Initiatives at Granite House in Syston, the headquarters of the building materials business, one of north Leicestershire’s biggest employers, have slashed energy usage by 19% over the last three years.
The figures come as the nation marks Energy Saving Week (24-28 October) with individuals being urged to take control of soaring energy bills both at home and at work.
Chris Bates, facilities manager at Granite House, said: “Last year we managed a 6.5% saving on the previous year’s energy consumption and further action this year has ensured an equally impressive reduction.
“In the last three years we have been able to reduce our energy usage by almost a fifth, which is a tremendous achievement on top of what we had already saved, and down to a lot of hard work and dedication by Lafarge employees as well as investment in new, less energy-hungry equipment.
”We are not resting on our laurels though, Lafarge is a company which is committed to operating in the most environmentally responsible way possible and we will continue to work on cutting our carbon footprint.”
Savings have been made in various ways including replacing outdated IT kit, improving heating and ventilation efficiency, installing motion sensor controls for lighting and replacing fluorescent tubes with daylight-mimicking lamps.
Increased eco-awareness among staff has also contributed with employees switching on lights and equipment only when required.
Bates added: “Energy bills are rising and we expect to see an increase of around 20% but we are hopeful that we can offset the bulk of that by making small changes to further improve our heating and ventilation plant efficiency.
“We also plan to install photo-voltaic solar panels and replace our hot water boiler with a heat exchanger which will draw on heat from the building to warm our water supply.”
