This guide provides insights on calculating savings generated from different actions. It covers how to determine whether an action results in permanent or recurring savings and methods to estimate these savings, including comparisons before and after implementing changes, equipment characteristics, and leveraging internal expertise.
By default, the Reduction Plan is set up to accommodate an action that occurs once, which creates an annual CO2e or resource saving that lasts indefinitely.
Types of actions and working out their savings
- Does the action create a permanent CO2/energy/water/waste saving compared to the previous year? If yes, then add that saving and if no, then don’t add a saving
- Is it a recurring action? If so, you can add an action every time it happens. If the action generates a saving versus the previous year, you can add that as a saving
- Did the action happen a long time ago or over a long period of time? In this case, simply add the date the action was completed, or is estimated to be completed along with the saving. For long, multi-stage actions, you can add each stage as an action
Methods to estimate your savings
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Measure the total relevant resources used (with a bill or meter) during a period before the Action was started, compared to an equivalent period during/after the Action was carried out. This will show the savings in resource use of a relevant process and Action.
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Use the characteristics of old equipment compared to new. For example, using the comparative wattage of old and new light bulbs will give you an accurate estimation of what can be saved over time. Similarly, new or retrofitted equipment come with similarly declared capacities, so you will know how much resource they will use or generate and therefore save
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Use internal stakeholder expertise and insight to help develop savings estimations. They will have strong knowledge of what savings can be made by changing processes and upgrading equipment
The final savings to estimate are the financial cost and savings figures. These are never shared with your customers, but supplement your Reduction Plan’s internal project management utility. You can base these costs on quotes you may have received or any machine downtime costs, for example. Further, you can convert the resource savings into their billable financial value.
Over time, you may get a better idea of what the savings are, and the estimated savings can be updated before the Action is completed.