Policing Carbon Footprints
Dealing with footprints rather than fingerprints, Keith Horgan, Account Manager at the Carbon Trust, is in charge of the weapons used for policing carbon footprints.
Keith Horgan, Account Manager at the Carbon Trust
Towering over six feet tall and built like the archetypical British Bobby, Keith Horgan actually has three grown-up children in the British police force.
“Police and voluntary work is a family tradition, and after 30 years in industry, I was ready for a career change. I simply felt it was time to step up to the mark and join the rest of the family, doing something socially responsible,” he says.
He found the perfect job 18 months ago, joining the Carbon Trust where, as an Account Manager, he helps industry self-police their carbon footprint. Drawing from his broad experience gleaned from industry, he feels he is able to do something worthwhile.
“Over the years, I have worked within several different industries. Therefore, I feel comfortable working with all kinds of enterprises, helping them to identify ways of reducing their energy consumption and cutting carbon emissions.”
The Carbon Trust is an organization with a mission. Its aim is to assist companies and other organizations to explore and exploit the potential for cost-efficient carbon reduction, mainly through energy savings, but also by developing and using low-carbon technologies.
“Trelleborg was one of a handful of clients that were assigned to me when I first started working for the Carbon Trust. Together, we have been setting up a pilot scheme in the UK and studying opportunities for carbon reduction at the company’s sites here. This will subsequently form the basis for a system that can be rolled out worldwide,” Horgan explains.
An independent company set up in 2001 by the British government, the Carbon Trust focuses on reducing CO2 emission in the UK. However, since many of its clients are global companies, the organization has a very international approach.
“Solutions are tailored according to the size of a company’s energy use. But they also need to be appropriate for the company and therefore depend on how advanced the company is with regard to energy efficiency, technology and so forth,” says Horgan.
Trelleborg manufacturing sites in the UK are looking at opportunities for carbon reduction.
Trelleborg takes environmental matters seriously and in a pre-study involving four of its sites in the UK, a number of energy-saving opportunities were identified during spring 2007. In total, these could lead to the energy bill being reduced by 15 to 20 percent per year. To realize these annual savings, an initial investment from the company’s side is required. However, with a payback time of less than a year, this would be money well spent.
“Often, there is awareness within a company that energy efficiency investment will result in cost savings. However, the mechanisms for working across the company or organization to achieve this might not be in place,” Horgan says.
By providing access to the right range of tools and guidance to achieve energy efficiency, which can be applied throughout the entire organization, Keith Horgan is the catalyst that makes change possible.
“The real challenge facing us all is how to bring about change on a global scale. That will be tough,” he says, disposing of his coffee cup in an elaborate recycling bin.
The Carbon Trust’s mission is to accelerate the move to a low-carbon economy. It works with private and public sector organizations to reduce carbon emissions and develop commercially viable low-carbon technologies.
For large organizations, such as Trelleborg, that wish to manage and reduce their carbon emissions while growing profitably, it runs a program called Carbon Management. This service, co-funded by the Carbon Trust and the participating company, is a five-step process typically running for six to nine months that provides a strategic view of how carbon impacts the organization by identifying the risks and opportunities associated with climate change. The Carbon Management Program is designed for organizations with a UK energy bill exceeding GBP 3 M per year.
To date, the Carbon Trust has worked with one third of the companies listed on the UK stock exchange, thousands of smaller and medium-sized businesses and 98 local authorities in the UK. Furthermore, since it was established in 2001, the company has helped UK organizations achieve a total saving of 10.8 million tons CO2.
During 2006-07, the Carbon Trust also offered 482 interest-free energy-efficiency loans worth over GBP 18 M to small and medium-sized enterprises. Its expert consultants also provide free advice to companies wishing to measure their carbon footprint and to identify ways to reduce it. Having gathered expertise in low-carbon technology and renewable energy, it also sponsors research in these areas.
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