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Business leader urges British businesses to cut £3 billion energy wastage with free Carbon Trust advice   Rising energy prices and the state of the economy are the biggest worries facing British retailers in 2010, according to research released today by the Carbon Trust to launch its new Best Advice campaign.  

Business leader urges British businesses to cut £3 billion energy wastage with free Carbon Trust advice

 

Rising energy prices and the state of the economy are the biggest worries facing British retailers in 2010, according to research released today by the Carbon Trust to launch its new Best Advice campaign.

 

Over half (56%) of retailers surveyed said they are worried about the unstable economy and almost half (49%) said they are worried about energy price hikes. Far fewer retailers are worried about a possible change in government (11.1%) or complying with environmental legislation (8.3%).

 

Over a third (38%) of retailers surveyed said that one of their top three New Year’s resolutions is to reduce the amount of energy their business uses. Despite this, a quarter (25%) admitted that no one within their organisation was responsible for managing their energy consumption and controlling costs.

 

Research offers cost-saving insight

 

The extent of retailers’ worries over energy prices was revealed as the Carbon Trust kicked off its Best Advice campaign – a drive to persuade British companies to stop wasting over £3 billion of energy every year.

 

The campaign was launched by Ian Cheshire, Group chief executive of Kingfisher, the parent company of B&Q. He urged manufacturers to take a free Carbon Survey from the Carbon Trust, which he called, “the best free advice any business will get this year”.

 

The Carbon Survey, available free of charge to all businesses that spend between £50,000 and £3 million on energy each year, provides the services of an energy expert on site and a tailored energy-saving action plan. It typically identifies possible savings on energy costs of between 20% and 30%.

 

Businesses that have already taken advantage of the service and cut their energy bills as a result include organic food supplier Abel & Cole, Hartlepool shopping centre Middleton Grange and the Buttermarket Shopping Centre in Ipswich.

 

Good economic and environmental practice

 

Cheshire said: “It is simply good business sense to be smarter about the way we use energy. It cuts costs, makes us more efficient and improves our reputation with customers. I would encourage any business that has yet to embark on the energy efficiency journey to pick up the phone and book in a Carbon Trust survey. It is likely to be the best piece of free advice a business will get this year.”

 

B&Q has significantly cut its energy costs and made a carbon saving of 10,000 tonnes of CO2 by working with the Carbon Trust since 2008. The company has engaged staff to save energy and improved heating and lighting, as well as through improvements to buildings.

 

All businesses spending £50,000 or more on their energy consumption are being urged to visit www.thebestadvice.co.uk, or dial 0186588 5788 for more information and to register for their free Carbon Survey.

 

Free online support, advice for smaller retailers

 

Businesses spending less than £50,000 can also access free, expert advice via a new Cut Carbon, Cut Costs online tutorial at www.carbontrust.co.uk/onlinetraining. It gives easy-to-follow video advice on how to cut energy bills and shows users how to calculate potential savings and develop a plan for achieving them.

 

Since 2006, the Carbon Trust has delivered over £180m in energy savings to British businesses through its Carbon Surveys.

 

The Carbon Trust estimates that British businesses currently spending between £50,000 and £3m on their annual energy bills could reduce their collective energy spend by more than £3bn by implementing energy saving actions of the type specified in Carbon Trust surveys.