50 million cups of tea

22 March 2023

Insights into how organisations can reduce their carbon emissions were given in a seminar during the recent Distributed Energy Show held in Telford.

In a discussion about industrial and commercial decarbonisation strategies, Hannah Bond, Energy Manager with the Travis Perkins group, said that the business had set SBTi (Science Based Targets Initiative) targets to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 85 per cent by 2035 from a 2020 baseline, and Scope 3 emissions by 63 per cent within a similar time frame.

TP has around 1,400 sites in the UK including Toolstation, BSS, Keyline and CCF locations as well as its builders’ merchant sites.

Hannah Bond said that measures being implemented include switching gas boilers to air source heat pumps, adopting water-saving technology, using electric vehicles and installing EV charge points, and fitting solar panels to the roofs of premises. Over 1 million kW of power have already been generated from TP solar installations, sufficient for making 50 million cups of tea.

Another speaker was Stuart McLeod, Senior Energy Manager with Balfour Beatty, who said that the organisation aimed to achieve Net Zero by 2040. It has a strategy to phase in new technology at its construction sites as advances are made, often working in partnership with hire companies like Sunbelt Rentals.

Balfour Beatty has developed initiatives with Sunbelt such as the EcoNet (featured earlier on the blog), a cloud-based energy and power management system that minimises generator usage by turning appliances on and off as required.

Sunbelt also helped to develop EcoSense site cabins (again mentioned earlier) which, as well as having energy-saving characteristics, are designed to address issues faced by workers with visual impairments and other conditions.

Balfour Beatty is also exploring the potential for using green hydrogen to power larger site machinery.