An intelligent approach to energy & waste management.
We are one of the UK’s leading energy and waste management companies. We support a range of organisations including individual schools, multi-academy trusts, office blocks, retailers, restaurant chains and manufacturing sites through to clients with over 500 locations.
There’s a mass of legislation and regulation in the energy world – and it’s growing. Sustainable Advantage has a thorough grasp of all the requirements and makes compliance much less complex and daunting for its clients.
The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) is a mandatory energy-assessment scheme for organisations that meet certain criteria. It involves an audit of energy use every four years. Financial penalties can be imposed on organisations that fail to meet the scheme’s obligations.
Sustainable Advantage knows ESOS inside out and works alongside clients to help them determine how best to secure compliance. We investigate and present practical options ranging from ‘essential/minimal’ to ‘ambitious/optimal’.
While it’s important that all the ESOS boxes are ticked, the scheme should be seen as more than a mandatory process. Many clients prefer to treat it as an aspect or by-product of a wider energy-saving programme. We have the expertise and imagination to help them turn a duty into an opportunity and are currently working with many clients on implementing ESOS findings.
The Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme is intended to increase energy efficiency and cut CO² emissions. This mandatory scheme is being rolled out in three, five-year phases. It applies to large organisations with high energy usage.
Sustainable Advantage is thoroughly familiar with the CRC and helps clients undertake all the activities associated with it, including:
- Registering for the scheme
- Collating and reporting information about energy supplies
- Ordering, paying for and surrendering allowances to cover annual CO² emissions
- Creating and maintaining an evidence pack
Climate Change Agreements (CCAs) are voluntary agreements made by industry and the Environment Agency to reduce energy use and CO² emissions. Operators who hold a CCA receive very large discounts on the Climate Change Levy applied to electricity and fuel bills.
The scheme is not without its complexities, but Sustainable Advantage has the knowledge and experience to help clients deal with these We provide advice and practical support all the way from initial application through data analysis to evidence collation.
As always, our interest is in helping clients save money and time while fulfilling their obligations and achieving their environmental goals.
Display Energy Certificates (DECs) are designed to raise public awareness of energy use and to inform visitors to public buildings about the energy consumption of those buildings.
DECs have to be produced by accredited energy assessors and to be displayed in the buildings concerned. Advisory reports with recommendations for improving the buildings’ energy performance also have to be available.
Clients turn to Sustainable Advantage to help them comply with the requirements without getting bogged down in the process. We take the work off clients’ hands and make sure it’s carried out efficiently and correctly.
Sustainable Advantage conducts carbon footprinting exercises for many clients, including those looking to report on energy as part of a CSR programme. Calculating their carbon footprint helps clients assess the climate-change impact of their activities and involves estimating emissions of CO² and other greenhouse gases.
The results can help organisations respond to mandatory emission reduction and reporting requirements and also to formulate policies and target cost savings. In addition, carbon footprinting can deliver reputational benefits to an organisation by showing that it cares about its environmental impact and is taking steps to understand and minimise any harm it causes.
Clients of Sustainable Advantage rely on us to handle all the work involved in securing Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs).
These certificates are required whenever a building is bought, sold or rented. They contain information about a property’s energy use and typical energy costs, together with recommendations on how to reduce consumption and save money.
We deal with everything from the initial site visit to the validation of utility invoices and the lodging of the EPC with the accreditation body. Our clients have one less headache and more time to focus on their core business.