Chamber and C02Sense partnership will offer value to membership

CO2Sense is a not-for-profit consultancy, set up to help businesses cut costs, earn an income by generating their own energy from renewable sources, and to grow.

The organisation is independent which allows it play the genuine ‘honest broker’; in essence it is about what’s best for your business which is what attracted the Chamber to this partnership.

Chamber members will be entitled to take up a free efficiency audit which will seek to identify savings from your energy usage. This isn’t about seeking out the best energy tariff, this is about ensuring that you use only the amount of energy you really need to.

CO2Sense works with businesses of all sizes, from large national market leaders to SMEs, and from a wide range of sectors. All of these businesses have enhanced their profitability through working with CO2Sense.

For SMEs, CO2Sense can provide a free intensive two-day audit to identify ways to cut the amount of energy and other resources that they use, and the amount of waste that they produce. The businesses can then apply for a free grant of up to £8,000 to pay for up to half the cost of implementing any improvements that the audit recommends.

A full list of services offered through this partnership are shown below.

• Cost saving reviews. CO2Sense offers these on a consultancy basis and charges a day rate. They audit businesses and produce plans that show them where they can cut their costs. They review their energy use, their water use and the amount of waste that they produce, and find practical and realistic ways of reducing the costs associated with this. They also review their use of raw materials in their manufacturing process, and help them to design their products so that they use less of any raw materials.
• Renewable energy audits: often, companies have assets (land, buildings etc) that are suitable for sighting renewable energy technologies such as solar PV or wind turbines. CO2Sense provides advice, on a consultancy basis, which shows which technologies are the right ones for their sites, and the business case (including costs and income over time). If they decide to progress with this, they can often provide investment (see above) and can provide further consultancy to help with the stages that are necessary to make the project happen (including engineering and planning).
• Investment for renewable energy: CO2Sense provides cash investment and technical/planning advice for businesses seeking to develop renewable energy projects. The investment is repayable and they take a share of the revenue that the project generates. They invest in projects that are greater than 45kw, and generally invest around 20/25% of the capital cost.
• For SMEs: access to a grant of up to £8,000 to pay for half the cost of advice or capital equipment which helps businesses to reduce their resource use (cutting energy use, for example) plus a free two-day cost- and carbon-saving review.
• For SMEs: grants for low-carbon initiatives. A grant of between £10k - £100k to businesses for projects that help businesses to cut CO2 emissions. CO2Sense acts as the ‘funder of last resort’: they only approve projects when the business has tried unsuccessfully to raise money from traditional sources of finance (banks) and where the business is already investing some of their own money in the project.

Cases studies:

• Northern Foods
• Cidon Construction
• St James' Market
• Zodion Lighting

To take advantage of this service please contact your account manager on 0113 247 0000 or 01904 567838. Service open to Chamber members.

If you wish to talk to someone about joining please use the contact numbers as above.
 

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