Partner Article

Carbon Reduction Scheme Boosts Office Refurbishment Plans

By Mark Rapley, General Manager, Wilkinson Maintenance

It is now two years since the start of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme - formerly known as the Carbon Reduction Commitment - which has seen many businesses implement office refurbishment plans to bring their premises into line with new guidelines on the amount of energy they use and the carbon they produce.

CRC is raising awareness in large organisations of their responsibilities in terms of the environment and cutting back on the amount of energy and finite resources they consume. It is a very good scheme that should help to reduce total CO2emissions in the UK. The Government’s stated aim is to cut emissions by 60 per cent by 2050, as set out in the Climate Change Act 2008, and schemes like this will undoubtedly go some way towards achieving that goal.

According to a recent report by the Carbon Trust, the UK’s 1.8 million non-domestic buildings account for 18 per cent of the country’s total emissions. Therefore, offices and other institutions - such as schools, hospitals, banks, etc. form a major part of the carbon reduction aims of the government.

From 2013 onwards, all allowances will be capped; therefore, businesses will have to purchase their annual allocation at an initial auction in January, although they will be able to trade with other organisations in a secondary market in July.

Organisations which qualify for CRC but do not comply are fined £25 per tonne of excess CO2produced during the initial two-year start-up period, rising to £70 per tonne for future phases.

The scheme will work as a “cap and trade” system, whereby firms will be given a financial incentive to reduce their energy use and carbon output. At the start of each year, the Environment Agency sells allowances for each tonne of carbon that a company believes it will emit over the coming 12 months.

Performances will then be logged and published in a league table that will be open for public scrutiny.

This sale of allowances will provide revenue for the scheme that will be paid back to businesses in a type of “recycling payment”, with good performers receiving more of the relative cash pot than those who are not so good.

Firms which generate more than six million kWh of metered electricity per annum will be eligible for CRC and this is applicable to both public and private sector organisations, therefore any office refurbishment projects that could help to reduce energy usage might now want to be implemented sooner rather than later.

In total, it is believed the scheme will impact on approximately 25 per cent of overall business sector emissions and is expected to impact on around 20,000 businesses across the UK.

Therefore, it is in the best interests of companies to carry out office refurbishment projects and other measures to ensure they meet these guidelines.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Wilkinson Maintenance .