Earth Day 2023

Earth Day is an annual celebration that honours the achievements of the
environmental movement and raises awareness of the need to protect Earth's
natural resources for future generations.

The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970. April 22, 2023 is a great time to tell
you about our Energy Efficiency plans here at Shropdoc.

LED Lighting

As part of our work to make us more energy efficient, we recently completed an LED
Lighting and Smart Controls Retrofit.

Ian Hoy, Estates and Health and Safety Officer, said: “At our Longbow headquarters
in Shrewsbury, we have the core support team and call centre, which underpins our
services.

“Longbow operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We use a
lot of energy to heat and light the building each and every day, and the cost of
energy is rising for everyone, including us.

“After reviewing our options to reduce our energy use and carbon footprint, we
focused on the ceiling lights. We had around 150 ceiling lights with fluorescent tubes,
and each light fitting consumed 72 watts of electricity - equivalent LED panels
consumed only 20 watts each. It was easy for our board to decide what to do!”

Smart Controls

Shropdoc went out to tender for the project, and a local contractor, RMW Electrical
Services, suggested the opportunity was taken to install “smart” controls to enhance
the cost savings further.

“We now have better, brighter lighting that switches off when rooms aren’t being
used, adds Mr Hoy. “Individual work areas can be dimmed to suit staff preferences,
and we are already seeing savings on our energy bills which means we can continue
to deliver a cost-effective service to all our users while reducing our environmental
impact.”

Work on energy efficiency within the organisation continues, and steps to reduce
environmental impact are also being taken outside the building with Shropoc’s fleet
of cars.

Shropdoc has 15 vehicles, and eight of those are petrol-electric automatic and self-
charging hybrid vehicles.

“The last Deisel vehicle has recently been phased out, and we add a vehicle every
three months and sell the oldest vehicle to ensure we stay under 60,000 miles,”
added Mr Hoy.

“Fully electric vehicles are also being explored as a potential option for the future.”