Ricoh Arena praised for going green

THE joint venture company that runs and manages Coventry’s Ricoh Arena has been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard for its efforts to reduce emissions and improve the efficiency of its operation.

Arena Coventry Ltd succeeded in reducing its carbon emissions by 16% between April 2007 and March 2010.

The Carbon Trust Standard is the first award to recognise organisations for real carbon reduction. Based on a rigorous, independent assessment, it certifies that organisations have measured, managed and reduced their carbon emissions across their own operations and are committed to reducing them year on year.

Alan Pickering, deputy facilities and energy manager for Arena Coventry Limited, said: “We’re delighted to have achieved the Carbon Trust Standard. It is a great way of showing that we are on the front foot when it comes to carbon management best practices, and gives us an opportunity to communicate our environmental credentials with integrity to those that matter.”

He said the assessment process also identified areas of improvement within the business as well as delivering long term cost savings.

“In the current climate it’s essential that we remain competitive, and the Carbon Trust Standard is another way we can stay ahead of the game and helps us towards the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme,” he added.

The Ricoh Arena has also been awarded the Low Carbon Employee Engagement Award for businesses below 250 staff at the West Midlands Low Carbon Economy Awards.

The award was presented for reducing emissions by investing £80,000 in energy saving products including 80 automatic meter readers to give half-hour, daily, weekly and monthly energy consumption usages while invertors and controls have been fitted in all plant rooms along with passive infra-red sensors throughout the building so that lights are not left on.

The arena is now working with sustainable energy consultants from E.ON to assess introducing further renewable energy technologies.