LONDON, December 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
UK businesses in the hospitality and leisure sector could save
at least £310m-a-year on their energy bills by adopting new energy
technologies like solar panels and batteries, according to a report
published by Centrica.
The report Distributed Energy: Powering the future of
hospitality and leisure, found that if just 50% of
businesses in the sector adopted new energy technology it would
boost UK economic growth by £3.7bn GVA (Gross Value Added) and
support 50,000 jobs.
The hospitality and leisure sector is the UK's third largest
employer and spends more than £1.3bn a year on energy. Businesses
have been challenged to improve their energy productivity by 20% by
2030, as set out by the Government's Clean Growth Strategy.
Alan Barlow, UK and Ireland Director at Centrica Business
Solutions, said: "New energy technology has the potential to drive
growth, increase efficiency and help give businesses in the
hospitality and leisure sector a competitive advantage.
"Investing in this area doesn't just make sense financially.
Businesses are increasingly harnessing the sustainability benefits
of low-carbon energy technology to attract and retain growing
numbers of environmentally-savvy consumers."
The research suggests that savings could be achieved by adopting
distributed energy technology such as efficient heating and
lighting, solar, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and battery storage.
New energy monitoring technology can also help to identify
inefficient equipment and processes.
To read the report in full, click here.
Carbon emissions savings for the
hospitality and leisure
sector
The report follows the publication of Centrica's
'Powering sustainability' report in October,
which found that the hospitality and leisure sector could reduce
its annual carbon emissions by 14% through the adoption of new
energy technology.
Centrica calculated that, if just half of hospitality and
leisure businesses in the UK adopted distributed energy technology,
the sector could reduce emissions by the equivalent of 1.3 million
tonnes of carbon dioxide a year (1.3 MtCO2e), or the equivalent of
23 million tonnes by 2030. This is equal to the annual carbon
emissions associated with the energy use of 421,000 homes, or
equivalent to the entire housing stock of Norfolk.
Case study: Alton Towers Resort
An example of a hospitality business realising the benefits of
new energy technology is the 550-acre Alton Towers Resort. It is
home to four hotels, a conference centre, more than a dozen
restaurants and Europe's largest
waterpark. The hotels alone can accommodate 2,500 guests and 400
staff.
The facilities team must ensure power is supplied to all of
these different buildings as well as provide heat for the 1,000m³
of water in the waterpark. Centrica Business Solutions installed a
combined heat and power unit (CHP) at the resort capable of
generating up to 850kWh of electricity. CHP is a form of on-site
energy generation that uses the heat by-product of electricity
generation so that it can be put to use - in this case, to maintain
water temperature in the park. Meeting these two needs from one
source results in an annual saving on energy costs for Alton Towers of 12% a year.
Notes to editors:
- The report has been published following the one-year
anniversary of the Industrial Strategy, which identified the
opportunities for UK industry to harness the global shift to clean
growth.
- The hospitality and leisure sector research form parts of
Centrica Business Solution's Powering Britain report, which
analysed key sectors including healthcare, industry and hospitality
and leisure. Combined, these sectors account for more than a
quarter of the UK's GVA, and almost a third of UK employment. The
report found that if just half of these sectors invested in energy
saving solutions, they could reduce annual energy costs by
£980m.
- The number of dwellings as of 1 April
2017 in Norfolk was
420,360, according to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local
Government housing statistics published in May 2018.
- For further detail on all reports, visit
www.centrica.com/economicfuture.
About Centrica:
Centrica plc is an international energy and services company.
Our purpose is to provide energy and services to satisfy the
changing needs of our customers.
Two of our global divisions, Centrica Consumer and Centrica
Business, supply energy and energy-related services to over 25
million customer accounts in the UK, Ireland and North
America, through strong brands such as British Gas, Direct
Energy and Bord Gáis Energy. They do this with the support of
15,000 engineers and technicians.
We're also developing new and innovative products, offers and
services for customers through our five growth businesses: Energy
Supply, Services, Connected Home, Distributed Energy & Power
(DE&P), and Energy Marketing & Trading.
Our Connected Home business has developed the Hive product
range, including the smart thermostat, which allows customers to
control their energy usage from their phone, while DE&P offers
integrated energy solutions for commercial and industrial
customers, providing customers with end-to-end services - from
insight to optimisation and solutions.
Innovation underpins everything we do, which is why we've
invested £100m in Centrica Innovations, a venture to identify,
incubate and accelerate new technologies and innovations
that can help provide the right offers, products and services for
our customers.
Our third global division, Exploration & Production
(E&P), now consists of two business units - Spirit Energy and
Centrica Storage. In December 2017
Spirit Energy was launched, a newly formed business combining
Centrica's E&P business with Bayerngas Norge. The transaction
creates a leading independent European E&P business with an
attractive mix of producing assets and development projects. It is
expected to deliver medium-term production in the 45-55mmboe
range.