Lawler Sustainability assisted Brown Thomas Department Store in identifying €1 million worth of energy savings across all nine Irish stores.
LED Lighting Upgrade
Brown Thomas Department Store was among the first to venture into large-scale carbon reduction programmes in Ireland and with Lawler Sustainability’s help, has identified €1 million worth of energy savings across all nine Irish stores.
The biggest energy-saving upgrade took place at their flagship store on Dublin’s Grafton Street where our team led a substantial LED lighting upgrade.
We upgraded 8,500 lights over a one-year period, subsequently reducing the store’s carbon footprint by 256 tonnes and its energy usage by 480,000 kilowatts.
Once more, this upgrade is expected to slash Brown Thomas’ lighting energy costs to just a quarter of what it was before. This would see the project pay for itself in energy savings within two-and-a-half years.
As a result of these changes, Brown Thomas has also seen a positive shift in consumer attitudes towards their stores.
For many consumers, to see such goodwill and responsibility towards our environment is a key factor in their buying choices. Many consumers carry the level of guilt that businesses themselves do not when operating environmentally harmful businesses.
CSR Strategy
Lawler Sustainability also helped Brown Thomas develop a beyond-compliant sustainability strategy and achieve EXEED certification.
Comprehensive Carbon Roadmap
As part of their CSR strategy, Brown Thomas has committed to a carbon roadmap that will see them save approximately 3,000 tonnes of carbon.
Lawler Sustainability worked closely with its in-house sustainability team to analyse the brand’s energy usage, the efficiency of its mechanical and electrical systems, and its energy bills, before identifying opportunities for significant improvement.
From there, our team was able to devise an energy roadmap that provides Brown Thomas with a clear and easy-to-follow route to achieving its goal of saving around 3,000 tonnes of CO2.
Brown Thoma's carbon roadmap will see them save approximately 3,000 tonnes of carbon. Image: J.-H. Janßen, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Excellence in Energy Efficiency Design (EXEED)
Our work with Brown Thomas also extended to us helping the brand achieve EXEED certification at four city centre stores.
The Excellence in Energy Efficiency Design (EXEED) is a certified programme by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) which provides a framework to help organisations to design, construct, and commission processes for new builds and upgrades to existing assets following the new best practices in energy efficient design management.
Lawler Sustainability acted as the Energy Efficient Design (EED)’ expert supporting Brown Thomas’ application for EXEED certification.
This support from the SEAI will help to further strengthen Brown Thomas’ carbon reduction programme and CSR strategy.
SI 426 Compliance
Lawler Sustainability also completed an energy audit of the Brown Thomas stores throughout Ireland as part of SI 426 compliance along with the development of a register of opportunities.
This SI 426 audit identified energy-saving opportunities that would result in annual energy cost savings of €1 million resulting in a payback of just under three years.
A sustainable development strategy was developed for Brown Thomas which encompassed energy and water conservation, waste disposal & recycling, and renewable energy technologies.
