Could your business be saving money on energy bills and cutting carbon emissions?
Energy prices are soaring and are set to rise even further in the coming months. This is a concern for homeowners and businesses across the UK as people are battling with their energy bills. There is also growing alarm at the impact of the global climate crisis, with extreme weather events becoming more common with heatwaves, drought, and flooding all taking place on our doorstep.
Low Carbon Hub has been working for a decade to build a better energy system to help tackle these issues. We continue this work by powering up more renewable energy generation across Oxfordshire, increasing energy efficiency in our homes and businesses to reduce the demand for energy, as well as energy innovation work to build the just energy system we need.
In this blog, we focus on how we work with businesses in Oxfordshire who are keen to do their bit to protect our heating planet, as well as making themselves more resilient to energy price shocks.
What’s good for your business can also be good for the planet
Did you know that as a business or organisation in Oxfordshire you could host a community-owned solar PV array and generate your own clean energy right on your roof?
At no cost to your business, you could work with us to install solar panels on your roof. You would save money on your energy bills by buying discounted green electricity generated on site directly from us. At a time of severe energy price insecurity, you would gain long-term certainty in what you will pay for this energy.
If your business is serious about cutting your impact on our climate, then this would reduce your carbon emissions, and also contribute to your Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) objectives.
Also, not only would you save money, but the energy generated would benefit the wider community too because all of our profits are used to fund further carbon-cutting activities that support the local community. So, the more community-owned renewables out there, the better for everyone. You can see some of the projects we’ve supported here.
Over the past ten years, we’ve grown our portfolio of rooftop solar from our first ever installation with Oxford Bus Company to our latest installation, an extension of a solar array at Norbar Torque Tools. See who we’ve worked with.
It has always been our intention to add a second solar PV array to our roof at Norbar and I’m delighted to see it going live. In addition, we have switched our purchasing strategy for electricity to buy only from renewable sources and we have no gas. That means from later this year, everything we make in our Banbury factory will be produced using only renewable energy.
Catherine Rohll, Legal Counsel, Norbar Torque Tools Ltd
The cheapest unit of energy is the one you don’t use
Whilst we need more renewable energy generation if we are to meet our energy needs and keep fossil fuels in the ground, reducing demand for energy remains critical.
Cutting how much energy your organisation needs not only means lower energy bills but also reduces your carbon footprint. There’s hardly a better way to make your business more resilient to unexpected energy price shocks than reducing how much energy you need in the first place.
Our expert partnership with Oxford Brookes, Energy Solutions Oxfordshire (ESOx), helps businesses and organisations across Oxfordshire make energy efficiency improvements. The vision is to make it as simple and cost-effective as possible for every business to stop start saving energy.
An added benefit to doing this work is the improved comfort of your buildings for staff and customers.
Why get involved
Businesses are often at the centre of their communities and can be seen as leaders in taking action on the increasingly worrying issue of climate change. What’s good for the planet – fewer fossil fuels, more renewables, less overall energy use – is also good for your business and the people who work in them.
