Building Sustainability Ltd T +44 (0) 20 8977 8920 E info@buildingsustainability.net W www.buildingsustainability.net

Background

The Royal Bank of Scotland is one of the world’s top ten

financial groups. The group employs 140,000 people across

30 countries and operates out of more than 2000 sites

worldwide. Its subsidiaries include the Citizens Financial

Group (one of the largest commercial banking organisations in

the US), NatWest, Lombard, First Active and insurance groups

such as Direct Line and Churchill.

RBS has a strong track record in pioneering environmentally

friendly policies. The group only finances projects that

conform to the highest international environmental and social

standards, and is the largest financier of renewable energy in

the world, with over $2 billion committed in 2006 alone.

RBS takes its own environmental impact equally seriously.

It uses 100% green electricity in all of its buildings in the UK and Ireland and has committed £80 million to energy saving measures across its properties.

Last year, the group reduced its carbon footprint by 210,000

tonnes of CO2 – 36% of the total footprint. It is one of only

three banks to achieve a 95% score in the Carbon Disclosure

Project in 2007, and it achieved the highest possible rating

for environmental and social management, by the Innovest

ratings agency in 2007.

Case Study - Royal Bank of Scotland

Aims and objectives

RBS is currently using Building Sustainability Limited’s Footprint Tracker product to measure carbon emissions across sites in Rotherham and Knott End in England. Its aims are to:

• Monitor real-time emissions from different sites

• Review which technologies are most effective in reducing carbon footprint

• Encourage staff to reduce their individual workplace carbon footprints and pilot methods of enabling them to micro-control their own carbon emissions

• Help pilot emerging technologies so that RBS stays at the cutting edge of continuous environmental improvement.

“We are committed to reducing the carbon intensity of our business by focusing on minimising emissions at source, through energy efficiency measures and the purchase of renewable energy.“

Mark Fisher, Chief Executive, Manufacturing

Building Sustainability Ltd T +44 (0) 20 8977 8920 E info@buildingsustainability.net W www.buildingsustainability.net

Working with RBS’s Group Property unit, the Carbon Dashboard team first undertook an analysis of the requirements and prepared a system specification including measurement and control of space, water, lighting, HVAC and other appliances at the two sites.

The bespoke Footprint Tracker was then developed for the group, including a Carbon Dashboard showing energy usage, cost and CO2 emissions for each property and asset. The tracker measures the energy consumption of individual assets and areas and can compare the impact of different energy systems within each building. Various control

functions allow managers to adjust heating and lighting settings within specific zones, to put unused space into temporary hibernation, and to manage workspace settings to maximise efficiency. As properties are added to the product they are included within the dashboard system and a ‘traffic light’ system will alert managers immediately to any problems with energy consumption or carbon emissions across the portfolio as a whole.

Royal Bank of Scotland has gone even further with this innovative technology. The group is piloting a new approach which gives staff personalised access to the Carbon Dashboard,

from where they can set their own heating and lighting preferences, and experiment with different settings to reduce their own individual workplace carbon footprint. RFID technology allows the software to monitor employees’ whereabouts in the building and adjust heating and lighting preferences according to their personal settings. Staff training workshops are being held to explain the new dashboard system and to encourage staff to think about how they might reduce their workplace energy usage even further.

RBS is currently using the Footprint Tracker technology in a controlled experiment to measure the impacts on carbon emissions of renewable energy sources and of enabling employees to control their individual energy usage. On one floor of the site traditional lighting and HVAC are being used, while a second test floor combines the personalised control of lighting and HVAC with local generation of renewable energies. The innovative new approaches include DALI lighting, rooftop photovoltaic cells and solar thermal panels for water heating.

After a few weeks, the Carbon Dashboard indicates savings of more than 20% of total energy consumption of the test floor, and the individual energy consumption has fallen correspondingly amongst those staff with access to a personalised footprint tracker.

By proving the return on investment of innovative technologies such as the DALI lighting system (which is likely to be used in all future new builds and retrofits), the Carbon Dashboard has already helped benefit RBS environmental policy.

The high profile and intuitive ease of use of the Carbon Dashboard has enabled the bank to demonstrate its environmental credentials and commitment to progressive technologies to staff and customers alike, and information from the dashboard is prominently displayed throughout the site through the use of wireless communications technologies.

Phase 2 of the project is now in development, and the Carbon Dashboard team is continuing to advise RBS on new energy saving technologies and the rollout of the product across the Group’s properties.

Approach

Solutions

View of property portfolio tool Single building view Energy yield report