Halfway through our competition to find the UK pub that can make the biggest improvements in energy efficiciency over the course of six months, and our four finalists are already seeing positive results.
British Gas Business (BGB), which is sponsoring the contest, sent representatives from its consultancy arm, Energys, into each of the pubs to assess where savings could be made and set out a plan of action.
Many of those initiatives are now in place, and they range from fitting low-energy lightbulbs, to cellar insulation, to making sure lights and other equipment are switched off when they're not needed.
Licensees have also been prompted to change energy suppliers, consider coin-operated outdoor heaters and even start educating their customers on how they can help save energy!
The winner, to be announced in the new year, will get a celebrity-hosted quiz night to help boost their trade, plus an extra member of staff every Saturday night for a year. But the gains and savings they can make by taking part in this competition could be worth even more.
Hopefully, they can also be an inspiration to others in the trade.
"Energy efficiency is not at the top of licensees' agendas - but it's free money for them," Mark Duffell at BGB points out. "If we can help these four Efficiency Factor finalists we can learn from it and pass what we've learned on to other pubs."
By being energy efficicient pubs can earn some green credentials that could come in useful in today's environmentally-conscious marketplace. And they can also save money, of course. BGB estimates that, of the £2.4bn a year UK businesses spend on energy, 21 per cent is wasted.
"That's a huge amount and it means there's a lot of work to be done," continues Mark. "Licensees will probably wonder what the catch is, but although there may be an initial cost to them a lot of very simple things can be done without spending any money.
"Pubs just need good, relevant advice, and we want to give it to them."
The Olde Albion
Colchester, Essex
Licensee: Simon Taylor-Williams
• Replaced tungsten incandescent lamps and striplights with energy-saving alternatives
• Doors and windows insulated
• Only putting boiler on eight hours a day - before it was on permenently at a lower setting
• Replaced a gas fire in the bar with a wood-burning stove
"We hope this will have an impact on our bills," says Simon.
"I suppose we knew about energy saving bulbs and we knew we didn't need to have our hot water and central heating on 24/7 but sometimes you need a push to do something about it.
"We all need help to survive in difficult times for the trade - and reduce our carbon footprint, too. If people see what we have done it may have an impact on others in the village.
"We have got our staff involved in making sure the lights aren't on all the time - they know where the light switches are. It's just a case of giving them simple reminders.
"We are also in the process of changing our gas supplier to one with more competitive prices. This was an issue that being in this competion brought to the forefront."
The White Hart Hotel
Taunton, Somerset
Licensee: Simon Tanner
• Replaced spotlights with lower-wattage equivalents
• Insulated cellar and hot water pipes
• Turning off Italian-style coffee machine in the evenings when demand is low and switching to cafetiere
• Switching off kitchen equipment when not being used
At the rate energy consumption is falling, the White Hart is already on course to cut eight per cent off its bills.
"I feel extremely prositive about this project," says Simon. "The consultants were brilliant. They went through everything. We're very into being green but they've opened our eyes to more ways of saving.
"We have a fancy coffee machine, for instance, that they calculated costs us 40p to 50p an hour to run. It was on all day but we don't sell much coffee in the evening so now we switch it off then. Staff now know all about switching things off when they're not needed - and they pull us up if we don't do it."
"Our next step is to educate customers," he adds. "We'll be putting information packs in the 16 hotel rooms, telling them what we're doing and asking them to help us 'save the planet', turning lights
off when they go out and not leaving the TV on stand-by."
Jagz
Ascot, Berkshire
Licensee: Miles Gripton
• Cooling equipment fitted with timers
• Low energy EPoS fitted
• Faulty valve identified on boiler
• Staff switching off lights they don't need
Miles has been busy putting the Energys recommendations into effect. The initial survey highlighted opportunities to save energy by controlling the use of cooling equipment out of hours, and now bottle coolers, the beer cellar and other cool areas have been fitted with timers so they are now operating more efficiently.
The very latest low-energy EPoS till has been fitted, and Miles is impressed. "Without measuring it, it's hard to say at this stage just how much electricity it does use - but I'm confident useful savings are being achieved."
The boiler is due for a full service shortly, and a failed return valve which would affect efficiency has already been spotted.
The PIRs (presence detectors) for the lighting in the cellar have been bought, but are still to be installed, but Miles has already been encouraging his staff to switch off any of the lights they don't need to keep on.
The Railway Hotel
Blandford Forum, Dorset
Licensee: Nigel Jones
• 50 watt bulbs being swapped for 35 watt as lamps blow
• Steps taken to insulate cellar
• Ways of reducing energy consumption of outdoor heaters under consideration
• Staff - and customer - education
Nigel suffered a cash flow problem in the first couple of months of the competition - thanks to a knock-on effect of the American banking crisis and earlier closing times forced by an unexpected spin-off from the smoking ban - and he's so far been unable to introduce the more costly measures recommended by Energys.
But staff have been trained to switch off lighting and air conditioning when they're not needed, and the pub's many lightbulbs are being replaced as they blow.
"My main concern is our outdoor area where we have 12 heat lamps," he says. "It's not only a matter of getting staff to turn them off when there's nobody there, but to educate customers, too, to switch them off when they leave.
"I've also looked at introducing coin-operated heaters, but if we can get people trained we won't need them.
"It's been difficult to measure the impact of the competition on the business," he concludes. "But it's a really great idea - it's just come at the wrong time for me." n