Industry pledge to help operators save costs in crisis

Zero Carbon Forum is offering free energy saving resources for operators during energy crisis 

7 September 2022: In a bid to help hospitality in a time of crisis due to increasing energy costs, the not for profit Zero Carbon Forum is offering free energy saving guidance from its Save While You Sleep initiative to help enable operators to reduce their power usage overnight to cut costs and carbon. 

The programme was officially launched in July following member trials, which have realised energy savings per outlet worth £6,000 per annum (at 2021 market rates). It works by combining energy and carbon analytics with operational training and ongoing coaching. Existing energy smart meter data is run through Zero Carbon Services’ proprietary intelligence platform, to identify energy wastage every day and night.

As UK consumers are having to make forced changes to the way they consume energy by cutting down on usage, the forum’s Save While You Sleep initiative provides operators with advice and guidance on implementing simple but impactful processes to save on energy, via a two -stage ‘10-minute’ shutdown process.

The industry is in crisis. UKHospitality estimates that 10,000 businesses could shut permanently in the coming 18 months. While bosses of companies owning almost half of the UK’s 47,000 pubs said that thousands of pubs face closure without urgent government support to soften the blow from soaring energy bills. It is expected that Liz Truss, the new UK Prime Minister will make an announcement on what the government will do to help the population in the coming week.

Mark Chapman, forum founder of Zero Carbon Forum said: “We look forward to seeing what Government intervention is provided to support our sector, but we want to provide all our knowledge and insight to try to help every operator in the industry during this crisis. By sharing the data and analysis gleaned from our members’ overnight energy usage made into a range of accessible resources, including engagement training and checklists, operators can engage their teams quickly to reduce energy waste and save on costs and carbon.”

The resources available will include collateral for operators to freely access, download and share with their teams. They include posters and energy checklists for General and Area Managers.

To access the resources/collateral please visit: https://savewhileyousleep.world/.

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About the Zero Carbon Forum 

The Zero Carbon Forum is a non-profit organisation which builds on 10 years of carbon reduction collaboration in the UK’s hospitality and Brewing sector. It enables members to reach their decarbonisation targets faster, more efficiently and more cost-effectively than acting alone.

Members pledge to work collaboratively, by sharing carbon reduction plans and initiatives. By combining expertise and resources the forum helps to identify all possible actions to decarbonise operations across tens of thousands of outlets and their supply chains. 

In October 2021 the Zero Carbon Forum published its publicly available roadmap for hospitality to achieve net zero carbon, closely followed by the launch of the Overnight Energy programme from Zero Carbon Services; an impactful two-stage ‘10-minute’ shutdown process, combined with analytics from members’ energy smart meters to achieve substantial cost reductions and reduce emissions. 

In April 2022 the forum launched a Carbon Calculator and Toolkit, developed in collaboration with UKHospitality, BBPA, and powered by Sky, which enables hospitality operators and brewers to calculate their carbon footprint and identify achievable key actions to reduce emissions. 

The Zero Carbon Forum is endorsed by the government and backed by trade associations UK Hospitality and the British Beer and Pub Association. Members include leading UK and global hospitality organisations including Brewdog, Burger King UK, Côte Restaurant Group, Greene King, InterContinental Hotels (IHG) Hotels & Resorts, KFC, Nando's UK and IRE, Pizza Express and Revolution Bars.

For more information visit:  https://zerocarbonforum.com and https://savewhileyousleep.world.