Guardian SMB supplement/Sept 08/Green energy page/Sue Tabbitt

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Energy audit

Not before time, the 'green' industry has recognised that if you equate environmental friendliness with the ability to save a lot of money, businesses' consciences suddenly become much keener. This is clearly helped by the strengthened business case - the double win of being able to bolster the company brand and impress customers while having a board-pleasing impact on the bottom line.

British businesses fritter away close to £7 million each day through poor energy efficiency, according to the Carbon Trust. Combining such statistics with its own recent findings, utility company E.ON, which is currently running a campaign to change employee behaviour in small businesses, estimates that an average office wastes £6,000 a year and 3.36 tonnes of CO2 through sloppy practices.

The biggest problem is changing the company mindset when it comes to being more frugal, E.ON has found. Almost 80% of workers admit to failing to transfer practices in use at home to the office. Worse, almost two-thirds currently ignore company policy on environmental initiatives - a trend especially pronounced among small businesses.

"At home, consumers seem to be more aware of wastage and will make a greater effort to switch off a light, turn off a dripping tap, or recycle, but in the office this consciousness is less evident," explains Roger Papworth, programme delivery manager at sustainable business consultancy, Envirowise. People feel less accountable and less visible at work, plus they're not paying for the services.

Yet, with recession biting, few firms can afford for this situation to persist. Businesses are more cash-strapped than ever and energy costs continue to soar.

Clearly, if employee apathy is to be overcome, green initiatives must be driven from the top, and there's nothing like a good wake-up call to spur even the smallest enterprise into action.

Typically, energy constitutes the second biggest business expense after staff salaries. Simple measures such as turning down the heating or the air-con by just one or two degrees can save 8-16% on a company's overall energy costs. Be more selective in use of office lighting, and that's another 10% saving. "If a business is spending £500,000 a year on energy consumption, a 20% reduction in power use adds up to a £100,000 saving," says Tom Fidell, an energy engineer at energyTEAM, which specialises in advising businesses in this area.

Happily, the biggest savings can be achieved for free or very little. The key to change is educating and motivating employees to cut their energy wastage, encouraging them to switch off lights, and wear pullovers in winter, and cooler clothes in the event that Britain ever again enjoys a real summer, he suggests.

"Heating should not need to be set above 19 degrees, nor air-conditioning below 24 degrees," Fidell says. "It is absurd that people have to wear jumpers at work in the summer because the office has been over-cooled. What happened to adapting to the seasons?"

When it comes to lighting, companies may need to invest a small amount (perhaps up to £4,000) in new controls that allow to allow the system to be 'zoned' so that those sitting near the windows can switch off, or so that individuals or small teams working late don't incur the costs of lighting the entire floor. "It's just good house-keeping, but it can make a substantial difference," Fidell says. For additional savings, when lighting is replaced, go for small-diameter, high-frequency fluorescent tubes.

Other well-documented responsible work practices include replacing old electronic equipment with Energy Star-rated devices next time an upgrade is due, and turning off machines that aren't in use.

"One of the quickest, cheapest and easiest fixes to power wastage is having the ability to regulate when machines are on and off," says Francis West, CEO at FWCS, a supplier of green money-saving IT solutions for small businesses. "It's a myth that switching a device off and on uses more power," he says, pointing to recent research conducted for Fujistu-Siemens which shows that if a PC is switched off at 6 or 7pm then on again at 8am, a company could save £100 a year per PC compared to leaving the systems on standby. "And that was before recent increases in energy costs," West notes.

"For an organisation with 120 machines, that's a saving of £12,000 a year, equating to 53 new machines, new training, or a staff holiday - however you want to position it," he says.

A rack of three servers, meanwhile, draws the same power as 20 average households. Generating a lot of heat, these high-performing processors need to be cooled, adding to the air-con burden. While some servers (such as those running web activities or email) may need to stay on around the clock, this may not be the case for all of them.

Of course, if businesses want to reduce energy costs further, they can also investigate switching supplier. This won't make them any greener, but it will continue to drive energy management in the right direction. Market analyst Datamonitor estimates that while energy suppliers may lose money on new business customers in first year (by offering them great deals to encourage them to switch), they make 32% profit from them in the next by moving them to uncompetitive rates. "Only a small proportion of SMEs have ever switched energy supplier and we estimate that UK small/medium businesses are over-paying by £2bn each year," says Jonathan Elliott, MD of Make It Cheaper, a price comparison and switching service.

But for FWCS's West, who practises green behaviour across his own business, it isn't just the cost that drives his zeal for reducing wastage. His epiphany moment came when he saw Al Gore's documentary on global warming, The Inconvenient Truth. "It rocked me to my foundation. You can't watch the film without getting a profound sense of our individual responsibility for preserving the planet for our children's children," he says.

Being seen to be green is another important driver in changing businesses' behaviour. From legal firms and accountants to shops and hotels, organisations are keen to demonstrate their own social responsibility because it helps strengthen their brand. If their customers include public sector organisations or large businesses, the ability to demonstrate green credentials could be crucial to their ability to maintain key relationships as these clients strive to meet their own sustainability targets.

