UK Government Ignores Big Energy Efficiency Savings; Greenwashes Cost-Cutting Instead

Posted on 15. Sep, 2009 by Ross in Government Policy, United Kingdom

The UK Government has saved at least £7 million over the past year by making its IT systems more energy efficient, Cabinet Office Minister Angela Smith said today.

So what?

We’re all aware that we need to reduce our carbon emissions through renewable energy and energy efficiency at personal, corporate, national and global scales, so at first the story seems like welcome news. However, the steps taken to reduce energy use as detailed by the minister’s press release are in fact negative-cost measures employed first and foremost to cut expenditure.

Nowhere is there mention of any specific investment in energy-efficient technology or systems.

The measures taken to save energy included:

The Department for International Development (DfID) donating old equipment to charities in developing countries - a worthy cause, but will actually increase energy usage by making computers more widespread.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) saving £2.35million by replacing 9,500 computers and 2,500 printers every five years rather than every three - whilst this saves energy by reducing demand for new computer manufacture, this is simply stalling on new equipment purchases whilst the economy is still struggling.
The Home Office (HO) saving £2.4million a year by removing unused IT equipment and improving efficiency - without any more detail in the statement, the savings appear to be from removing the need for future procurement of the removed equipment and the energy saved from not leaving said items on all the time. No detail is given on what ‘improving efficiency’ means in this context, so how are businesses and individuals supposed to ”recognise the savings that can be made and get on board’?
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will save 200 million sheets of paper a year through cutting down the number of printers in the department and changing the default setting to double-sided printing - simple and commendable, but in the context of the rest of the statement it would appear that the emphasis here is to save on procurement rather than anything else.

The information most worryingly absent from the statement is the percentage reduction in energy use. Most often this is the figure that most projects will jump and shout about, but the press release ignores presenting the information entirely.

However, its easy enough to calculate from the figures used by the Cabinet Office. The measures taken to cut computer systems’ energy consumption reduced carbon emissions by 12,000 tCO2. By comparison, the carbon footprint of the information and communication technology used by Government offices’ is 460,000 tCO2 - 20% of their total carbon footprint.

The UK Government therefore has only reduced the carbon footprint of its offices by 0.5%.

The Government, rather than taking a lead in boosting energy efficiency through informed investments in energy-saving technologies which will generate significant returns on investment over the years, has plumped for only the most basic of first steps to cut their bloated energy bills.

At the same time as (rightly) trying to persuade businesses to engage in energy efficiency projects with interest-free Carbon Trust loans, it is trying to paint simple cost cutting with greenwash to hide the lethargy behind its own carbon reduction projects. Increased investment in renewables, along with high-impact energy-efficiency projects such as energy-saving lighting, are the fastest way to recoup investment and reap strong long-term benefits in terms of saving energy, carbon and money.

With the current UK budget deficit, energy efficiency will have to start saving a lot more than just £7m a year!

Image by Ross Tucknott