Success Stories

City of Yarra - Local Government

Energy Return was engaged by the City of Yarra (Inner Melbourne - pop 73,000) to help deliver on their ambitious energy and water reduction targets. (30% less energy by 2012, 40% less water by 2015) With over 60 sites (child care centres, halls, pavilions) throughout the inner Melbourne suburbs, City of Yarra was seeking to balance the need to cost-effectively act on immediate energy / water saving opportunities, while holistically planning for sustainability investments for the future across all its’ sites.

Energy Return brought two separate but complimentary skill sets:

• Assessment and planning experts who would provide a payback prioritized view the of sustainability investment potential for each site.
• On-site upgrades: A team of sustainability retrofitters capable of acting-on immediate energy and water saving opportunities on-site.

Eenergy Return delivered Immediate savings through on-site upgrade:

• CO2: Up to 25% (14 tCO2e) per year savings per site, and 10% (48 tCO2e) per year emissions savings across 12 sites.
• Water: Up to 10% (138 kl) per year savings over 3 sites from showerhead and faucet upgrades

Future savings identified and prioritized by payback:

• Identified a further annual 30% emissions (146 tCO2e) and 16% water (527 kl) savings
• Prioritized over $400k of sustainability investments.

Craft Victoria - Retail  / Gallery

An energy and carbon assessment was conducted for Craft Victoria. Craft Victoria is a not-for-profit organisation which fosters creativity, experimentation and professionalism in contemporary craft and design practice. Funded by the state and federal governments, the organisation’s objective is to support local artists and designers, many of whom are addressing issues of environmental sustainability through their practice.

As the state advocacy body for these artists, it is important that Craft Victoria sets an industry example as a leader in sustainable operations.The energy assessment identified high energy use for lighting, heating and some key appliances.

Customer testimonial: "Energy Return very quickly developed a thorough understanding of our organisation. They presented us with a detailed report in a timely manner, and provided a variety of options to reduce our carbon emissions, taking into account the organisation’s limited budget. Craft Victoria is excited about adopting a number of Energy Return’s recommendations, and embedding a culture of sustainability in our organisation. We highly recommend Energy Return and look forward to working with them in the future."

Acacia Environmental Management

A carbon and energy assessment was conducted for a suburban agribusiness. The assessment identified vechicle usage as the key source for energy and carbon emissions. A plan was put into place to increase the fuel efficency of their fleet and of driving behaviour. This was then linked to a company-wide competition to make fuel efficient a focus of their sustinability efforts. The client was advised on their offseting options with Energy Return helping them to become carbon neutral

Customer testimonial: "As a growing business, understanding our energy usage and carbon emissions was important for business and ethical reasons. Increasingly, clients are requesting information about the environmental impact of our activities so it is important to be on top of this information. Energy Return provided us with a clear view of our energy usage and carbon emissions. Most importantly, they gave us a concise set of tailored actions to reduce, avoid and offset emissions while making real cost savings. We would recommend Energy Return."