Sustainability requires consideration of economic, social and environmental benefits in the long term, having regard to the needs of living and future generations1. It is with this premise in mind that The Design Office proceeded to have a preliminary sustainability audit, and learn more about actions available to us – both through quick wins and longer term strategy. Our sustainability audit (below) was prepared by Dr. Nicky Dee at the Clean Source Energy Company.
Transport
The Design Office’s location means they are reliant on a car for the majority of outbound journeys. The Design Office team operate a flexible working policies where the team are occasionally home-based so preventing excess emissions associated with travel to work.
The company car is a Mini Cooper, chosen in part for Design excellence, but also because of low emissions. Annual emissions are estimated at 2.62tCO2 equivalents per year. Emissions are central criteria for future vehicle purchases. They carefully maintain company vehicles in a bid to reduce early obsolescence.
Offices
While the introduction of the Carbon Reduction Commitment2 will be prompting action by many landlords, The Design Office wishes to exceed these commitments where possible. The Design Office currently has little control over energy supply at its central offices in Steeple Bumpstead, but adopts energy efficiency practices such as switching off office equipment and lights when not in use. Sustainability criteria are included in the decision making process for future negotiations regarding office premises.
The company encourages its employees to adopt clean and efficient energy practices when working from home, with core employees recently switching to Ecotricity as a service provider for electricity. This has reduced household emissions by around 1.4tCO2 per year by sourcing electricity from renewables rather than fossil fuels.
The Design Office operates as much as is feasibly possible online, so allowing speedy operations in addition to reducing waste from needless printing for example. Waste recycling is encouraged, and old office equipment is recycled wherever possible3.
Hosting
Electricity usage of data centres is growing on average about 11% per year, despite virtualisation and power management techniques. Innovations to manage energy in data centres are being stimulated by policy in Europe and abroad, for example combined community heating and new initiatives by Google and Facebook.
The Design Office uses a hosting company which sources its electricity from renewable sources (wind, water, solar) for its global data centres, in addition to carbon offsetting for some other operational emissions. This contrasts many other data centres claiming to be carbon neutral who use carbon offsetting for all emissions rather than sourcing energy from renewable sources.
1. As defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987
2. http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/lc_uk/crc/crc.aspx
3. In accordance with the WEEE Directive - http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/waste/32084.aspx