Energy and Emissions
We use electricity and gas to cook your Cornflakes, Special K, Nutri-grain and other cereals. Yet although our ovens are a little bigger than yours, we make our food in pretty much the same way that you bake a cake or make biscuits. The main difference is that one of our industrial ovens is much bigger and far more energy efficient than 1,000s of small domestic ones!
So it’s our aim, by 2015, to have reduced the energy we use and the emissions we generate by 15-20% per tonne of food we make, compared to 2005.
By the end of 2009, our global energy use per tonne had already shrunk by 5.7%. In the UK our three sites in Manchester and Wrexham had reduced their energy use by 7.3%.
There are also easy ways to reduce energy and emissions in your home.
Emissions at our Manchester Plant have reduced by 16.9% per tonne of food since 2005
Our Energy Targets
Working With Our Suppliers
We discovered along the way that over half of the carbon emissions our products create are due to the ingredients that go into making them. So we felt it essential that the suppliers of our ingredients should understand how much value we place on monitoring and managing carbon emissions.
Through the Carbon Disclosure Project, we sent questionnaires to 67 of our biggest suppliers, asking about carbon risks and opportunities, emissions reporting, and reduction targets and plans. In return, we got some very useful, accurate answers and made suppliers aware of our aims and expectations in this area.
We have replaced 4000 of our 30,000 lights with brand new energy-saving tubes
Simple Measures
As you’d expect, we’ve been working on energy reduction for many years. After all, wasted energy means wasted money, as well as poor use of the earth’s resources. And some of the improvements we’ve made have been the really simple ones you can do at home – only on a much bigger scale.
At our Manchester site
We’ve replaced 4000 light-bulbs with energy-saving tubes that are up to 60% more efficient.
We’ve installed 86 new meters monitoring electricity and gas so that we can see where improvements can be made.
On a much bigger scale – we installed a combined heat and power plant in 2007, which generates heat and power on site and reduces our energy use and our emissions.
Reducing Energy and Emissions in Your Home at Breakfast Time
Cereals are a great source of nutrition and have a low environmental impact, so you're off to a good start if that's your breakfast of choice. And you can lower your impact even further by following these simple tips to reduce energy and emissions at home.
Keep well stocked up on cereals and other basics so you don’t need to make separate trips to the shops (unless you're going to walk or cycle).
If you are going to have a hot drink only boil as much water as you need.
Quickly rinse out your bowl & juice glass with cold water after use and leave them to dry.
If you have a dishwasher make sure it’s as full as possible before you use it.
Make sure your fridge is set at the right temperature.
Other things you can do to avoid wasting energy and reduce your emissions
Turn your thermostat down. Reducing your room temperature by 1°C could cut your heating bills by up to 10%, and typically saves around £55 a year. If you have a programmer, set your heating and hot water to come on only when required rather than all the time.
Is your water too hot? Your cylinder thermostat should be set at 60°C/140°F.
Close your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows and check for draughts around windows and doors.
Always turn off the lights when you leave a room.
Don't leave appliances on standby and remember not to leave laptops and mobile phones on charge unnecessarily.
If possible, fill up the washing machine, tumble dryer or dishwasher: one full load uses less energy than two half loads.
A dripping hot water tap wastes energy and in one week wastes enough hot water to fill half a bath, so fix leaking taps and make sure they're fully turned off.
Use energy-saving light bulbs. They last up to 10 times longer than ordinary bulbs, and using one can save you around £40 up to £65 over its lifetime.
* We use the term emissions as shorthand through out this report. Our emissions metrics take into account all greenhouse gases, however and are technically measured in “carbon dioxide equivalents” or “CO2e”.