Tough economic conditions in the first two months of 2008 are having a direct impact on company efforts to save energy, research has found.
The Energy Action survey of 500 senior private sector managers, by power firm E.ON, found nearly half said a recession would impact their ability to be ‘greener’ by cutting back on the resources dedicated to saving energy.
Across the UK, 34% of companies said they would be taking energy action in 2008, though four in 10 admitted they were still ‘not doing as much as we could’ for the environment.
Just one in eight actually planned to increase their energy saving initiatives to help save money.
And although energy was more of an issue than 12 months ago for one in five businesses, 86% of all those questioned still did not have someone dedicated to managing their energy use.
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Jim Macdonald, commercial director at E.ON, said: “It’s understandable that businesses put energy saving on the back burner when they are focused on the short term. But saving energy is one of the simplest ways of saving both money and the environment, simply by changing bad habits and being more resourceful.”
Half of all UK businesses have taken action to reduce energy consumption in the last 12 months. Examples include:
- Carrying out an energy audit (21%)
- Installing more energy efficient equipment (45%)
- Installing energy efficient lighting (53%)
- Lowering heating/air conditioning (46%)
- Having a staff energy saving campaign (35%)
- Switching to a green energy tariff (6%)
