn building trust and creating long term strategies. It has never been more crucial, or more urgent, for businesses to base their decisions on accurate, well-informed information, and the Birmingham Business School is continuing research to formulate a programme of suggested reforms that will allow for the realisation of the goals set at the United Nations’ COP26 climate talks.
If Net Zero is ever to become a viable option for the UK, it is imperative that UK businesses recognise that they hold the key to a much more sustainable future.
