Summary

Fulcrum Consulting is a leading international firm of consulting engineers. Their objective is to facilitate the ongoing development of the built environment in a way that is compatible with comfort, cost efficiency and low carbon emissions.

Fulcrum's approach to sustainability is through the application of integrated engineering design to buildings and infrastructure, to determine the optimum solution for each of their clients' particular needs.

Background

Fulcrum have over 20 years experience of holistic design methods combined with monitoring and feedback.

Responsible business objectives

• Integrating a low carbon strategy into the company's business model;

• Measuring emissions;

• Developing a carbon reduction plan with SMART targets to minimise impact;

• Committing adequate budget and resources to tackling climate change;

• Raising the awareness of staff about climate change and empowering them to take action;

• Identifying a Board-level champion;

• Providing information to customers about the carbon footprint of Fulcrum's products and services;

• Raising customer awareness about the actions they can take to reduce the carbon emissions resulting from the use of products and services

How they do it

Beat the Heat

Fulcrum's first initiative was to replace the low-efficiency boiler on the second floor of their premises with a new condensing boiler together with time-clock control and weather compensation.  The estimated annual savings from this alone would result in approximately 1300kg CO2.  7-day time-clocks were also added to both the boilers located on the first floor. Various options for improving the building's thermal efficiency were considered however, as a heritage listed building, options were limited. Fulcrum did arrange for sealing of windows to be completed with more severe alterations planned for the future.

Shut it down

After close consultation with their IT department, Fulcrum took a further step with their power management regimes for their office equipment.  They now have a central management system which sets the standby and hibernation modes of all personal computers, and all digital imaging devices (DIDS) are now on 7 day time controllers.  Fulcrum's IT department have also agreed to let the temperature of their computer room swing further to 25C, which will be closely monitored throughout the year.

Out with the old in with the new

Fulcrum replaced their ancient leaky tea/coffee urns and hot water systems with high efficiency, low storage units complete with 7-day time controls.

Recycle, Recycle, Recycle

After switching their office paper to 100% recycled, the next step was to repeat the process with the plotter paper.  This initiative is expected to result in emission savings of 738kg CO2 per annum. 

Spread the Word

Fulcrum's biggest accomplishment is felt to be the increased awareness among the office in regards to sustainability issues. With the creation of Fulcrum's new intranet (FirstBase) and their dedicated Eco Footprint reference page, they were able to centralise their efforts and have this accessible to staff at all times. Their intranet also enabled them to conduct Staff Awareness and Personal Carbon Calculator Surveys, which provided more detailed information on staff behaviours so that Fulcrum could focus efforts on the areas that needed to be addressed.

Clean and Green

Finally, after the timely expiration of their energy contracts, Fulcrum have been able to switch over to Ecotricity who will provide 100% renewable energy to their office.  

What impact it has

Fulcrum expect the total reduction in annual emissions from the electricty and gas reduction strategies listed above to be in the order of 3,500 kgCO2. This figure is much greater if material reduction strategies are also taken into account.

While 2007 has been a big challenge for Fulcrum, it has realised that future campaigns will only get tougher. Fulcrum feel that the only way to tackle these challenges is to take a long-term approach. Fulcrum are now also signed up as founding members of the UKGBC and have taken a board level decision to continuously seek to monitor and improve their carbon footprint as a business. Fulcrum are determined that their campaign will not finish at the May Day Summit - that is simply a signal to commence working on medium and long-term goals which will lead them to zero-carbon. Rather than just minimising impact, Fulcrum's ultimate goal is to have a positive carbon footprint (i.e. absorbing the carbon emissions of others).

Business Benefits

Fulcrum believe that being one of the leading UK consulting companies in low-energy building design, it is important for them to lead by example.  While it is relatively simple to construct a new building that has a low carbon footprint, it is much more difficult to do the same for an existing building. By taking a long-term approach to reducing their eco footprint and making innovative and practical changes to the way they operate, Fulcrum can demonstrate that significant reductions in emissions from existing buildings can be achieved. This will certainly put them in a more favourable position in the marketplace as well as providing financial benefits through reduced energy costs.