Business Sustain, Environmental Consultants, experts, Coventry, West Midlands

Cirrus cuts electricity bills by 20% through no- or low-cost measures

Company:	Cirrus Technologies Ltd
Business:	Design and manufacturer of vehicle testing and assembly systems
Employees:	Approx. 80

Photo : Cirrus Technology Based in Redditch, Cirrus Technolgies supplies leading-edge testing and assembly systems to vehicle manufacturers and first tier automotive suppliers throughout the world.

When the company examined its waste management practices whilst working towards ISO 14001 certification, it was discovered that there was scope not only to increase waste recycling rates, but to save money too!

Having attained ISO 14001 certification during 2003, the company decided to look at how it could reduce its electricity use as a means of satisfying the requirement to demonstrate ongoing environmental improvement.

A number of opportunities were identified. These included:

Enabling the automatic switching of computer monitors to standby mode when not in use;
Turning on the gas-fired central heating 2 hours earlier during the winter months than was previously the case, in order to eliminate the use of individual, high consumption electrical heaters;
Fitting a timer to the compressor, which was previously left running for 24 hours a day, but is needed only for approximately 8 hours on a daily basis;
Rearranging the lighting layout within the offices and car test area and introducing pull chords to enable individual lights to be switched off when not required;
Ensuring that unused lights within the company car park, toilets and assembly area are switched off when not in use.

By introducing these and other measures, Cirrus has managed to cut its electricity bills by over £1900 per annum. This equates to a saving of approximately 20%.

Who said what

"I would never have imagined that such simple measures could have produced such impressive results. This has certainly whetted our appetite to make further improvements, and we are confident that there are more savings to be made".

Says Dave Lengden, the company's Quality Manager,

More details

Logo : Cirrus Technology Dave Lengden
Cirrus Technologies Ltd
Heming Road
Redditch
Worcestershire
B98 0DN

Tel:         01527 527882
Web:      www.cirrustesting.com
Email:    dave.lengden@cirrustesting.com

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