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Energy saving conference identifies solutions

Published:  19 July, 2007

Reducing energy usage will improve your bottom line, reduce your carbon footprint, benefit your company image and help meet the forthcoming legislation - this was the clear message from a conference of major business leaders led by the UK commercial heating and gas industry representative bodies.

Bringing together speakers from DEFRA, CBI, EEF, The Carbon Trust, energy and equipment suppliers the event entitled 'Saving Energy to Benefit Your Business' gave over 70 delegates a comprehensive understanding of the issues and opportunities around the issues of energy saving and CO2 emission reduction.

The first event of its kind to be run by the SBGI (formerly the Society of British Gas Industries) and ICOM Energy Association, clearly identified the need for savings and ways that both producers and consumers can bring them about.

From sustainable energy, through the difficult issues of ‘carbon neutrality" and the global nature of the challenges ahead, the three keynote speakers – Matthew Farrow, Head of Environment at the CBI, Gary Booton, Director of Health, Safety & Environment of the EEF and Dr Philip Douglas, Head of Branch, UK Emissions Trading Scheme at Defra – sought consensus on the need for companies and individuals to measure and reduce their carbon emissions. They each gave their support to both the forthcoming Climate Change Bill and the Government’s Carbon Reduction Commitment while identifying the need for UK manufacturing to be able to stay competitive. "There is no environmental benefit in driving manufacturing to less carbon efficient areas of the world”, said Gary Booton.

Having identified the environmental drivers, speakers from The Carbon Trust and energy producers identified a number of measures that could assist companies to reduce their carbon footprint through the measurement of current usage and practical energy management programmes. Finally a number of equipment manufacturers ran through the latest technological developments to reduce energy usage.

“The event was important because it enabled us to bring together government, employers associations, expert organisations and people from every stage of the UK’s commercial energy industry from suppliers to consumers and share the issues that we face and the possible solutions we can develop”, said John Stiggers, Chief Executive of SBGI. “This sort of honest face to face discussion of every aspect of energy consumption – from the forthcoming legislation to future technological developments – enables us to work together to address the challenges ahead for both UK industry and the global environment.”

For further information please visit: www.icomenergyassociation.org.uk or www.sbgi.org.uk