Energy Efficiency/Tariff

• Brighton Oasis Project received a Green Action Award for £207.10 from the East Sussex betre project. This was used to replace an old water urn with a more efficient water heater. The old urn held around 40 litres of water and was kept heated all day to ensure a constant supply of hot water. Any unused water was discarded at the end of the day and the urn was refilled each morning. By installing the new water heater energy, water and staff time have all been saved.
• Brighton Oasis Project have changed to a green energy tariff supplying 10% green energy in the first year, 20% in the second year and so on. By purchasing their energy from renewable sources they will reduce their CO2 emissions by 0.44 tonnes in the first year with this increasing each year thereafter up to 4 tonnes.
• Brighton Oasis Project is replacing older style bulbs with compact fluorescents as each bulb goes.
• A ‘switch off’ campaign aimed at staff and clients has been put in place to encourage everyone to turn off lights/computers when not in use.

Actions to improve energy efficiency and switching to a renewable energy supply have so far saved 11,131kWh p.a. and resulted in a 1.04 tonne reduction of C02 emissions. £154 p.a. has been saved and with an additional £780 p.a. saved on staff time. These savings will increase each year as further improvements are made and the percentage of green energy purchased increases.

Water Efficiency

• When the new water heater was installed two sets of dripping taps were replaced and a leaking pipe was fixed.
• Save-a-Flush bags have been installed into both toilets resulting in 14.6m³ of water being saved annually.

Water efficiency actions have resulted in annual saving of at least £24.

Waste & Recycling

•  Paper printed on one side is used to print drafts or for scrap paper. Double-sided printing is done where possible.
• Paper, glass, cans, cardboard and tetra packs are all recycled resulting in 1.5 tonnes of waste being diverted from landfill.
• Stamps are collected for charity.
• Printer ink cartridges are refilled for reuse.

Environmental learning

• Brighton Oasis Project attended Simple Utility Management Seminars (SUMS) as part of the betre programme.
• A free betre independent Initial Environmental Review helped identify priorities for action.
• An Environmental Policy and action plan have been produced by the organisation and all staff are actively involved with regular updates on progress at staff meetings.
• Brighton Oasis Project received betre newsletters throughout the course of the betre programme.

SUMMARY OF ANNUAL SAVINGS