“We reduced overall paper Smart meters key to
consumption by 21 per cent
energy success
across the business”
T-Mobile’s recent two-year project to install electricity
Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) devices, also known as
‘smart-meters’, at 6,000 network sites is an example of a
success story when it comes to justifying the cost of CSR
initiatives.
equipment cabinets rather than relying on electrically powered air
T-Mobile was the first company in the country to roll out these
conditioning units.
devices on such a large scale and the installation of AMR on its
new and existing network sites involved an investment, to date, of
And in our offices we overachieved on our 2007 CO2 reduction target
more than £2 million, with ongoing operational costs of £100k per
of 5 per cent with an 8.37 per cent reduction in emissions. This was
annum.
due to reducing actual energy consumption with incredibly simple
initiatives such as switching off PCs at night, switching off lighting,
AMR smart meters are equipped with a T-Mobile SIM card that
reconfiguring office heating and cooling – all tiny steps that make a
automatically sends meter readings to a secure database managed
big difference.
by a third party. This enables accurate energy readings to be taken
on a half hourly basis at 6,000 of T-Mobile’s cell sites. Historically,
We reduced overall CO2 emissions across the business by 17 per
bills were paid on an estimated basis but are now paid for actual
cent from 2006 to 2007 due to a combination of switching to 10 per
usage.
cent renewable and 90 per cent combined heat and power (CHP)
electrical energy and actual energy reduction initiatives across the
Access to this level of data on each of T-Mobile’s network sites
company. We even saved £350,000 from energy reduction measures
provides insight into its energy use that it never could have obtained
in 2007 by reducing energy consumption and the replacement of
from manual meter readings. T-Mobile now knows that:
telecoms network equipment with more energy efficient models. This
Energy use does not rise at certain times of the day when it has
took big investment – but is already paying dividends.
higher call or data volumes – its network sites use the same amount
One of the most ambitious projects to date (see box-out) has been
of energy all day, every day. This flat energy profile is attractive to
conducting the largest roll-out of automatic meter reading (AMR) or
energy providers because they can plan exactly how much energy
‘smart meters’, of any UK company. This enables accurate energy
to provide and as a result T-Mobile can negotiate better energy
readings to be taken on a half hourly basis at 6,000 of T-Mobile’s cell
tariffs, reducing its costs.
sites. Historically bills were paid on an estimated basis, but we now
It can easily view the energy profile of all the sites, compare their
pay for actual usage.
performance against each other, and identify any sites with unusually
We even reduced the amount of waste sent to landfill by recycling
high energy use. T-Mobile can then investigate the cause, whether
over 270 tonnes or 18.45 per cent of all our office generated waste,
it is faulty air cooling systems or underperforming equipment. It
such as plastic, paper, cardboard and aluminium cans – and reduced
can even track increases in energy use due to changing weather
overall paper consumption by 21 per cent across the business.
patterns throughout the year.
What’s very rewarding to see is that we made all of this happen
It can test out new energy-efficient technology and get immediate
by embracing CR as a corporate value – making sure that internal
feedback on the level of energy savings.
audiences were kept informed of progress, successes and failures.
Installation of the AMR energy smart meters has allowed T-Mobile
Keeping each other informed meant working together more closely –
to immediately save 7 per cent per annum on its energy bills by
towards the same goal, staying true to the values that every employee
obtaining accurate energy use figures, the ability to challenge
is encouraged to embrace. By impressing both internal and external
historic billing and switching to a cost-effective dual-rate tariff. This
audiences with a campaign of innovative and successful initiatives,
means the investment will repay itself in two years. Energy bills
everybody feels like they are working for a progressive and forward
decreased by £200,000 in 2007 alone.
thinking organisation.
The UK Government is currently trialling energy smart meters for
These relationships give people working on the CR side of the
home use and T-Mobile has been in dialogue to demonstrate
business the respect and credibility, not only to successfully negotiate
their use on a large scale. Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks has
issues which are important to the overall CR programme, but also to
recognised T-Mobile’s achievement by saying: “Smart meter
negotiate hard in the boardroom – securing sometimes substantial
technology enables us to cut our energy use and reduce the
budgets to implement CR initiatives.
impact of climate change. That is why we are committed to rolling
By making CR a high profile and integral part of the business, the
them out to all homes and businesses over the next decade. By
financial cost of being a responsible business appears greatly
installing smart meters across its sites in the UK, T-Mobile is leading
reduced – and ever more essential. n
the way in this metering revolution.”
85 | ecoexecutive
Corporate Responsibility.indd 85 18/4/08 16:46:08
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