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Tender Support Service: Environmental & Sustainability Criteria

Friday, December 10th, 2010

Does the work you are tendering for require sustainability and environmental responsibility?

There is a fair chance that it will:

  • Many ‘blue chip’ corporates with environmental management systems and Corporate Social Responsibility reporting will ask suppliers to demonstrate green credentials in a tender
  • The EU and UK ‘Green Public Procurement’ (GPP) policy aims to have at least 50% of all public sector tenders incorporating environmental impact and sustainability as criteria by 2010. State spending accounts for 53% of the overall UK GDP (Daily Mail, 2010), so demonstrating green credentials in tenders could be worth a lot to you.

 

If such a policy impacts on your tenders, there are two ways of looking at the requirement:

The first approach:  What do I need to be compliant with the environmental and sustainability sections of the tender?

The second approach: How can I use good environmental and sustainability practice as a way to differentiate myself against the competition, demonstrate superior value and innovate to win the tender?

E Advantage can support you with either of these approaches but we major towards the second approach – we help organisations to gain competitive advantage from environmental responsibility.

How do we give your tender an environmental advantage?

Well the first step is to meet with you, to understand your circumstance, current practices and areas we could support you with. This takes the form of a brief ‘health check’, a free, informal discussion where introduce ourselves in more detail, ask a set of revealing questions and provide clear advice on moving forwards.

Once commissioned, we would complete some or all of the following tasks, depending on the context of your business:

Stage 1 – Analysis:

We will complete a short, structured and independent study of the current environmental management arrangements, any variances from the tender requirements and best practice.

We will review environmental policy, communication and current approaches to tenders, alongside competitor benchmarking and customer analysis, to identify areas for potential development. We have Chartered Marketers in the team for this very purpose.

Together, these items form a solid base for substantiating current status and recommending the most appropriate courses of action.

 

 Stage 2 – Implementation:

The recommendations from the analysis, once agreed with you, are then put in to action. These may include developing management systems, reducing impacts in areas, green innovation and sustainability communications. We can then pull the appropriate messages into the relevant sections of the tender document with full confidence.

Where necessary, our marketers can support the wider development of the tender documentation and campaign, with sustainable printing  and ensuring it best represents the value you have to offer the client. We can be involved as much or as little as you require.

If you want your tender to give you an environmental advantage, or you’re about to request tenders from suppliers and want to understand what you should be looking out for, give E Advantage a call today on 01280 812 909 for your free introductory meeting.

 

E Advantage bring a unique environmental tender support service to the market through leveraging skills in the following areas:

  • Energy and environmental management systems
  • Energy assessment and certification
  • Environmental consultancy
  • Green marketing and sustainability communications
  • Strategic marketing and sales, with Chartered Marketers

To find out more about our services, call our friendly team on 01280 812 909

Tags: Environmental and Sustainability Tender Support Services

Posted in Environmental Advantage, Environmental Management System (EMS), Environmental Tender Support Service, Green Marketing

Air Conditioning Inspections – The Roll Out Continues!

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

A mandatory new piece of regulation now requires all air conditioning systems over 12 kW to be inspected by 4th January 2011. The regulations are based on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) 2002/91/EC Article 9 Regular Inspections of Air Conditioning Systems.

All air-conditioning systems with an effective rated output of more than 12kw must be regularly inspected by an Energy Assessor. The inspections must be a maximum of five years apart.

The regulations require the first inspection of the affected air-conditioning systems to be carried out as follows:

  • For all systems first put into service on or after 1 January 2008, the first inspection must have taken place within five years of the date when it was first put into service.
  • For other air-conditioning systems, where the effective rated output is more  than 250kW the first inspection must happen by 4 January 2009
  •  For other air-conditioning systems, where the effective rated output is more than  12kW the first inspection must happen by 4 January 2011

‘An air conditioning system is a combination of all components required to provide a form of air treatment in which the temperature is controlled or can be lowered and includes systems which combine such air treatment with the control of ventilation, humidity and air cleanliness’

A simple example, is an office building with say 5 individual or linked air conditioning units with approx 3kw capacity each, installed before 1st January 2008. Therefore you have 5 x 3kw = 15kw. An inspection is required.

Of course there are a multitude of system configurations and we are happy to give advice on the interpretation of the regulations, if you are in any doubt, please give us a call.  

Having your air-conditioning system inspected by an Energy Assessor is designed to improve energy efficiency and reduce electricity consumption, operating costs and carbon emissions for your system. Energy inspections will highlight improvements to the operation of your existing systems or opportunities to replace older, less energy efficient systems or oversized systems with new energy efficient systems.

