In this article we are going to take a look at how a business can take steps to reduce its carbon footprint, but before we do this we need to understand what a carbon footprint is.
Essentially a carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted due to the consumption of fossil fuels by a particular person, group or business. From a business point of view your carbon footprint is derived from appliances, lighting and other objects or processes that you have around your building. The chart below gives a breakdown of what is currently understood to be the general carbon footprint of an office building:
Now we have a general starting point we can begin to look at ways to reduce the carbon footprint of your building, the most obvious place to start is with the lighting as this accounts for up to 33% of your total carbon footprint.
The first thought that most people have is to switch out your existing light bulbs for more energy efficient versions. This is good practice and not only reduces the carbon footprint, but can also benefit the workplace by providing a more comfortable area to work in due to a less harsh light source given off by an energy saving bulb.
Often the main reason lighting accounts for such a large percentage of your carbon footprint is due to the fact that lights are often left on in areas where they are not needed. One of the best ways to combat this is to install a building or lighting management system, lighting can then be controlled via motion detection, time schedules, or even access control events.
The cost of implementing a system like this may seem daunting to some but in reality the system can pay for itself in a short period of time from the savings made in electricity consumption. AKCP offer a range of products which are suited to intelligent building control and regulating lighting usage.
Using a single securityProbe base unit combined with a motion sensor and a relay you can have your own lighting control system up and running in less than a day with minimal installation required.
The securityProbe base unit can also be used to control heating, air conditioning units and other devices around your building in much the same manner, this means you have a single system capable of addressing all of your carbon footprint concerns. The financial savings of course are also a huge benefit to anyone who installs an AKCP securityProbe package.
To find out more visit www.akcp.com or email [email protected] to start saving now!