Environmental management at our depots
Our depots are used for maintaining, fuelling and washing our vehicles, activities which all carry a risk of spillage and incidents. All our fuel tanks are located above ground apart from three that are either fitted with leak detection systems or are routinely tested and certified.
We provide training and awareness for staff in fuelling and fuel delivery as well as spill response. Central spill reporting procedures allow us to track the spills that do occur and apply lessons learnt.
A number of minor incidents have occurred this year, all of which were contained on-site. Where there was a potential off-site risk we liaised with the Environment Agency or Scottish Environment Protection Agency and agreed an appropriate response.
At our depots we seek to improve efficiency and potential environmental impacts through programmes to reduce water and energy usage and improve the management of waste.
Water usage
Our main use of water is for vehicle washing. For a number of years we have achieved sustained reductions in water usage in the bus division as a result of installing water recycling facilities at all our bus washes. In 2006/07 our water usage increased due to the introduction of a Group wide policy, that buses should be washed every night. This was developed in response to customer expectations. Since this change in policy we have however managed to achieve a further 4% reduction this year.
Energy usage
We use energy for heating, lighting and the use of equipment at our depots and stations. During the last twelve months our overall energy consumption has reduced by 7.4%.
A big contributor to this has been the installation of electronic heating control systems at twelve of our largest maintenance depots in partnership with Vickers Electronics.
Reducing energy in Glasgow
Our operation in Glasgow has one of the most accurate utility monitoring systems within UK Bus. It includes real time consumption data and a remote temperature monitoring system. The operating company has worked hard to improve energy management at its six depots, largely by establishing a reliable utility usage data system and by running awareness campaigns. Over the seven full years of reporting the company has seen a 34% reduction in overall energy usage.
Energy saving at Bradford
In 2007 working with Vickers Electronics Limited (Vickers) we installed equipment to improve the management of gas consumption at twelve of our larger depots.
This automated system manages the heating levels to ensure they are only on for a minimum amount of time to achieve the desired temperature.
Early reports indicate that the predicted 20% saving has been achieved and at some locations, surpassed. One particular depot, First Bradford, has seen their gas consumption reduced by an incredible 63%.
