British Businesses are Bad Eggs at Easter - 19.03.2008

New research has found that over a fifth (21%) of British businesses are planning no energy saving measures over the long Easter Bank Holiday, with even the most basic measures such as turning off lights being ignored by some companies. Huge amounts of energy will be wasted by heating offices and leaving electrical devices on for all four days, despite the office being closed, according to research from MWB Business Exchange, the leading serviced office provider.

Over 1,000 UK office workers were asked what energy saving procedures their employers were planning to put in place over the Easter period to reduce their carbon footprint, and over a third (38%) did not think their company would be turning off all lights. A further 83 per cent of businesses do not plan to turn off electrical devices in the office and two thirds of businesses (65%) plan to leave the heating on despite the office being closed.

“It’s shocking that so many businesses are not planning to do very simple things that could save a huge amount of electricity,” commented John Spencer, CEO, MWB Business Exchange. “It is completely unnecessary to heat buildings or leave printers on stand by when you know no one is going to be in the office for at least four days. British businesses are constantly claiming they are going ‘green’ but it appears that along the way they’ve forgotten the most simple ways to save energy and reduce their carbon footprint.”

The research also found that only one in ten employees (10%) thought their company was very efficient when it came to saving energy and half (50%) are not actively promoting energy saving practices.