Energy
We continue to work to enhance our systems to enable us to identify and take advantage of opportunities to further improve energy efficiencies throughout our investment properties, where this is within our control. We have introduced best practice taking account of both the short and long-term benefits to the operational costs of our business. In 2007 we continued to work with The Carbon Trust to evolve a broad carbon management strategy, and have conducted energy audits of several sites during the year. Our staff are now acting on the findings of these audits, and the outcomes of our carbon footprint exercise, to develop a group-wide focused and coordinated effort to reduce our CO2 emissions in the longer term.
As the portfolios of our shopping centres and commercial properties change each year, it is unlikely that total consumption will ever be strictly comparable. However, for the first time we are able to provide both absolute and normalised figures for the environmental performance of our shopping centres. The relatively high turnover of properties and variations in occupation patterns in the C&C business means that drawing meaningful like-for-like comparisons remains difficult.
| Centre | Electricity kWh | District heating kWh | Gas kWh | Total CO2 associated with energy use (kg) |
| Arndale | 9,342,033 | 13,788,693 | 7,436,791 | |
| Braehead (+ Arena) |
11,874,444 | 4,528,182 | 7,048,048 | |
| Chapelfield | 4,052,529 | 935,185 | 2,292,482 | |
| Chimes | 3,655,214 | 824,026 | 2,064,122 | |
| Cribbs | 5,692,748 | 1,330,943 | 3,223,532 | |
| Eldon Square | 8,958,853 | 15,209,502 | 7,499,238 | |
| Glades | 5,986,545 | 530,518 | 3,229,109 | |
| Harlequin | 10,906,769 | 1,224,831 | 5,930,834 | |
| Lakeside | 13,543,329 | 2,871,951 | 7,614,472 | |
| Metrocentre | 8,276,327 | 1,140,167 | 4,539,450 | |
| Potteries | 1,867,296 | 442,620 | 1,058,480 | |
| Victoria Centre | 8,774,376 | 1,640,336 | 0 | 4,759,932 |
| Totals | 92,930,463 | 1,640,336 | 42,826,619 | 56,696,489 |
Shopping Centres
We have continued to improve the quality of our energy consumption data over the last year. We recognise however that we still have some way to go and this will be a key activity over the coming months in order that we can have greater certainly in our reported carbon emissions and prepare ourselves for the introduction of the Government’s proposed Carbon Reduction Commitment.
In this year’s report we have revised the carbon emissions factors that we have used compared with previous years so that we are now using factors that are fully consistent with Defra’s guidelines on greenhouse gas reporting. In order to compare 2007 with 2006 we have recalculated the 2006 figures using the new factors.
The total energy use in our 12 centres over 2007 was 137.4 million kWh; a 7% reduction from the 148 million kWh used by these centres in 2006, and a corresponding reduction in use per square foot. A further like-for-like breakdown of energy use over the past four years is provided by the tables below which show the breakdown of 2007 energy use and CO2 emissions for our Centres (including those which we do not directly manage). Much of the energy reduction in 2007 corresponds to a significant reduction in our use of gas, which dropped by 16% on the previous year; this can be attributed to a combination of the relatively mild weather accompanied by active energy management of our lighting, plant and equipment.
Electricity use dropped slightly over the same period, resulting in a drop in CO2 attributed to energy use from 59,453 tonnes in 2006 to 56,696 in 2007. Note that these figures differ slightly from those reported in previous years, because the conversion factors used to calculate CO2 equivalent have been revised upwards by Defra during the year to reflect changes in the UK energy generating mix.
Our centres utilise half hourly energy metering software to monitor energy use and target areas and times of excessive use through effective management control, and will use the outcomes of our carbon footprint study to raise awareness of what staff and retailers can do as an individual to minimise energy use. We seek to integrate energy efficient and low carbon features, such as natural ventilation, into our new developments from the outset in an effort to minimise energy use across the lifetime of a development. We hope to further encourage our retailers to fit out their units in a way that compliments our energy management strategy in future.
Figure 1: Total energy use
Figure 2: Energy use per ft2
Commercial Properties and USA
We have recently incorporated a number of London properties into the ‘Great Capital Partnership’, a joint venture with Great Portland Estates, and hope to include further details of the partnership in next year’s report. The inclusion of a number of our properties into this venture results in the remaining commercial estate being significantly smaller in size than in 2006. The common parts of our remaining estate consumed 22.2 million kWh (2006 - 27.6 million kWh) of energy.
The Earls Court and Olympia site was acquired earlier this year, and we are now beginning to develop its CR programme in line with our high standards.
Our commercial and retail properties in the USA represent around 4% of our total activities. In 2007 our US sites consumed 18.2m kWh electricity, 2.7m kWh gas and 311,814m3 of water, corresponding to 7% and 11% increases in gas and electricity use respectively, but an 8% decrease in water usage.
It is difficult to quantify waste volumes in the USA, but we continue to explore ways of monitoring and consolidating this data more effectively.
