Background: Bob Alexander Limited, trading as Alexanders Motor Group, is a private limited company based in the United Kingdom, with its premises at Chapel Street Garage, in Stockton on Tees. The company employs 55 people and has been active since its inception on 23 January, 1964. Its primary business activity involves the sale of new cars and light motor vehicles. The company sought to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy costs and thus participated in the SME Energy Efficiency Scheme (SMEES), a project to support small and medium-sized enterprises in implementing energy-saving measures. The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) supported the project as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme.
Decerna undertook an energy efficiency audit of the SME’s building, revealing that the best option for cost and carbon reductions was replacing existing lighting with energy-efficient LED lighting technology. Decerna worked with the client to support the procurement process and provided a grant of £6,850.68 towards the total cost via the SMEES project.
Outcomes: The LED lighting retrofit yielded significant results for Bob Alexander Limited:
- Annual Cost Savings: The implementation of LED lighting resulted in annual cost savings of £4,557 for the company.
- Carbon Emissions Reduction: The switch to LED lighting reduced approximately 12.3 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) emissions annually.
- Payback Period: With the grant, the payback period for the LED lighting retrofit was reduced to 1.8 years, demonstrating a rapid return on investment for the company.
Conclusion: Through participating in the SME Energy Efficiency Scheme, Bob Alexander Limited successfully upgraded its lighting system by replacing non-LED lights with energy-efficient LED fixtures. The implementation resulted in significant cost savings, reduced carbon emissions, and improved lighting quality for their facilities. The project serves as a testament to the positive impact of energy-efficient solutions on the environment and the bottom line of medium-sized businesses.
David Alexander, Managing Director said:
Decerna provided a professional and thorough service and guided us through the grant application process. We are very pleased with the new lighting and hope to be able to improve the energy efficiency in other parts of our operations in the coming months.
More Information
Please visit the overall case study for the project on the Decerna website here.
SMEES is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.
