Case study

Newsclip inculcatesan energy-efficient company culture

Powering your world

Some companies invest in energy-efficient technologies, some, like Newsclip, go further and cultivate an environmentally conscious attitude amongst its employees.

New thinking

The need for businesses to be energy-efficient and environmentally friendly is growing more urgent year after year. This has led to a shift in thinking, in many of South Africa’s larger organisations, as they seek ways to optimise their energy usage patterns and reduce their carbon footprints. This approach is ‘old hat’ to Newsclip, a 360-degree media monitoring company, with nearly three decades of experience.

Newsclip’s general manager, Samantha Konkol said, “the company understands that managing its carbon footprint is a key ingredient to a successful business. The company’s strategy has always been to move away from the traditional paper-based delivery method, achieved through its online platform. Three years ago, we embarked on changing the way in which we receive media from print to PDF format. Newsclip has also been encouraging its suppliers to send publications in PDF format. This has significantly reduced our paper consumption and changed delivery methodologies considerably.”

Numerous energy efficiency initiatives have also been introduced, culminating in the installation of the largest solar array, in the Gauteng province.

Initial projects

“When we moved to our offices in Weltevreden Park, in 2003, we looked at how to construct the building in order to harness as much light as possible. Around 80% of the building is constructed from glass. In addition, all offices are fitted with energy-saving lightbulbs. Further investments have been made to replace energy-intensive equipment with energy-efficient alternatives: kettles have been replaced with hydro boilers, geysers with heat pumps and Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) screens with LCD screens. Our company’s mentality has always been focused on energy efficiency, so this was a natural extrapolation of our company culture,” said Konkol.

Despite all the initiatives put in place, the biggest impact has been on the employees’ mind-set. “We have instilled a culture of energy efficiency. This involves educating our staff around simple issues such as turning off lights and air-conditioners when leaving the building. The credo at Newsclip is ‘change your working environment, change your life, change your community and save our world. We are always proud to hear from them on how they are implementing new measures at home,” she added.

Going solar

While all these earlier initiatives influenced the company’s impact on the environment, its most recent project, has really ‘put it on the map’. In October 2011, Newsclip installed 220 solar panels to help meet its energy requirements.

According to Dr. Stuart Fredman, MD of Rhino Energy Solutions - the company that installed the solar system, it yields some 90,000kWh of electricity. The wind turbine was put in place at the insistence of the client, to provide empirical data on the value of wind versus solar power in Johannesburg,” he said. He pointed out that Rhino Energy Solutions optimised the azimuth and tilt of the array, to provide the best results in terms of both the summer and winter sun. He added that all the energy produced by the solar array is consumed in the building, and the system is sized to suit Newsclip’s operation, which runs on a 24-7-365 basis. “The beauty of this solar array is that although it has a payback time of around five to seven years - depending on the financial structure - the life expectancy of the implementation is approximately 25 years, which means that Newsclip will have access to 18 years worth of free energy. If you take the net cash value of some 300kWh per day over a period of 18 years, you have an enormous sum of money. Even at today’s electricity prices, that adds up to several million rand that effectively goes straight into improving the company’s bottom line earnings,” he said.

Fredman suggested that the benefits of this solar array are two-fold: not only does it provide a buffer against increases in the price of energy going forward, it also reduces Newsclip’s overall carbon footprint. Moreover, by reducing the company’s demand on the national electricity grid, it strongly supports the 49M campaign, which aims to get government, commerce and industry to work hand in hand to save electricity.

Educating the youth

Konkol said, “as far as education is concerned, Newsclip has aligned the implementation of the solar farm with South Africa’s current educational curriculum. Newsclip Energy has identified a need for greater awareness with regard to energy efficiency and, therefore, feels strongly about sharing the knowledge the company has gained with the youth of South Africa. We offer schools tours of our facility. More than 1,000 learners have already passed through Newsclip’s doors, with the youngest being Grade fives and the oldest Grade 12s. This type of educational campaign helps to drive the energy efficiency message home by getting learners involved in energy-saving at an early age. We have also introduced an e-mail option known as ‘Ask Ralph’. This allows children of all ages to e-mail questions on solar energy, environmentally friendly design, and anything else related to our energy efficiency programmes. We then get our own experts to answer these questions, no matter how technical they may get.”

Looking ahead

Of course, energy-saving and environmentally conscious programmes can never be a once-off initiative. They need to be ongoing concerns. New initiatives need to be developed regularly, which is why Newsclip is already looking into the future.

Konkol said the company is currently looking into ways to improve its energy efficiency and increase its environmental focus even more. The latter, she pointed out, is being achieved through a greening initiative in the staff parking lot. “Instead of having a brick parking lot, ours is grass, which improves the overall water retention of the soil. We also have plans to further our conversion from printed material to PDF files, and have several other long-term opportunities in mind. Still, our solar farm is a clear demonstration that we are well versed in ‘long-term thinking,” she stated.

A front runner

“Newsclip has taken the bull by the horns with their energy efficiency drive. The company’s solar farm is currently offsetting 92 carbon tonnes a year. While I have no doubt this is a record that will, at some point, be beaten. That in itself will be a good thing because more and bigger solar arrays than Newsclip’s will further reduce demand on the national electricity grid, and be even more beneficial for the environment,” Fredman concluded.

Eskom’s Energy Advisors are on standby to assist you and can be contacted on 08600 37566. Information on the full range of energy efficiency rebate programmes

is available at www.eskom.co.za/idm

Issued by Eskom Integrated Demand Management April 2013Eskom Holdings SOC Limited Reg No 2002/015527/06