When you’ve been a trusted veterinary practice for over 40 years, you know just how important it is to keep your customers’ precious pooches warm and cosy when they are under your care.
But how do you do that without breaking the bank when energy costs suddenly start to climb? When heating bills go from pug to pit bull in the blink of an eye?
This is the challenge that was facing Hamilton based Low Waters Veterinary Centre, part of Real Vets, when they got in touch with Business Energy Scotland. And with our help, and an interest free loan from the Scottish Government, they are now enjoying savings of more than £1,000 every year on their heating bills.
“Without Business Energy Scotland and the SME Loan Scheme it would have been impossible for us to make these changes.”
Real Vets is a family-owned, independent animal practice that has been caring for dogs, cats and small animals in Glasgow since the 1980s. The business has always aimed to be as sustainable as possible – reducing the amount of waste created, making better use of resources and reducing its negative impact on the environment.
Practice Manager, Lee Marnock had taken some steps to reduce energy use, including upgrading lighting to modern energy-efficient LEDs, installing a new boiler and adding smart thermostatic heating controls to better manage the energy used for heating.
Lee said: ‘We knew there were further savings to be made by taking a closer look to see if we could upgrade our building to make it easier to heat. That’s when I got in touch with Business Energy Scotland’.
One of our experienced consultants worked with Lee and provided a detailed, impartial energy saving report that highlighted a number of further energy-saving changes that could be made. For each recommendation the report also provided estimated cost and carbon savings.
One of the recommendations included in Lee’s free report was to upgrade the building’s single glazed display windows to double glazing. By taking advantage of the Scottish Government’s SME loan Scheme, our consultant calculated that the payback for this upgrade would be four times quicker.
Lee’s consultant also identified that the business’s ceiling space did not have any insulation which would be leading to large amounts of heat loss. To address this issue, they recommended installing modern, 250 to 270 mm mineral wool (or similar) insulation. Once again eligible for support from the SME Loan Scheme, this upgrade would not only reduce heat loss in the winter but also make air conditioning cheaper to run in the summer.
Summer-time air conditioning would be supplied by an air source heat pump (ASHP) that was also recommended in Lee’s report to replace an ageing air conditioning unit. The ASHP could provide cooling in summer and a backup heating system in winter.
In total these three recommendations alone were estimated to save the business £1,031 on annual energy bills and reduce annual carbon emissions by 1.4 tonnes.
Lee has already taken advantage of the Scottish Government’s SME Loan Scheme to make all the three upgrades.
Not only that, but she has also returned for further energy-saving support from Business Energy Scotland for their second practice in Baillieston in the East End of Glasgow. Here we are again looking at glazing and insulation, plus a heat recovery system.
Lee said: ‘Without Business Energy Scotland and the SME Loan Scheme it would have been impossible for us to make these changes. The expert, impartial advice gave us confidence in terms of choosing the best things to do to save energy and reduce our carbon footprint. The access to Scottish Government funding has allowed us to implement projects that may have otherwise been out of reach for us as a business’.
Help for your business
Business Energy Scotland is funded by the Scottish Government to provide free, impartial support and access to funding to help small and medium-sized enterprises save energy, carbon and money
Whether you are just starting out on your energy-saving journey and need some pointers or are looking for expertise and funding to support your current plans, our team of experienced business advisors and energy-saving consultants are here to help. Get in touch today.