Why going inexperienced is nice for your enterprise

From Arsenal to Starbucks, companies everywhere in the world are turning to renewable vitality to energy their premises and actions. This development is boosting renewable funding and bringing us ever nearer to a post-fossil-fuel financial system.

On this weblog we discover the businesses spearheading change, study the challenges going through smaller corporations, and clarify why going inexperienced would not simply assist the planet, however your repute, too.

Think about stepping inside one in all Google’s monumental knowledge centres. After clearing safety, you stroll right into a warehouse-sized space full of row upon row of server stacks blinking blue, inexperienced, and yellow gentle. The air is hotter than the principle constructing and your ears fill with a mechanical hum. Engineers whizz alongside the aisles on micro scooters, coming out expired drives and changing them with new ones.

This is only one of many knowledge centres Google operates all through the world, each rigorously designed to deal with petabytes (1 petabyte = 1,000 terabytes) of knowledge from all of the looking, importing, and downloading that happens by way of its websites and functions (consider all that YouTube footage).

These huge racks of servers suck up as a lot as 0.01% of all international electrical energy use to function effectively and preserve cool. That is sufficient energy for 642,000 properties (to nearest thousand).

It’s maybe no shock that Google has dedicated to 100% renewable electrical energy in 2017.

And Google isn’t the one agency going inexperienced. RE100, a “a collaborative, international initiative of influential companies dedicated to 100% renewable electrical energy,” lists 87 huge identify manufacturers (together with Apple, IKEA, and BT) who’ve publicly pledged to 100% renewable electrical energy.

Though not all have set such an imminent deadline as Google, citing inner and geographical limitations to beat, it’s improbable that the biggest corporations on this planet – with vitality appetites to match – are turning their backs on fossil fuels and accelerating our change to a renewable vitality financial system.

Smaller corporations are shouting for better renewable dedication, too. In a report by Vanson Bourne, 100 SMEs (Small-Medium Enterprises) had been requested what they wished from their vitality provider. Nearly three quarters (72%) wished their provider “to be extra dedicated to supporting renewable vitality.” When requested what would make them keep late at work to modify supplier, worth got here first, customer support second, however renewable dedication was a detailed third.

Good for the planet, good for enterprise

If the UK moved to 100% renewable vitality, it might take away virtually 40% of UK greenhouse gasoline (GHG) emissions and assist rein in anthropogenic (human-caused) local weather change. We’re already paying a heavy worth for international warming – our seas’ pH steadiness is out of whack as a consequence of ocean acidification (which bleaches coral and harms organisms), sea ranges are rising as polar ice shrinks, and a rise in freak climate occasions is placing strain on water and meals provides across the globe. These results will solely multiply and worsen if we neglect to take motion now.

Local weather change can hurt companies in methods you may not have thought-about. Members of the foods and drinks business will really feel the results of drought or crop harm as a consequence of excessive climate. Fishermen will bemoan a discount in fish shares because of the lack of microorganisms in our warming oceans. Tourism will undergo with the lack of biodiversity and pure habitats, and the lack of shoreline as a consequence of rising sea ranges. These are only a few examples.

However apart from planet-wide conservation, proving your self an environmentally-conscious organisation appeals to your clients, a lot of whom can have already thought-about their very own carbon footprint and need to align with inexperienced manufacturers. Being “inexperienced” means greater than fulfilling Company Social Accountability (CSR) mandates. It means reviewing each side of your enterprise by way of a sustainability lens. Shopping for 100% renewable vitality is a stable basis upon which to construct a socially-responsible enterprise that your clients will admire and inform their pals about – which bolsters your model.

Considered one of our largest enterprise clients is Arsenal Soccer Membership. We provide Emirates Stadium with 100% renewable vitality, lighting up the pitch and grounds by way of photo voltaic and anaerobic digestion era. Lots of Arsenal’s intensive fan following stay in areas affected by international warming, and this straightforward change to their vitality proves to followers that they care about their future, that they need to depart a planet value enjoying on for generations to return.

And renewable vitality isn’t costly. It’d’ve been previously, however these days it’s inexpensive, and relying on the provider, cheaper than fossil gasoline era. Discovering the correct provider for your enterprise is paramount; you might want to know you’re getting good worth for the long run, not only a mounted time period. Taking a rag-and-bones deal now might sound a good suggestion in case your margins are tight, however over the long run you could possibly end up paying extra by way of misplaced time (coping with poor service) and worth hikes must you overlook to modify yearly.

A greater approach

What if your enterprise may get low-cost inexperienced vitality that offers long-term worth, unimaginable customer support, clear communication and whole transparency?

Our enterprise proposition does simply that. We provide among the most cost-effective renewable vitality in the marketplace, permitting corporations of any dimension to go inexperienced with out going bust. With us, there is no want to modify yearly. Our mounted and variable tariffs are very related, not £100s or £1,000s out like different suppliers. We would not all the time be the very most cost-effective, however we’ll be shut sufficient to make staying worthwhile.

Our Vitality Specialists have years of business expertise and may advise on vitality effectivity, and deal with even essentially the most technical questions. Extra importantly, they will not put your day on maintain – we give quick responses by e-mail and social media, and you may name us too.

Switching to us is a breeze. And when you’re on board, you’ll be able to handle all the things on-line, from submitting meter readings to downloading invoices, saving you beneficial time for extra essential actions. You will discover vitality is now not a problem, however a simple expertise that lets you get on with operating your enterprise.

Transferring to renewable vitality has by no means been simpler. Drop us a line to enterprise@octopus.vitality and begin reaping the rewards at the moment.