Member Article

Green scheme saves £12,000 a year

A North East e-commerce group has saved £12,000 a year in energy costs after investing in green initiatives that have radically cut its electricity bills.

Gateshead-based Spark eCommerce introduced Project Focus, a £40,000 scheme to improve lighting and recycling its offices and warehouses, and has achieved energy savings of £1,000 to £1,500 per month since the end of 2011. It expects to see a return on its investment in three to four years.

The business took advantage of an incentive scheme run by the Carbon Trust and Siemens Financial Services Ltd, to buy energy saving high output tube lights, motion sensors and daylight sensors, all of which reduce the amount of unnecessary lighting used on site.

The Energy Efficiency Financing (EEF) initiative provides money for energy efficient equipment, with the investment paid back in monthly instalments. The idea is that the energy savings will pay for the equipment, making the investment zero net cost or even cash positive.

Spark eCommerce environmental quality manager, Heather Nicholson, said: “We chose the EEF scheme to finance our lighting project because of its competitive interest rate and the stamp approval of the Carbon Trust.

“It was important to us that the installation could be finished within a short time in order to avoid any major impact on our daily business.

“We are very pleased about the smooth process and the energy savings are now offsetting our monthly finance payments, essentially making the investment zero cost for us. We are over the moon and would definitely use the EEF scheme again to make energy efficiency investment in the future.”

The initiative builds on Spark’s green credentials. The group was the first in its sector to put in place a fully ISO 14001:2004 accredited environmental management system.

The business provides a contact centre and despatch operation for brands including Toys R Us, FitFlop, Straight PLC, and Soap & Glory from its base at Follingsby Park.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Karen Dent .