NEWS & EVENTS
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Sun, sea and sustainability
Over 2,000 Cornwall-based employees are 'going green' today, as part of the environment-themed Cornwall Business Week. In a move intended to give businesses a kick start in improving their environmental credentials, Cornwall Pure Business, the county's inward investment body, has encouraged over 100 businesses to pledge to go green by taking simple steps to improve their carbon footprint.
An average air-conditioned office based Cornish business uses about 18,000kWh of energy a year. Implementing the simple steps recommended by Cornwall Pure Business every day could save 10% a year, which equates to up to ¾ a tonne of CO2 annually.
Lucy Thom, Cornwall Pure Business Inward Investment Manager, explains: "Cornwall is already making headway through innovation and developments in renewable technologies. However, we wanted to engage with the wider SME community as they have an essential role to play in helping Cornwall to achieve its goal to becoming a more sustainable and low carbon county. Smaller businesses often have limited resources and time, but we wanted to show that you don't have to work in the environmental sector to make a difference; these simple changes not only help reduce energy consumption, but also save money.
"We have been really encouraged by the positive response to this day of action. So many businesses already have adopted environmental policies or processes which have not only reduced their carbon footprint, but also brought savings to their bottom line. "
Cornwall Pure Business has worked with Envision, the partnership of not-for-profit independent environmental business support organisations in the South West, to provide top tips on simple steps businesses can take. These include:
- Change the journey to work to see if traffic can be avoided - reducing fuel consumption
- Turn heating down by one degree - can result in a saving of eight percent off heating bills over a year
- Switching off lights in rarely-used room, corridors, and offices with natural light sources - to cut up to 15 percent off lighting costs
John Berry, Managing Director of Cornwall Enterprise, added: "It is hoped that these practices will start becoming second nature, leading not only to a reduction in carbon emissions, but also improving companies' bottom line in the long run. People are often motivated to be greener on a personal level, but to make a real difference this needs to be translated in the business environment as well."
Cornwall Pure Business is a service of Cornwall Enterprise