This is an extract from Airport World Magazine featuring LCMB’s work with Birmingham Airport to save energy and costs. The full article appears on page 47 in the 2015 – 02 edition of Airport World.
Sharing accountability for energy savings
It’s all about the people, as Birmingham Airport is proving, having saved over £325,000 on energy bills in the past two years.
Like other airports, energy is one of Birmingham Airport’s largest controllable costs. The company is two years into a site-wide energy reduction partnership that has so far resulted in energy bills tumbling by £325,000, or 7 per cent. Now into year three, Birmingham’s energy cost graph continues on a downward trajectory, long after the effects of “initiative fatigue” might be expected.
So what is making an airport, with its fluctuating flow of passengers, complex zones and technology and access restrictions succeed where so many large estates have failed? According to Birmingham Airport Chief Financial Officer, Simon Richards, it’s because everyone in the organisation now feels accountable for energy.
Organisation-wide attack on waste
The energy manager role has become de rigueur in recent years, and it can work well. However, huge opportunities can be lost if one individual is made responsible for an entire site’s energy budget. As part of a strategy to deliver improved accountability, consultants LCMB alongside senior managers at Birmingham Airport, supported and encouraged each department to take on their own energy budgets and targets.
First, an Energy & Carbon Reduction Group, made up of senior managers from engineering, airfield, car parks, terminals, accommodation, communications, IT and sustainability, was formed. Good communication was key. Regular reporting brought to life the energy spend in each business unit and included recommendations on how that could be reduced. This added a level of healthy competition between business units.
The first year saw widespread change. New systems and processes, controls and automation were brought in to ensure plant and equipment operated to optimum schedules and temperatures, within zones. Lighting was retrofitted to LED, where possible, and smart meters installed, alongside the installation of other new energy-efficient technologies. The airfield lighting was re-configured and different heating and renewable power generation options were assessed.
This phase achieved an £85,000 saving, which although respectable and honouring payback projections, represented just a quarter of the savings achieved 12 months later as a result of the ambitious people engagement programme.
Communications culture
Birmingham Airport’s strong leadership enabled momentum and commitment from all staff, building a communications culture which is reaping rewards today. A key strategy has been to make energy savings personal, with the slogan “I Save Energy” for example. This is linked to a suggestion scheme which to date has gathered over 230 ideas ranging from no cost modifications to invest to save schemes at varying stages of delivery.
Energy communications are everywhere at Birmingham Airport. Energy performance reports, toolkits, workshops and projects, newsletters, posters, competitions, noticeboards, energy treasure hunts, surveys and departmental energy champions who are empowered to make changes, guarantee this programme is top of mind for everyone.
The team is careful to ensure that every voice is heard and that awareness of savings made is high. Importance is placed on making changes wherever possible to enhance both energy use and passenger and employee comfort, for example when reducing temperatures.
“To achieve £240,000 savings in one year, after the experts have investigated the more obvious interventions, is incredible and great testament to the power of staff engagement. So much energy consumption is within the control of our people, whether it’s turning things off or running them properly. Not everything can be automated. You can have grand plans but if they are not acted upon, they mean nothing,” says Simon Richards, Chief Financial Officer.