At a basic level a carbon footprint is a measure of those emissions considered to be responsible for climate change. This can be measured per person or per company, for example.
At Northern we need to work out our total carbon emissions from both our direct emissions (such as running trains) and our indirect emissions. Indirect means the emissions that are hidden in the things we buy or the products we use or the things we do. This full calculation of our carbon emissions will give us our carbon footprint.
We are working with Stockholm Environment Institute in York using a computer generated model (Bottomline3) to calculate our footprint. 2008 will be our base year and starting point.
The measure of our carbon footprint will be useful for identifying trends in our emissions. Once we know what our footprint is, we can change what we do and measure the effect. We can also show our customers and other stakeholders what we're doing and encourage them to do the same.
As the largest train operating company in the UK, you won't be surprised to read that we use a lot of fuel. 85% of our trains run on diesel. It's not the same quality as the diesel in cars but this will improve over the next few years. We use approximately 36million litres (8million gallons) of fuel every year. Older trains are not as fuel efficient as modern ones because it wasn't a priority 20 years ago when they were built.
Thankfully, times have changed. We have started to reduce our fuel consumption by looking at ways of improving the efficiency of our trains.
This includes:
The other 15% of our trains are more modern and run on electricity via overhead lines. We can't get an accurate figure for electricity used as the costs are split according to a set formula, depending on how many operators run on the same line. This is a proportional estimate and not exact the usage for each company.
All electric trains should have meters by 2012. Northern has received funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) to trial two meters. If the trial is successful we will install more before 2012 so we can have a more accurate measure of our own consumption. We will also look at the driving styles on these trains as well.
We use a lot of electricity and gas for lighting and heating in our offices, 471 stations, 3 maintenance depots and 6 satellite depots. We used approximately 48million kWh in 2006. To reduce it we need to get accurate meter readings. In some areas, especially at stations, readings are estimated which could mean the estimate is too high or too low.
We have started looking at this in two ways. The first is to do with measuring and involves improved meter reading, installation of smart meters at some stations and developing a database that collates all readings across our network and converts them to carbon emissions.
The second is looking at all our premises and developing action plans where we can all do our bit. Very often the actions are simple changes; for example, switching lights off or turning heating down but we are also asking employees to look at smarter ways of working to help deliver environmental improvements.
As an example, a simple improvement helped our Neville Hill train maintenance depot at Leeds. The service sheds were dark and overhead lights were kept on all day. After the roof windows were cleaned, more natural light came in so the overhead lights could be turned off. Sensors have now been installed so the lights are automatically turned off during daylight hours when they are not needed. We are also going to install sensors in the Repairs Shed as well.
We know that many of our employees and customers are concerned about lighting levels at stations and sometimes report that lights are on unnecessarily. We are reviewing our lighting times and checking the timer switches, but it's worth pointing out that lights are supposed to stay on at stations until 30 minutes after the last train leaves. If they do not switch off after 30 minutes please report it to us and we'll get our maintenance company to look at it straight away.
We'll tell you more about our improvements when we've achieved them!
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