We were approached in June of this year to see if we would be interested in engaging in the Carbon Net Zero Pathfinder project that is funded by Cannock Chase Council in conjunction with Staffordshire University.
This project looks at our business as a whole, from what we purchase, what we manufacture and what we use in terms of energy.
We have been lucky to have been accepted onto the project, and we were paired with a delightful gentleman Quang who was tasked with looking at everything we do as a business and interpret what information he finds and is given.
We are at the half way point in this project, and we are looking forward to hearing what Quang has found so far in his research, and then getting his final analysis in a few weeks to see what we are putting out into the environment, and what changes we can make to reduce this.
I will update again when Quang has finished his work, and we are looking forward to seeing what differences we can make to protect our environment.
**UPDATE**
We have completed the Pathway project, and Quang has done a great job of looking into our business and what changes we can implement. His report is extensive and there are a few things that we will be looking into over the coming months and years, (nothing is ever a quick fix).
We have however with the aid of the grant made available to us upgraded the lighting in our showroom. We now have daylight lights which are all low voltage LED lights, with the exception of one light that is over the central podium, this can change to what lighting you have in your own home from Cool to warm light and daylight. All the upstairs lights are on a sensor so we are no longer using electricity when no-one is upstairs, changing the lights and installing the sensor should reduce the electricity used by the showroom by 62% per year which will be around £800 per annum less in electricity charges.
Due to us participating in this project we were off the back of this shortlisted by BiKBBI in the Environmental Champion Category which we are proud to say we won.
This is not the end of our push to reduce our carbon and energy consumption, we are also looking into other ways we can reduce waste and the potential to engage in ISO accreditation.