This week is Net Zero Week, an important event across the United Kingdom for raising awareness about the critical changes that are needed to reach targets set by the Climate Act 2008. The Climate Act 2008 commits the UK to bringing all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

At Artic the aim to be Net Zero will always be at the forefront of our decision making; we are continuously working to improve the energy efficiency of building services across our contracts through innovative mechanical and electrical solutions. As a company that provides M&E and HVAC services, it is critical that we take the future of the environment into our consideration at all stages of our projects or maintenance contracts. This is why Net Zero week is so important to us and we want to demonstrate how we are making changes within our company to come closer to being carbon neutral.

What is Net Zero?

The target of Net Zero is to completely negate all greenhouse gas emissions that are warming our planet. Climate change is our biggest challenge as a global community and it must be tackled before we reach climatic tipping points that will leave irreversible damage. In its effort to avoid the catastrophic changes a climate crisis will bring; the UK government was the first to legally bind the nation to a target of being Net Zero by 2050. It is recognised that not every business can completely remove the emission of greenhouse gases from their business processes, which is why it is so important for those industries to work towards offsetting these carbon contributions instead.

There are many solutions businesses can implement to negate their carbon emissions through energy efficiency optimisation and updating technologies to more carbon friendly models. At Artic we are actioning different strategies across the company to maximise our opportunities for taking a step closer to being carbon neutral every day.

Artic’s Strategies to Become Carbon Neutral:

Artic looks both inwardly and outwardly when it comes to innovating its strategies for reducing, or offsetting, carbon emissions. Here are some ways Artic is making integral internal changes as part of the race to Net Zero:

• Electrical Fleet Movement: As a company we are putting maximum effort into increasing our electric vehicle fleet so that we can move away from our diesel vans. To increase the accessibility of switching to electrical vehicles, Artic has begun to install electric vehicle charging points at our engineer’s homes. The increased accessibility to charging points supports our endeavours to expand the number of electric vehicles in our fleet and further reduce our carbon footprint.

 

• Accumulating ISO’s: Artic is compliant with the Internal Organisation for Standardisation on both 14001 Environmental Management and 50001 Energy Management. These accreditations showcase Artic’s commitment to managing our environmental and energy standards; displaying our effort to implement strategies to benefit our local environment and reduce our carbon emissions.

 

• Clean Power for Our Office: The installation of solar panels at our head office building has resulted in a significant reduction of carbon emissions. We entered phase two of our installation and this resulted in an additional 15,769 kg of CO2 being saved, overall totalling our carbon savings to 27,484 kg every year. With new solar technology and our Artic Zero energy experts, we are continuously exploring new ways to implement exciting, new technologies to reduce our carbon footprint on the planet.

Artic doesn’t stop there either. Strategies are implemented throughout our M&E services to help other businesses meet their own net zero targets, collaborating across various industries for a brighter and cleaner future.

How Artic has Cultivated Change:

At ICBC, Artic conducted a comprehensive facility analysis that resulted in our engineers identifying areas for improvement where energy consumption needed to be reduced. One of these solutions included the implementation and usage of HFO refrigerant which features dramatically lower global warming potential compared to the chillers that the bank previously had installed. This reduced ICBC’s scope 1 and 2 emissions and saved them a monthly energy saving average of 4,106 KWH equating to a CO2 saving of 850.229kg.

Our Projects department are also experts in implementing carbon saving electrical solutions. As part of a project with Birkbeck University we replaced all outdated fluorescent lighting with energy-efficient LED lights. Before our installation, energy consumption was higher due to an increased duration that the lighting was running at its maximum. After Artic’s solution to upgrade the lights to LED technology, on one floor alone it resulted in a 70% decrease in energy consumption weekly, meaning a 70% decrease in the amount of CO2 emissions generated. This aided in helping the University to reach its own sustainability targets and showcases the implementation of energy saving methods that Artic has at its disposal.

When exploring options to solve facility management challenges, Artic presents clients with opportunities to future-proof their buildings, upgrading facilities to their energy-efficient counterparts and helping other businesses in race to reduce carbon emissions.

Join Artic in the Race to Net Zero:

It is important for us  now to be working towards reducing our carbon emissions and hitting the Net Zero target can’t be done without collaboration. Join in on the race to Net Zero and get in touch with our experts at Artic Zero to help with making your building carbon neutral through our energy efficient facility management solutions.