With the days getting colder and shorter, our office buildings are demanding more energy to keep them well-let and warm.
But with an energy crisis looming over us, now’s the time to make some serious cutbacks to save money, reduce our climate impact, and help protect the planet.
So, we’re introducing energy sufficiency – a concept that really captures the essence of CUBE and is all about eliminating the use of energy we don’t need.
Think about it…
Using lights in the office when there is sufficient daylight
Excessively heating the office during the winter months
And powering up idle laptops and monitors
These are significant energy savings waiting to happen – and you can do it now simply by changing some basic habits.
As part of its newly launched ‘Sobriety Plan’ the French government has set a goal to reduce energy consumption by 10% by 2024. This will be done by mobilising the state, companies, communities, and citizens to take structural and individual action, including:
Setting a maximum temperature of 19C in buildings, and lowering this to 16C at night and 8C when the building is closed for more than three days at a time (think Christmas period)
Reducing hot water in the office where non-essential
Reducing light usage at night time where it’s non-essential
Limiting the amount of space heated, for example in hallways and corridors
Working at times when energy demand is lower – for example, starting earlier and finishing the day sooner
They’re even turning off the Eiffel Tower lights from 11:45pm instead of 1am to limit energy usage, so what’s your excuse?
The message is clear:
We have a civic duty to do our bit in the midst of an energy crisis. But can energy sufficiency work in the UK and are you willing to step up to the challenge?