The Zero Carbon Forum, a non-profit, collaborative action group dedicated to helping UK hospitality achieve net zero at pace has launched a new energy programme to help its members reduce overnight energy waste, cutting carbon and costs.
Working in collaboration with and powered by Carbon Statement, industry specialists in engagement analytics, the new programme works by implementing a simple and impactful two-stage ‘10-minute’ shutdown process:
- A 5-minute prep check to ensure all timers are set correctly and all food is emptied from chillers and fridges
- A 5-minute appliance and lighting switch off checklist
Each stage is combined with analytics from forum members’ energy smart meters to achieve substantial cost reductions – operators can make savings of upto £4,900 and 10 tonnes of CO2 a year, the equivalent of flying from London to Tokyo 6 times.
Every outlet receives a weekly report detailing their overnight shutdown performance with carbon and costs saved, plus bespoke actions to achieve their ‘best ever’ future usage.
An ongoing maintenance programme for members further ensures that all equipment is regularly checked for maximum efficiency, and forum carbon ‘coaches’ are assigned to regularly advise operational teams on the best ways to keep energy use to a minimum overnight.
Mark Chapman, founder and CEO of the Zero Carbon Forum said: “By engaging this programme, members can simply yet effectively realise cost savings while cutting carbon. Equipment left on overnight costs the average hospitality outlet £4,900 a year in lost profits and emits 10t of CO2. Across our forum over the space of a year this equates to £73.5m in lost profits and 50,000 tCO2.”
The ‘save while you sleep’ scheme has been trialling for several months with forum members.
James Taylor, Head of Sustainability & Environmental Purchasing at The Restaurant Group said: “As a founding member of the Zero Carbon Forum, the overnight energy initiative forms part of our broader business plan to reduce our emissions to net zero as quickly as possible. We’re delighted with the engagement we’ve seen from using our consumption data to highlight specific opportunities to save and cut wastage.”
Nicola Pierce, Head of Strategy & Responsible Business at Burger King said of the scheme: “Engaging our teams to minimise energy waste is a key part of our commitment to reach zero direct carbon emissions by 2030. The overnight energy initiative enables our teams understand the part they can play through their daily practices by highlighting the carbon impact of achieving their best ever usage every night.”
Mark continues: “All that’s needed to start saving is for operators to simply provide their opening hours by location and to give us permission to access their smart meter data.”
Claire Hussey, Risk & Compliance Director at TGI Fridays added: “We’re on track to save 1,000 tonnes of carbon this year across our restaurants through our teams taking action every day to minimise their energy use. We’ve launched our green mission to help tackle the climate crises by reducing our own emissions with each restaurant receiving a Carbon Statement each week to show how they can reduce their impact.’
