Employees Support A Cost-Cutting, Greener Workplace

9th July 2008

You would be forgiven for assuming that people think about saving energy and cutting costs mostly in the winter months, but you’d be wrong.

In fact, workers say they are most likely to implement energy saving measures during the summer. Almost three quarters further acknowledged that their use of equipment such as computers actually changes during the summer months, according to a new survey for npower business.

Energy saving ambitions come up against barriers, however. While over half of the business employees polled (57%) said that they thought the organisation where they worked was wasting energy, a quarter said that it was difficult to get staff to take energy saving action, while almost one in five said they’re not sure about where to make changes.

There are, in fact, numerous, easy-to-implement steps that can be taken. Replacing traditional light bulbs with more energy efficient alternatives is one, along with installing intelligent plug adapters that switch themselves off when machinery is standing idle, or simply giving equipment like fans and filters a good clean so that they run more efficiently.

Recognising the desire for a more cost-effective, eco-friendly workplace, npower has created a new team of energy advisers called e-force. Small businesses are being encouraged to arrange a visit from the team to their premises, which will be given a free ‘energy makeover’ designed to improve efficiency with immediate effect.

"The results come as a surprise as we’d expect most attention to turn to energy saving during the winter when heating and lighting are in demand, so it’s great that so many people are tuned into to cutting energy consumption during the summer," said npower business head of sales Raymond McGloin. "Reducing energy consumption in the summer is an important part of achieving cost savings so businesses must take action during this season, not only during winter when energy use is typically a little higher."Businesses can cut costs by looking at ways to save energy in the workplace and encouraging their staff to get involved throughout the year," he added.

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