In the current economic climate that is pretty much what everyone is looking at, whether it’s energy efficiency, redundancies, marketing cuts, recruitment freezes or a host of other strategies.

Unlike the other options, energy efficiency is not a short-term cost reduction: the financial savings generated are repeated annually without needing further investment, and without sacrificing growth potential once the downturn concludes. Projects such as energy-efficient lighting leave businesses more competitive not just now but in the future too.

Widespread energy efficiency also will reduce the need for energy companies and governments to invest in too many extra power stations to meet demand, enabling renewables to provide a greater proportion to the UK’s energy mix than it would with extra coal and nuclear stations popping up everywhere. The newly-rebranded CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme acknowledges this by driving energy efficiency as its’ primary method of carbon reduction.