Our impact for 2021
Environmental Impact
We want to be considerate of our environmental impact - we care about the footprint us and our members. We have worked with our Landlord and the Zero Emissions Network to drive Energy efficiency improvements and Waste reduction programs in our building.
Our environmental impact is measured from October 2020 – October 2021, when ARK was based in it’s previous location on Pentonville Road.
Energy Usage
We monitor and record our energy usage. For this time period Bulb was our energy provider, a green energy provider that sources energy from renewable resources and offsets other emissions.
Electricity Breakdown
Electricity
(Total 42.05 GJ)
Hydro 1% = 0.42GJ
Solar 11% = 4.63GJ
Wind 88% = 37GJ
Our electricity is sourced from 100% of our energy from renewable sources. They currently source renewable energy from wind, hydro and solar power in the breakdown shown at bulb.co.uk/fuelmix/
We estimate our electricity usage for the past year to be a total 11681 kWh (42.05 gigajoules).
This is very similar to the previous year where we approximated our electricity consumption at 42.32 GJ.
Gas Breakdown
Gas
(Total 271.23 GJ)
Green Gas 3% = 7.36GJ
Carbon Offsets 96% = 260.38GJ
Our gas is 100% carbon neutral. Around 3% of gas our supplier buys is from renewable sources like food or farm waste. The rest is offset by supporting carbon reduction projects around the world.
We estimate the amount of gas used in the past year to be 75,342 kWh (271.23 gigajoules).
This is similar to the previous year where we used 253.79 GJ.
Facility energy efficiency
When purchasing equipment, we strive to purchase Energy Star Appliances / equipment with Automatic Sleep Modes / After-Hour Timers / etc.
We have smart heaters installed and use smart plugs to manage turning off electrical equipment.
Waste disposal
We recycle paper, cardboard and plastic with Islington Council. In the past 12 months we estimate we produced:
1460kg of general waste
1460kg of recycling
Water usage
Castle Water provide our water, in the past 12 months we estimate we used approx. 442.67m3 of water.
This is an increase from the previous year where we estimated our water consumption to be 280m3.
Reducing our environmental impact
Our policy
ARK’s environmental policy can be found at www.arkcoworking.com/environmentalpolicy
We use refillable washing liquid and soap in our kitchen and bathrooms, check out fillrefill.co
Resources
We encourage our employees and members to reduce our impact on the environment where possible.
For ideas to help be greener at home see: www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog/how-to-be-more-eco-friendly
Government advice on improving building energy efficiency: www.gov.uk/improve-energy-efficiency
Charities we supported
Copenhagen Street Foodback
Age UK
Tree of Life Manenburg
Bankuet Christmas Foodbank
First Fridays Youth Work