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We continued to review our risk-assessment approach better manage our electricity consumption. By closely
against environmental legislation. As a result, we monitoring and managing our electricity usage at our
commissioned a third-party supplier to carry out UK and Guernsey support offices, our overall usage
energy efficiency audits, and achieved compliance fell for the third year in a row.
with the requirements of the European Energy
Efficiency Directive for our property portfolios in the
•
cooler and variable speed drive retrofit kits on their
Netherlands and Denmark.
Energy procurement and supply
•
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chillers, saving 78,000 kWh of electricity a year.
•
In the UK, Vision Labs and Aston Labs have both
We renewed our commitment to procuring green exceeded their Climate Change Agreement efficiency
energy for our UK retail and support-office portfolios, targets, leading to savings of £88,000 and £58,000
ensuring these contracts are with suppliers that have respectively over two years through the reduction
Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs). of Climate Change Levy and Carbon Reduction
Commitment obligation payments. We have also now
For the UK stores and support offices, we continued to
entered into an additional Climate Change Agreement
procure electricity on renewable-energy tariffs that carry
Ofgem REGOs. This means we have robust certification
around the renewable credentials of our suppliers.
•
Szatmar Optikai completed the installation of a diabatic
at our Airways Optical Limited site.
•
upgrading to LED the existing high bay halogen lighting.
We achieved a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ energy-efficiency
This has led to a 50% reduction in energy use.
rating at our new facility in Kidderminster, UK, which
houses our International Glazing Services and Lens-
Online operations. Other environmental initiatives
being driven at the new site include:
Water use
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now looking to further increase the purity of the
- a heat-recovery system that uses the heat
- LED lighting across the whole site, both internally
Szatmar Optikai completed a review and technical
analysis of wastewater created at its site and is
- harvesting rainwater for use in toilet cistern flushing
emitted by our machinery to heat the office space
Airways Optical Limited completed the final phase in
wastewater collected.
•
Airways Optical Limited in the UK implemented a new
and externally wastewater treatment process, greatly increasing the
- a sustainable drainage system that avoids purity of the processed water and allowing it to be
discharge to the public sewer discharged to the public sewer.
- the installation of photovoltaic panels, which will
reduce carbon emissions by 17 tonnes a year
- a solar thermal water-heating system to supply
sinks in the toilets and the canteen
Waste optical lens blanks were recycled
into sun-catchers by a group of children
with learning difficulties.
- external planting to increase the biodiversity of
the surrounding property
Energy use and efficiency
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For the first time, we were able to collect accurate
data relating to our property and vehicle fuel
and energy use across Denmark, Sweden and the
Netherlands. This has helped improve the accuracy
of our global carbon footprint data.
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We completed the installation of an enhanced energy-
monitoring system at our Guernsey support office.
By introducing half-hourly data facilities, we will
have access to improved data and analysis to help
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