Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Christopher Ong, Vice President Business Development, First Choice & GoGreen for DHL Asia Pacific , Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. The express division has cut its emissions by 19%, an impressive achievement given the large size of DHL. Globally DHL employs around half a million people.

How has it achieved these savings?

Firstly the chairman identified that it was important for the company to reduce its emissions, as part of being a good corporate citizen.
Secondly, it set a carbon reduction target, of globally reducing emissions by 30% per kg delivered, by 2015.

Third it put in place a measurement and tracking system. Unlike many organisations which centralise their data collection for the purpose of tracking emissions, DHL developed a system where the data entry is decentralised system.

Fourth it got staff using the system. Initially it was hard to motivate staff to do this. However with strong management support, monthly data entry into the system is now the norm. Each month each facility fills in a on-line questionnaire, entering in information such as the litres of diesel used. This only takes a few minutes.

Fifth, graphs and reports from the system are printed out at each facility, and put on the facility noticeboard where they are prominent to staff and drivers.

Sixth, it has fostered competition, encouraged ideas that reduced energy consumption, and empowered staff to take actions to reduce their energy use. For example, in their facilities in Singapore DHL now practices “lights off at lunchtime”, an idea suggested by a staff member.

Chris highlighted the fact that saving energy saves money, and that the Global Financial Crisis has actually accelerated their savings.  He said that their total savings to date of 19,000,000 kgs have come from lots of people each saving a few kgs each day. Financial savings so far total ten million euros. His advice to other organisations:

1. Be able to measure your emissions accurately.
2. Give power to the people on the ground. Give them the information they need – what their emissions are now, what they were, how much they have saved. The results can be very immediate, and this reinforces what more can be done.

DHL provide a inspiring example for other organisations to follow. This good news interview with Christopher Ong can be found at https://carbonetix.com.au/wwx/good-news-interviews.

Changes to temperature settings are a little known but easy way of getting significant carbon savings in offices.

In office buildings the single largest energy user is the heating, cooling and ventilation system. This system will typically account for 40% to 60% of the buildings energy cost and greenhouse gas emissions. A major determinant of how much energy your system uses is the temperature at which it is set to operate. Depending on climate, most offices are set to maintain a year round temperature of either 22OC or 24OC.

Hobsons Bay City Council in Melbourne had temperature settings at the Hobsons Bay Civic Centre adjusted by CarbonetiX engineer Linton Hartfield to allow the temperature to vary between 20 and 25 degrees Celcius. Electricity metering of the air conditioning system showed a 25% energy saving on the packaged heat pump units supplying the building. The air conditioning temperature changes occurred a couple of months after a building extension – which had increased electricity consumption by 10%. According to Environment Officer Rowena Joske, “After the temperature adjustments the electricity bills dropped back to what they were before the extension.” In other words simply adjusting the temperature settings has cut carbon emission by 10%.

Temperature complaints are, however, a major bane to facility managers who can’t seem to keep everyone happy. Do adjustments to temperature settings increase the number of complaints? In the case above more complaints did occur about it getting above 25 degrees in some parts of the building. So the system has been adjusted back in those parts of the building to limit the maximum temperature to no more than 25 degrees.

Comcare, a federal government organisation for public sector employees, has produced guidelines as to what a comfortable office temperature is. According to Comcare the acceptable range of office temperatures is 20 to 26 degrees Celcius, with 20 to 24 degrees recommended in winter and 22 to 26 degrees recommended in summer.

In temperate and cold climates in Australia allowing the temperature in the office to float between 20 to 24 or 25 degrees will significantly cut energy use and carbon emissions as compared to setting the system to maintain exactly 22 degrees. In hotter climates allowing the temperature to go up to 26 degrees instead of making it stay at 24 degrees will similarly save energy and carbon emissions.

For offices in terms of carbon reduction per dollar spent it doesn’t get much better than changing building temperature settings.