UK businesses with an annual utility bill of more than £1m should appoint their own ‘energy tsar’ to plug the haemorrhaging cost of waste and carbon emissions, according to the Energy Bureau.
In its study published today the energy consultancy division of global building and energy management specialists TAC, said UK companies should urgently put in place energy strategies that ‘go beyond corporate posturing over their Green credentials’.
It follows an analysis of almost 500 British organisations which it says revealed millions of pounds worth of savings are currently being ignored.
It added that conservative estimates from the study also reveal at least 455,443 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions are being needlessly emitted.
Dan Saxton, director at The Energy Bureau,, said if an ‘Energy Tsar’ was appointed in a full time role he could manage down emissions and costs within the organisation.
‘Before you can improve your energy efficiency, you have to be able to measure it,’ said Saxton. ‘The energy manager is usually someone who does the job as an add-on to their other responsibilities. In many cases they do not even see the bills so he or she has no idea on the consumption of energy, let alone how to improve it.’
Saxton was also critical of energy audits that do not provide specific action plans and companies that ‘posture’ over their green credentials.
‘Many companies are putting up wind turbines outside their buildings as part of their CSR drive, but a lot of this is to tick the green box – it’s a lot of posturing and gestering, but amounts to very little in real terms,’ he said.