Appoint ‘energy marshal’ businesses told

31/10/2008

Businesses are being encouraged to appoint ‘energy marshals’ within their organisation in a bid to reduce carbon emissions.

The campaign, launched by E.ON, is looking to recruit 10,000 energy marshals from the UK’s business community and subsequently slash energy bills by £2.5bn.

The marshals will be in charge of championing energy efficiency and encouraging fellow employees to change their behaviour.

Ellen MacArthur, yachtswoman and sustainability ambassador for E.ON, said:

“Sailing around the world I got used to closely monitoring the amount of energy I used on my boat and trying to save as much energy as possible became a habit. When I came back to land the huge amount of energy we waste at work and home in our day to day life really hit home.

“Getting your employees to make simple changes to their behaviour when it comes to energy is a really easy cost effective way to not only help protect the environment but to save your company money.”

IT and outsourcing consultancy Capgemini is one of the schemes pilots. David Hart, one of the company’s energy marshals, said:

“The great thing about the initial questionnaire and survey was that they immediately helped us identify areas where energy could be saved.

“But, by engaging with people, everyone really took the changes on board and now they put it into practice without even thinking about it.”