According to the Carbon Trust
employees could save UK businesses
and public bodies £500m and two
million tonnes of CO2 with the help
of a new, online office tool called
Carbon Trust Empower.

By engaging
employees in cutting
energy use, paper
waste and travel,
Carbon Trust says the
tool has the potential
to save a typical small business over
15% of its energy bill or more than
£6K per year. Larger businesses, it
says, could save £150K and 500t of
carbon dioxide annually.

The online tool enables employees
to make practical commitments
through an interactive animated tour
of a typical workplace, which can
provide the springboard for larger
organisations to raise the bar
through ambitious internal
behavioural change programmes.
Employees are able to explore
energy saving opportunities
throughout their office – starting by
considering how they arrive for
work, with options to join a
company carpool or travel by public
transport, before moving on to their
desk, where they can commit to
switch off their PC when not in use,
print double-sided, and teleconference
rather than
travel. The virtual
journey helps staff cut
energy waste in other
parts of the office too.

Empower provides
various workplace facts and lets
office managers view the sum of
their employees’ individual energy
savings.

Whitbread has signed its staff up
to use the tool.With a target to cut
CO2 emissions by 26% by 2020, it
believes Empower will help its teams
understand how they can work
together in the quest to reduce
energy consumption.