Age UK Darlington

 

Board Presentation  (full report available on request)

 

Intro

Groundwork came in and carried out a green audit check in August, this was followed up by a surveillance visit in November. From this we were issued a ‘green check certificate’, showing that we are thinking and starting to implement suggestions made in the original report.

 

Why care about the environment? 

• Being more ‘green’ is starting to be seen as being more ‘socially conscious’

• Groundwork has said that being more environmentally conscious may help when apply for future tenders/contracts.

• Can help reduce outgoing costs in the long and short terms, e.g.: energy bills

 

All of the things that have been suggested in my report would help to reduce the carbon footprint and potentially save money in the long term.

Environmental benefits should be seen straight away, financial benefits will depend on the payback period of each individual suggestion implemented.

 

Things implemented

• Mainly to do with trying to change attitudes- people often have become more environmentally conscious within their own homes, but at work seems to be a difference in attitude.

Most of things done have been low cost

1. Save-a-flushes have been placed in the toilets. Also trying to encourage community involvement, placed signs up in the toilets

2. Posters/stickers around building, trying to raise awareness of what users can do without much effort.

3. Environmental policy – outlines commitment to be ‘green’. Often need one to be able to apply for funding

4. Have written an ‘environmental awareness’ sheet to be placed in staff/volunteer handbooks given at inductions. Awareness raising amongst users of the building. (given to Susan Carter on 17/11/2010)

 

Things to be implemented

• Locks on the waste containers- we could be responsible for others waste. E.g.: if someone were to dump ‘hazardous’ waste, we would become responsible for it, includes disposal costs and any liability. This comes under our duty of care. ( we have a legal responsibility to ensure that we produce, store, transport and dispose of our waste without harming the environment)

• Recycling- best to reduce our waste output, but always good to recycle what we can. E.g. could recycle mixed plastics, glass, cans, tins etc. DBC only collect paper for recycling at the moment (£5 per collection) Greener issues network meeting, Groundwork/evolution looking at a recycling network for the 3rd sector organisations in the area.

• Office/cleaning supplies- in order to be environmentally conscious, we should use products that are not going to damage the environment. E.g.: biros don’t break down in landfill. We should use stationary that have a high % of recycled content, use cleaning supplies that are biodegradable, sustainable and eco friendly.

• Hand dryers vs. paper towels- both have environmental costs (see report for costing, payback periods) However hand dryers generally seen as being more eco friendly at the moment.

• Motion sensors- ideally would like to have them placed in the toilets, where the lights don’t need to be on all the time. So would be saving electricity (and therefore money) and carbon by not having the lights on all the time. Also wouldn’t be issues over people forgetting to turn them off. Type of motion sensor needed depends on use/client group. All have advantages/disadvantages.

• Gas/electricity - many providers on the market, offering different deals. ‘Green’ energy sources would reduce our carbon footprint massively, however greener energy deals are often more expensive at the moment then traditional ‘brown’ energy sources. This doesn’t mean that it will always be like this, need to keep checking green vs. brown energy prices.

• Solar panels- Green energy source- at the moment being encouraged by the government through the Feed in Tariff (FIT) programme. Currently guaranteed for 25 years for all those who join up. The export tariff is set at 3p/kWh and the generation tariff will be a set rate, depending on the price you pay for electricity. The whole thing will be linked to inflation. We will also save on our electricity bills. Based on how much electricity we use on a daily basis, we probably won’t be exporting anything back during the day. Also we won’t be paying the climate change levy (charge on businesses using more than 33kWh of electricity today) Have applied for funding to cover this: We were unsuccessful for the E.ON grant, however can also apply for the EDF grant for 50% funds. Application gone in for the Community Sustainable Energy Programme (CSEP) in mid December for 50% of the funds.

• Boiler- current boiler has been in situ since the building was built in 1994. However going to be expensive to replace( £18,500+VAT), possible funding, through the carbon trusts 0% loans, over 4 years, where the loan is paid back by the savings made on the energy bills. Possibly wouldn’t cover the whole amount though, carbon trust give out £1,000 per tonne of carbon to be saved. Payback period is between 10-15 years.

 

At the end of the day, it depends why you want proceed, is because of the potential financial savings or to reduce the carbon footprint. Success at this will depend on the level of support from staff/amount of money willing to be spent.

 

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