Tightening legislation is also heaping on the pressure to save the planet from within the workplace. By 2010, any business with an energy spend of £500,000 a year will have to participate in the Government's compulsory carbon trading scheme, while the new Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) coming into effect this October will affect businesses of all sizes - firms will face fines of up to £5,000 if they fail to present a valid EPC when building, selling, leasing or modifying their premises.

And from January, air-conditioning systems using 250Kw and above will need to be surveyed. "All of this helps drive awareness and focus the mind," says energyTEAM's Fidell.

Without that awareness, change is hard to effect.

Energy saver product guide

Sometimes, spending a little can save a lot. Here are some nifty gadgets and solutions that could help drive down energy use at very little cost:

* BizzEnergy claims to have been the first company to supply 'smart meters' to the small business market (from newsagents to boarding kennels). The devices give companies a gain clear insight into their energy consumption so they can reduce it. Half-hourly readings are accessible online, providing a very cost-effective way for small businesses to reduce their power consumption. The meters could result in savings of up to 20% on their energy bills and are free to install when a company signs up to BizzEnergy. A recent smart metering trial carried out by the Carbon Trust with over 580 SMEs over a one year period led to each company saving an average of £1,000, the company claims. Visit www.bizzenergy.com

* Bye Bye Standby, a plug-in energy control system, claims to save the average office £32 per employee per year. Simply plug the computer, printer, monitor or fax machine into the four sockets and use the remote control to switch off up to 16 devices before you leave the office. A 10-person office could save £375 a year; a 50-person office £1,545. Bye Bye Standby Office retails for £49.99. See www.byebyestandby.co.uk

* Energenie Standby Shutdown is an automatic standby shutdown device that automatically turns appliances left on standby off at the mains in two minutes. Energenie Standby Shutdown is 13-amp rated, designed to work with a wide range of office appliances and packaged in recyclable board. The gadget retails for £12.99 at www.energenie4u.co.uk

* Thin computing clients from Wyse Technology replace desktop PCs with low-energy thin computers which run from a single central server, reducing power consumption and producing less heat. Businesses with 30+ people should find it cost-effective. Prices start at £189.00 per terminal. Thin clients use far less energy than desktop PCs (17W/hour vs 150W/hour). Since Wyse thin clients make up part of a solution, they should be implemented by a systems integrator (usually with solutions from Microsoft, VMWare and/or Citrix). Visit www.wyse.com

* LG Electronics' W2252TE 'green' monitor provides a high 10,000:1 screen contrast ratio that delivers clear and crisp results on any PC or laptop, and uses 45% less energy than a standard monitor, costing around £180. Visit uk.lge.com. Dell also offers a range of energy-efficient IT products including green monitors.

* For very small offices or sole traders, the Eco Button from IWOOT (I Want One Of Those), priced at £14.95, provides a USB-powered device that switches an individual PC to eco-mode, while downloadable software will work out the money and carbon units the user is saving every time they use the button. Visit http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/eco-button/index.html

* PC Power Down from Ivy Energy Saving combines hardware and software to schedule networked PCs to power down at the end of the working day and power up again in the morning. The software is centrally managed by the network administrator and the hardware will ensure all peripherals such as printers, scanners and faxes are powered down too. The user can over-ride the function if they have the misfortune to be working late. RRP is £45 per desk. Visit www.ivyenergysaving.com

Energy-saving tips for the SMB

There are hundreds of IT manufacturers keen to promote energy efficiency through new product ranges, but there are many other measures businesses can take before buying new computing equipment. Here are some tips for the smaller business on a budget:

" Don't assume you're too small to see the benefit of seeing energy - heating and lighting are the biggest source of wastage, yet the cheapest to remedy, and the impact will show on your next electricity bill
" Appoint someone in the company to champion the cause, and call monthly meetings for all department heads
" When replacing old equipment, look for Energy Star products to lower energy consumption (visit www.eu-energystar.org/en/index.html). Other certifications include EPEAT (an Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool).
" Turn equipment off when not in use, including computers and monitors - and not just at night. If staff go out for lunch or a meeting, they should switch off, using a PC's 'hibernate' mode to enable rapid rebooting when they come back.
" Manage power for your server computers. Do they need to be on all night and all weekend, or can you power them down?
" Turn down the heating, or the air-conditioning, even if just by 1 degree.
" Invest in timers or programmable thermostats to turn off systems when the office is not occupied.
" Connect devices such as printers over a network so fewer devices can be used. Use double-sided printing where possible and ask employees to think before they print.
" Switch to energy-saving light bulbs or high-frequency fluorescent tubes.
" Clean filters on office refrigerators so that they work more efficiently
" Install blinds and shades in the office to keep it cooler. This will cut down the number of fans needed and the cost of running them. If the office has an air conditioning system make sure it is serviced regularly so is working at maximum efficiency
" Use motion-detection light switches.