BT Announces World's Largest Purchase Of Green Electricity
-/15 Oct, 2004 - Wi-Fi Technology News/-BT announced the world's largest purchase of green electricity in a move that will see almost all of BT's UK electricity needs supplied by environmentally friendly energy. The move was immediately welcomed by the Government and the Climate Group who described it as "globally significant".
BT said the three-year contracts, worth several hundred million pounds follows negotiations with npower and British Gas.
The contracts will provide BT's 6,500 telephone exchanges, satellite earth stations, offices and depots with environmentally friendly power some of which will come from sustainable resources such as wind generation, solar, wave and hydroelectric schemes.
The initiative will save emissions equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide produced by almost 50,000 homes or more than 100,000 cars.
Prime Minister, Rt Hon Tony Blair MP said: "The actions of leading companies such as BT are living proof that significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions need not come at the cost of economic growth."
Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale said: "Energy efficiency is a key element of our purchasing strategy and sustainability is at the heart of our business. We are aiming both to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions to the atmosphere and we believe we will achieve both aims with these new contracts. The contracts represent a good deal for BT and for the environment in which we all live and work."
Dr Steve Howard, chief executive officer of The Climate Group, a non-profit organisation building a leadership coalition of organisations committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, said: "BT's initiative is globally significant and sends out a message that the purchase of green electricity is no longer a niche market - it has now gone mainstream.
"BT's track record on reducing greenhouse gas emissions is phenomenal with a remarkable 80 per cent reduction. BT is leading the way in showing that good business, cost savings and protecting the climate all go hand in hand."
BT has developed a new approach to electricity supply in conjunction with npower and British Gas which will result in the supply of nearly 1TWh (one thousand million kWh) of electricity from renewable sources and over 1.1TWh of low carbon fuel-efficient energy from CHP (combined heat and power) sources. Together these will reduce BT's CO2 emissions by more than 325,000 tonnes a year.
BT has already reduced its energy related CO2 emissions by 80 per cent since 1991 ? nearly 1.5m tonnes a year. This was achieved through BT's energy management and efficiency programme, investing in energy efficient plant and equipment, reducing waste and buying green energy.
BT plans to continue to invest in energy efficiency particularly within its new 21st century network, power systems and equipment. The company is also looking at renewable technology within its buildings and network.
BT last week published a report, Broadband: the role for communications in beating congestion, in which the company suggests that flexible working and staggered commuting time, the ability to work from home and increased take-up of online shopping could make a major contribution to tackling an issue which the CBI estimates costs the UK ?20bn a year.
About BT
BT Group plc is the holding company for an integrated group of communications businesses and is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York . British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group.
BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions serving customers in Europe , the Americas and Asia Pacific. Its principal activities include network centric Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions, local, national and international telecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and internet products and services.
BT consists principally of three lines of business:
BT Retail, providing fixed and mobile communications services and solutions to over 20 million business and residential customers in the UK. It is also a leading UK internet services provider.
BT Wholesale, providing network services and solutions within the UK to more than 600 fixed and mobile operators and service providers including the provision of broadband, private circuits and PSTN.
BT Global Services, providing ICT services internationally to meet the needs of multi-site organisations with European operations. BT Global Services operates in 136 countries and also offers international carrier services.
In the year ended 31 March 2004, BT Group's turnover was ?18,519 million with profit before goodwill amortisation, exceptional items and taxation of ?2,013 million.
For more information, visit http://www.btplc.com
Notes:
Green electricity is produced from sustainable resources such as wind generation, solar, wave and hydroelectric schemes. CHP is also a form of green electricity and a very efficient technology for generating electricity and heat together, which can increase the overall efficiency of fuel use to more than 75 per cent compared with around 40 per cent from conventional electricity generation.
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