Energy and Resource Efficiency
Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme
The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme is a mandatory energy assessment and energy identification scheme for large undertakings in the UK. The deadline for compliance and notification is 5th December 2015. If your organisation is within the scope of ESOS on December 2014 you are obliged to comply with ESOS requirements.
If you qualify for ESOS and your organisation is not already covered by ISO 50001, you will need to carry out an ESOS assessment. Ecodyn's lead assesors will assist you:
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Calculate your total energy consumption
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Conduct energy audits to identify cost-effective energy efficiency recommendations
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Report compliance to the Environment Agency
ISO 50001 is the preferred route to demonstrate compliance with the new Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme. Ecodyn offers a a tailored service to integrate the energy specific requirements to any existing management systems already in place, e.g ISO 9001 or ISO 14001. Even if your company is outwith the scope of ESOS, energy audits form part of good energy management in practice and are a useful tool to identify energy saving measures which in turn can cut costs.
An ESOS compliant energy audit must be based on 12 months verifiable data and the deadline for compliance is 5th December 2015.
Resource Efficiency
You’ve paid for it, so why waste it, or worse still waste it then pay to dispose of it? Resource efficiency projects have long been one of our main services, usually to the manufacturing industry. In these projects, we aim to decouple economic growth from increasing costs and environmental impacts. This is the core of sustainable development: assisting growth in economic prosperity and standard of living while simultaneously reducing environmental impacts and economic costs. Waste minimisation and resource efficiency really amount to the same thing, as far as we are concerned. We look at things from the beginning of the process: if we can help companies to avoid using excess material in the first place, there will be less waste at the end. This service usually involves us using statistical methods to generate a detailed model of mass and utility flows through a process and adding financial information to the mix. From this basis, we can see where the main environmental impacts and financial costs are, and put in place actions to reduce them. Our consultancy business has grown out of providing this sort of support to various industries across the UK and Europe.
Green Design
Reducing the environmental impact of processes is important but over 80% of product-related environmental impacts are determined during the product design phase. For many years we have provided a green design service covering products and packaging solutions. Addressing environmental issues at the design stage helps deliver a ‘cradle-to-grave’ approach which ultimately saves on resources and subsequently reduces the negative impact on the environment of these products. As well as reducing supply chain environmental impacts, the green design process reduces manufacturing costs, improves brand image and reduces the vulnerability of products to shifting environmental pressures.
Carbon
Life Cycle Assessment
We use life cycle assessment (LCA) in comparative LCA wizards to show off the green credentials of our clients’ products, as part of green design implementation or training, and in stand-alone projects. Increasingly, clients are asking us to use LCA techniques to develop an environmental footprint of their products and services, which they can then use to demonstrate their green credentials relative to the competition.
Carbon Footprinting
The Climate Change Bill requires an 80% reduction in absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Rising fuel prices and the Carbon Agenda are already pushing up costs and generating pinch-points throughout the supply chain; meanwhile customers increasingly expect companies to deal with these issues on their behalf. Our carbon footprinting service helps companies to analyse how these pressures will affect their activities, providing a foundation for constructive action.
Carbon Management
Calculating your carbon footprint is only the first step. Once you have identified where the costs and impacts are in your supply chain, our Carbon Management programme can develop an action plan to reduce them. This has immediate benefits in reducing costs and environmental impacts, and will generate marketing advantage by addressing customer concerns, but the real benefit is in reducing your company’s vulnerability to the changing world economy. We also have project experience of Carbon Offsetting which if operated correctly, can provide a method of offsetting greenhouse gas emissions effectively. The practice can be useful once effective action has been taken to reduce emissions as far as possible as a means of dealing with those last recalcitrant greenhouse gas emissions that are always so difficult to eliminate.