Environmental responsibility is a large part of CSR efforts and sustainable workplace solutions such as maximising natural light, using environmentally friendly products and materials, and providing comprehensive recycling facilitates, help to improve the workplace environment. Phil Green, Managing Director at CBS Office Interiors, looks at the benefits of environmentally-friendly workplace solutions and the impact these can have on employee wellbeing.
As well as contributing positively to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, solutions also help save organisations money by reducing the amount of energy. The cost savings a business can obtain by implementing sustainable solutions are often hard to quantify and depend on the organisation, their premises, number of employees and other differentiating factors. However, these savings are not insignificant and when understood make a compelling case for installing solutions such as LED lighting and instant boiling water taps.
LED Lighting – Saving Money And Changing The Workplace
Earlier this year, Pets At Home revealed that a ‘game changing’ LED lighting project has reduced the company’s energy bills by 32 per cent.
LED lighting is extremely energy efficient, consuming up to 90 per cent less power than traditional incandescent bulbs. It also has a long lifespan; the average life for LED lighting is 50,000 hours compared to 1 -2,000 hours for a halogen bulb. Therefore, once LED lighting is installed, the cost of maintaining and replacing bulbs is much lower too. LED lighting also looks great, it offers better colour rendering index (CRI), better glare control and generally higher performance than alternatives, and it offers more flexibility for incorporating lighting into the design ethic of a workplace.
Lighting is not only functional; it can have a profound impact on employees’ mood, productivity levels and general wellbeing. Not only that, a well designed LED lighting plan offers more control allowing employees to turn on or off lights when needed – without impacting on other members of staff – and saving money.
On Demand Instant Boiling Water Taps
Another area that consumes energy, and money, is in the staff kitchen or breakout area. Boiling water for tea or coffee using a kettle costs £0.42 per day for an organisation with 20-40 employees. Providing bottled water for the same organisation costs £6.48 per day. CO2 emissions on average per day for running a kettle are 2.87 kg per day, and 44.23 kg for bottled water.
The solution that we’ve installed in many of our customers’ office design projects is to replace the kettle and chiller with an instant boiling water tap. As the name suggests it delivers instant boiling water for hot drinks, consumes less energy, reduces wastage and saves money. They also can provide chilled or sparkling water too, having an even greater impact on carbon emissions, energy usage and cost savings.
If installed in an organisation with 20-40 employees, an instant boiling water tap could reduce carbon emissions for boiling water to 0.61 kg per day, and costs to £0.09 p/d. Using the chilled water function instead of bottled water reduces carbon emission to 0.13 kg p/d (from 44.23 kg) and costs to just £0.02 p/d from over £6!
* To find out how much hot and cold drinks could be costing your organisation, and the environment, check out this Green Calculator.
