Westpac wins Energy Management Award

Candice Collier and Jack Crutzen from Westpac accept the Energy Management Award

Westpac was named winner of the Energy Management Award, sponsored by 0800 Save Energy. A detailed plan gave Westpac its energy-saving blueprint - and savings of 21% resulted.

Westpac's ‘Our Tomorrow' project launched in 2008, covering all 197 branches and over 5,000 employees. The project is comprised of a four year sustainability plan with 10 goals. The first goal, related directly to energy use, was to reduce carbon emission by 20% by 2012. There was also a four year initial target to reduce energy use by 10%.

To help meet these goals, Westpac comissioned Smart Power to develop an energy management plan. The plan of action divided Westpac's energy use into five categories. It found that 93% of the company's energy use went to power HVAC, lighting and signage, and office equipment.

Progress has already well outstripped the targets. In the programme's first two years energy use reduced by 21% or 7,187 MWh, and CO2e emissions declined by 28%.

The award judges said: "This shows industry leadership through working with staff and the community. It is a broad-based, well-managed programme with demonstrated expansion year on year. It also has strong monitoring, targeting and reporting."

"This is an excellent example of a good corporate citizen. This is an organisation that has put reality around triple bottom line reporting by driving sustainable energy use into everyday business practice."

Improvements included upgrading to more efficient HVAC plant, introducing ‘continuous commissioning' in buildings, installing sensors to eliminate unnecessary lighting and using LED lighting in ATMs. Company vehicles are being upgraded to hybrids or efficient diesels, and more use is being made of video conferencing to reduce air travel.

Energy use at all Westpac sites is monitored monthly, and benchmarked according to the type, size and function of the site. In 2009, Westpac New Zealand became the first bank to achieve certification under CEMARS, the accredited greenhouse gas certification scheme.

Westpac's energy-saving achievements also led to it being Highly Commended in the Large Business category.

Download the Winners Booklet to find out more about the winners and finalists.