You can get the very best value from complying with these regulations by including an inspection in a wider ‘Energy Efficiency Action Plan’. Such plans look at the overall energy use in a business or building and provide an action plan to help focus on efficiencies. Air conditioning inspections can provide invaluable information, recommendations and actions resulting in a reduction in energy consumption in a wider push for overall energy efficiencies within a business.

If you would like to know more about the regulations or energy efficiency actions plans then please call us.

Posted in Air Conditioning Inspection

Energy Management becomes flexible

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Many organisations require support with their energy management, to realise the significant potential savings but in this difficult economic climate, few can afford a full project in one go.

For this reason, E Advantage are proud to announce the launce of a service that allows organisations to access our consultants expertise on a basis that suits them, whether that be:

  • Ad-hoc
  • Half day
  • Day
  • Retained service
  • Full project
  • Building a managment system

If this sounds of interest, call us today to discuss your requirements. Our number is 01280 812 909

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Posted in BS EN 160001 and ISO 50001, Energy saving

Green Team or Green Champion? Need a hand…

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Are you putting a green team together?

E Advantage can help. We can:

  • Structure the kick-off workshop
  • Help set objectives
  • Work with the team to implement environmental management practices and systems
  • Help source funding
  • Provide training
  • Deliver green marketing communications within the business and externally
  • Assist in reporting
  • and much more…

 

For your green team requirements, call us today on 01280 812 909 and we’ll be happy to help

Tags: ,
Posted in Environmental Management System (EMS), Green Marketing, Latest News

Big plans: Sustainable communities and Climate Finance

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Source: DECC (12th July, 2010)

Climate Change Minister Greg Barker is today [12 July] launching the first stage of the Government’s plans to help communities become more self-sufficient in the way they use heat and power.

Empowering communities to generate their own energy on a large and a small scale can not only bring in an income but also help save money on fuel bills and increase domestic energy security.

Homes, schools and businesses are already guaranteed cash payments through the ‘feed-in tariff’ for producing their own green electricity through technologies such as solar panels or small wind turbines, as well as for selling it to the national grid.

Around 100,000 homes and organisations have installed this kind of technology so far.  The Government wants to see what more it can do to help develop the industry, create more job opportunities, and make sure customers can trust the green technology they buy.

Greg Barker said: “I want to see more homes, communities and businesses generating their own energy. We can literally bring power back to the people. Microgeneration is a key part of this vision.

“By becoming more self sufficient we can create sustainable local energy economies. People and communities can save money on their fuel bills at the same time as generating an income and cutting carbon. I want to work with industry to overcome the challenges it is facing. Together we will create a marketplace for jobs and prosperity alongside products and advice which people trust.”

The consultation on the Microgeneration Strategy will look at four key areas for development:

  • Quality: ensure consumers have confidence that equipment and installation is reliable and adheres to the highest standards;
  • Technology: examine how to improve products through more trialling of technologies new to the UK;
  • Skills: develop the microgeneration supply chain to ensure it is properly equipped with the right people to meet the expected rise in demand, as well as creating and sustaining jobs in the UK;
  • Advice: provide more accessible advice and information about microgeneration to homeowners, communities and small businesses.

Read complete press release…

Chris Huhne calls for renewed focus on climate finance

Chris Huhne warned today [12 July] that a deal on climate finance is vital to breaking the climate deadlock. The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change arrived in New York for a meeting of the High Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing. The group was set up to identify ways of raising new and innovative sources of climate financing to reach $100 billion per annum of public and private finance by 2020 as agreed during the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen last December.

Chris Huhne said, “Helping developing countries tackle climate change is crucial if we are to secure a comprehensive and ambitious deal. Aside from a moral obligation to help vulnerable countries who have historically contributed little to the problem, it’s also in our own interests to provide practical support.

I’m looking forward to getting down to work with colleagues in New York to secure the long term finance needed to tackle climate change and kick start a renewed push towards a truly ambitious climate change deal.”

Chaired by Prime Ministers Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and Jens Stoltenberg of Norway, the Group consists of finance and environment Ministers and economic and finance experts including President Obama’s chief economic advisor Larry Summers, George Soros and Prof Nick Stern.

The Group will work to develop proposals to present to the UN Secretary General by the end of October 2010, ahead of the international discussions at Cancun, Mexico.

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Posted in Energy saving, Renewable Energy

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