Green Business Programme

What is the Green Business Programme?

The Green Business Programme (GBP), which has been running since 2005, is a FREE and confidential service offered by the council to help your business reduce its impact on the environment, ultimately saving your business money. So far, the GBP has helped over 150 local companies, many of whom have gone on to win prestigious awards and saved thousands of pounds on their energy bills.

Why should my business take part in the programme?

• Improved productivity and competitiveness
• Cutting energy and water bills
• Reducing transport costs
• Implementing practical waste reduction
• Keeping ahead of the market/boost your green credentials.

How does it work?

1) Once you have agreed to take part in the programme we will ask to take a look at your energy bills to analyse what your energy and water consumption currently is.

2) We will then conduct a site visit to identify how you can save money by reducing your environmental impacts e.g., your energy and water consumption, the amount of waste you throw away, how your staff travel to & from work and how your staff travel for business purposes. Site visits are informal and take a maximum of two hours.

3) We will then write a FREE tailored report, which includes an action plan of what changes you can make to dramatically decrease your energy bills and carbon footprint.

4) We provide ongoing support to your business and will also follow up with another site visit to see how you are getting on.

What else is included?

FREE Smart Meter

We are currently giving away FREE Smart Meters to businesses in Crawley. Smart meters are the next generation of electricity and gas meters. A smart meter is a meter that helps with energy management and is easy to install, with small devices fitted alongside or in place of existing meters. It enables the recording of real-time energy use, which can be collected remotely and generally, sends that information back to a secure website where you can view your usage at any time of the day.

FREE Events/Workshops

The GBP, alongside their partners at the West Sussex Sustainable Business Partnership (WSSBP) offer a number of events and workshops which take place throughout the year.

Utility Management Workshop

The West Sussex Sustainable Business Partnership are holding a number of UTILISE, Utility Management Workshops. This FREE course explores all aspects of energy, waste and water management and identifies where savings can be made. The next few courses are taking place on:

• 13th September - Worthing
• 16th November – Horsham
• 27th January – Arun

Contact the WSSBP (sbp@westsussex.gov.uk) for more details and to book your place!

FREE Energy Explorer Roadshows

Crawley Borough Council is offering 6 free Energy Explorer roadshows to Crawley based businesses that sign up for a Green Business Programme site visit. For more information please visit our Energy Explorer page.

Newsletters

West Sussex Sustainable Business Partnership (WSSBP) produces a newsletter containing up to date environmental legislation, details of events you may be interested in attending and top tips to become a green or even greener business. Check out the Newsletter archive from WSSBP.

Gatwick Diamond ‘Green’ Business Awards

The Green Business Programme also sponsors three ‘Green’ categories at the Gatwick Diamond Business Awards. To find out more about this year’s awards, award categories and previous winners please visit our Green Business Awards page.