CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme
The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, previously known as the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), is a mandatory. energy saving and carbon emissions reduction scheme for the UK.
It will act as an incentive to improve energy efficiency and will help large private and public sector organisations generate cost savings through reduced energy bills. These savings should exceed the cost of participating.
Organisations that run up to £500k of electricity bills per annum are having to prove that they are taking steps to measurably reduce their energy consumption and corporate carbon footprint. It is estimated that over 5,000 organisations will qualify for full participation.
Organisations will need to purchase sufficient C02 allowances from the Government each CRC year. These will be sold at a fixed rate of £12/tC02 up to March 2013, with additional allowances being charged at £14/tC02, after which annual auctions will determine the price, as total emissions under CRC become capped. Each CRC year organisations must show that they have sufficient allowances to cover the amount of carbon they emit.
Organisations were required to register via the Environment Agency website and the results will be published in a league table made available via the Department of Energy and Climate Change website. Large energy users are now under pressure to adopt a comprehensive green strategy that results in tangible energy savings.
Greg Barker, Energy and Climate Minister is calling on the remaining organisations to register now.
'The CRC will encourage greater savings through energy efficiency and importantly will make carbon a boardroom issue for many large organisations.' New Power Management suites are already helping organisations to make considerable savings on their energy consumption and electricity bills. Hull City Council claims to have saved 390 tons of C02 using an energy optimisation suite, creating a return on investment of just five months.
The CRC energy efficiency league table due to be published in November will publicise the total emissions output of UK organisations and will show individual participant performance compared to others in the scheme.
- Early action metric: 50% of your score based on what percentage of your organisation's electriicty and gas supplies is covered by voluntary automatic metre readings (AMR) in the year to 31 March 2011. The other half is based on the proportion of your CRC scheme emissions certified under the Carbon Trust Standard or an equivalent scheme.
- Absolute metric: The percentage change in your organisation's emissions, compared to the average of the previous five years
- Growth metric: The percentage change in emissions per unit turnover, compared to the average of the previous five years
The weighting of these three metrics will change over time. In the first year, early action will count for 100% of your organisation's league table score. Over the first few years of the scheme, the early action metric will gradually fade in importance until the absolute growth metrics receive 75% and 25% weightings respectively in 2014/15 and thereafter.
Certero are committed to helping organisations in the public and private sectors reduce their carbon footprint, through driving efficiencies in their IT Investments.