New Energy Technology Could Save British Hospitality and Leisure Sector £310M-a-year, Report by Centrica Finds

LONDON, December 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

UK businesses in the hospitality and leisure sector could save at least £310m-a-year on their energy bills by adopting new energy technologies like solar panels and batteries, according to a report published by Centrica.

The report Distributed Energy: Powering the future of hospitality and leisure, found that if just 50% of businesses in the sector adopted new energy technology it would boost UK economic growth by £3.7bn GVA (Gross Value Added) and support 50,000 jobs.

The hospitality and leisure sector is the UK's third largest employer and spends more than £1.3bn a year on energy. Businesses have been challenged to improve their energy productivity by 20% by 2030, as set out by the Government's Clean Growth Strategy.

Alan Barlow, UK and Ireland Director at Centrica Business Solutions, said: "New energy technology has the potential to drive growth, increase efficiency and help give businesses in the hospitality and leisure sector a competitive advantage.

"Investing in this area doesn't just make sense financially. Businesses are increasingly harnessing the sustainability benefits of low-carbon energy technology to attract and retain growing numbers of environmentally-savvy consumers."

The research suggests that savings could be achieved by adopting distributed energy technology such as efficient heating and lighting, solar, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and battery storage. New energy monitoring technology can also help to identify inefficient equipment and processes.

To read the report in full, click here.

Carbon emissions savings for the hospitality and leisure sector 

The report follows the publication of Centrica's 'Powering sustainability' report in October, which found that the hospitality and leisure sector could reduce its annual carbon emissions by 14% through the adoption of new energy technology.

Centrica calculated that, if just half of hospitality and leisure businesses in the UK adopted distributed energy technology, the sector could reduce emissions by the equivalent of 1.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year (1.3 MtCO2e), or the equivalent of 23 million tonnes by 2030. This is equal to the annual carbon emissions associated with the energy use of 421,000 homes, or equivalent to the entire housing stock of Norfolk.

Case study: Alton Towers Resort 

An example of a hospitality business realising the benefits of new energy technology is the 550-acre Alton Towers Resort. It is home to four hotels, a conference centre, more than a dozen restaurants and Europe's largest waterpark. The hotels alone can accommodate 2,500 guests and 400 staff.

The facilities team must ensure power is supplied to all of these different buildings as well as provide heat for the 1,000m³ of water in the waterpark. Centrica Business Solutions installed a combined heat and power unit (CHP) at the resort capable of generating up to 850kWh of electricity. CHP is a form of on-site energy generation that uses the heat by-product of electricity generation so that it can be put to use - in this case, to maintain water temperature in the park. Meeting these two needs from one source results in an annual saving on energy costs for Alton Towers of 12% a year.  

Notes to editors: 

• The report has been published following the one-year anniversary of the Industrial Strategy, which identified the opportunities for UK industry to harness the global shift to clean growth.
  
• The hospitality and leisure sector research form parts of Centrica Business Solution's Powering Britain report, which analysed key sectors including healthcare, industry and hospitality and leisure. Combined, these sectors account for more than a quarter of the UK's GVA, and almost a third of UK employment. The report found that if just half of these sectors invested in energy saving solutions, they could reduce annual energy costs by £980m.
  
• The number of dwellings as of 1 April 2017 in Norfolk was 420,360, according to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government housing statistics published in May 2018.
  
• For further detail on all reports, visit www.centrica.com/economicfuture.

About Centrica: 

Centrica plc is an international energy and services company. Our purpose is to provide energy and services to satisfy the changing needs of our customers.

Two of our global divisions, Centrica Consumer and Centrica Business, supply energy and energy-related services to over 25 million customer accounts in the UK, Ireland and North America, through strong brands such as British Gas, Direct Energy and Bord Gáis Energy. They do this with the support of 15,000 engineers and technicians.

We're also developing new and innovative products, offers and services for customers through our five growth businesses: Energy Supply, Services, Connected Home, Distributed Energy & Power (DE&P), and Energy Marketing & Trading.

Our Connected Home business has developed the Hive product range, including the smart thermostat, which allows customers to control their energy usage from their phone, while DE&P offers integrated energy solutions for commercial and industrial customers, providing customers with end-to-end services - from insight to optimisation and solutions.

Innovation underpins everything we do, which is why we've invested £100m in Centrica Innovations, a venture to identify, incubate and accelerate new technologies and innovations that can help provide the right offers, products and services for our customers.

Our third global division, Exploration & Production (E&P), now consists of two business units - Spirit Energy and Centrica Storage. In December 2017 Spirit Energy was launched, a newly formed business combining Centrica's E&P business with Bayerngas Norge. The transaction creates a leading independent European E&P business with an attractive mix of producing assets and development projects. It is expected to deliver medium-term production in the 45-55mmboe range.