In celebration of World Environment day, we wanted to talk about our various accomplishments from the last six months regarding our environmental and sustainability efforts. We are always pushing forward in our goal to create a cleaner, more sustainable work environment, and that’s why we kick-started 2023 off by installing solar panels at our head office in Leeds – a venture that has already proven to be a great success!
The solar panels were commissioned by Path Energy, a solar panel fitting organisation who aim to create sustainable, affordable, and most importantly clean energy across various markets. Their work with us has done exactly that; not only benefiting our organisation, but the wider environment as a whole.
In just the first few months following their installation, the numbers have spoken for themselves: since the end of January this year, their performance has matched that of planting nearly 10 trees! This equates to saving a huge 16.68t of CO2 emissions, a great step forward for us as we try to cut down on our environmental impact as a business!
The panels have also generated 16.729MWh of electricity (16,729kWh), which is set to grow massively in the coming summer months. Over the course of June, July and August, 70% of the solar panels’ annual generation will be harvested, meaning the already great numbers will only become greater!
On the topic of the new solar panels, our sustainability manager Sophie Henderson had this to say: “The investment in the solar panels only reinforces our commitment to reducing our emissions as a company. We have already started to see tangible benefits from the recent installation; not only has it helped increase our energy independence using natural resources, but we have also seen a drop in our CO2 footprint providing real climate protection. There are exciting times ahead at Howard Civil Engineering!”
Our new panels are not the only thing we have been working on this year to advance our sustainability efforts, however. There are several other key areas that we have focused on as we continue to try and make as big of a difference as possible! These include:
- £19,756 in financial donations to communities
- 180 hours of volunteering efforts
- 901 school children educated on routes into construction and STEM
- 78 people support pre-employment
- 153 hours of work experience/placements provided
- 67% reduction is NOx emissions from upgrading our fleet of vans
- 16.68t of CO2 emissions saved through our new solar panels
- 16.7MWh of electricity generated in 2023 so far
And, as we progress further into 2023, we aim only to expand on these numbers! To learn more about our environmental sustainability efforts, click here.
