Modern Building Services

MODERN BUILDING SERVICES SEPTEMBER 2021 11 FEATURE NET ZERO NET ZERO A s we head towards the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November, the focus on reducing emissions from both the public and private sector is growing. Many businesses have announced ambitious plans to reduce their environmental impact, recognising how a more sustainable approach gives them greater long-term resiliency. However, for many, the impact of the challenging commercial environment has resulted in even greater scrutiny on spending, particularly when it comes to larger scale sustainability projects. Decarbonising the heat from buildings is one of the biggest challenges to overcome, and while ‘small’ changes - such as replacing lighting, heating and cooling - can make a big difference and should absolutely be in a business’ carbon reduction plan, making the case for larger investments, such as on-site generation, can prove to be more difficult. To help building managers make the business case for the investment on-site generation, we took a closer look at the important role it can play in helping organisations plot their path to net zero in our recent report - ‘Plot Your Path to Net Zero: A Focus on Sustainable On-Site Generation’. Encouragingly, the research showed that, despite the challenging economic environment, over 50% of our respondents said they had already invested - or were planning to invest - in ways to generate their own supply. That said, despite the positivity around plans to invest in on-site generation, businesses also raised some of the issues they face when it comes to building a case for the investment. The primary barrier is proving the return on investment (ROI) of an on-site asset, closely followed by access to funding. A quarter (24%) also questioned the suitability of on-site generation for their organisation. è Anthony Ainsworth , COO, I&C Energy Sales and Solutions, npower Business Solutions (nBS) powered by E.ON shares his thoughts. How can on-site generation help with the path to Net Zero?