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Introduction
The activities that occur in a given organization and the kind of products used by individuals and the organizations emit gases that have a greenhouse effect. The individuals and organizations need to be aware of the amount of emissions that they produce into the ecosystem through their activities and the products that they use. They need to adopt ways that can help in reducing such dangerous emissions.
The greenhouse emissions produced directly or indirectly by the activities of organizations or individuals can be measured through a carbon footprint. The calculation of this carbon footprint by an organization is the fundamental step in the reduction of the emissions.
The emissions of gases like Carbon dioxide, Methane, Sulphur hexafluoride, Nitrous oxide, Hydrofluorocarbons and Perflourocarbons are considered in the calculation of the carbon footprint.
The carbon footprint is measured in tones of carbon dioxide equivalent. In this way, the emissions of different gases can be measured on a scale equivalent to a unit of carbon dioxide gas emitted and the effect of this unit on global warming.
HTF General is an international hotel that has clients from within and outside the country. The hotel has facilities that are located at three different sites within London City. The hotel is served by more than ten suppliers of raw food materials from different parts of the country.
It has to arrange for the transportation of these raw materials from the suppliers. Recently, the management of the hotel acquired another retail store that it uses to stock soft drinks. These are also distributed to other clients within the city. It also has some small poultry farm within the city suburbs.
The hotel is developing rapidly and there is need to expand its facilities. Waste products that come from the leftover have also increased posing environmental challenges. The costs of fuel that the hotel uses in its daily operations are also high leading to high costs of production.
There is, thus, an increased need to develop proper ways of waste product disposal. The management of the hotel should also use the sources of energy that have less adverse effects on the environment than the natural gas and oil that are currently being used for most of the activities.
The Components of a Business’s Total Footprint
The activities that a typical business organization performs in its daily operations have various environmental effects. Different gases are emitted due to these activities that pose environmental problems. The impact of the activities of an organization on the environment is measured by a carbon footprint (Carbon Footprint Ltd, 2011). The carbon footprint is expressed in tones of carbon dioxide equivalent.
It measures the amount of greenhouse gases that are produced by the daily activities of the organization. These gases are produced through a given organizational activity, the use of the assets owned by the company, and when using the products and services of the company (Mathews, 2009, p.1).
There are, thus, two types of carbon footprints in a typical organization. These are the primary and secondary footprints. The carbon footprint of the organization will be the sum of these two categories.
The primary footprints provide a measure of the direct emissions of carbon dioxide by the organizational activities (Carbon Footprint Ltd, 2011). Various fossil fuels are burned daily in the organization to produce electricity to perform the different daily tasks in the organization.
The energy that may be used in an organization like gas for lighting and heating do emit these gases. Business organizations have company vehicles that are used for the transportation of products to various destinations. The vehicles are also used by the employees of the organization in carrying out other business operations.
These vehicles use products like diesel or petrol as fuel. The combustion of such products to power the engine emits gases that have the greenhouse effects. Besides, the production companies that involve various industrial processes also give large amounts of gas emissions into the environment.
Various compounds of Sulphur and carbon are in high concentration around industrial centers due to the release of such compounds by the industrial processes.
In calculating the carbon footprints from such activities, the organization could make use of the data obtained from the gas bill, electricity bill, the travel pattern of the employees of the organization, the vehicle usage in the organization and the amount of products produced in the industrial processes of a given production company.
The management of the organization can exercise effective control and manage the emissions due to these factors.
On the hand, the secondary footprint provides a measure of the carbon dioxide emitted indirectly by the products that are used by an individual or organization in the life cycle of the products (Carbon Footprint Ltd, 2011). All the various stages of product developments, like the extraction of raw materials and manufacturing of products from the materials and the ultimate usage of the products, are associated with gas emissions.
When an organization buys the food products or other goods that have undergone such processes, then it is indirectly adding onto its carbon footprint. The production of these products must have produced carbon dioxide at some point (Time for Change, n.d).
The organic materials that are not properly disposed off are known to provide emissions that may be harmful to the environment. The recycling and reuse of the reusable materials can be a good way of preventing environmental degradation caused by such emissions.
Besides, the organizations need to device ways of using the resources more effectively so that wastes produced from the processes are minimized as far as possible. Excessive disposal of biodegradable materials through land fills results into the emission of methane gas, a gas that has greenhouse effect.
Significance of the Reduction of Carbon Footprint for a Business
The carbon footprint is not just an environmental issue but is also an issue that has direct impacts on the management of business organizations. The organizations should be sensitive to the impacts that they activities have on the environment and how these eventually affect their operations in a given region.
Most managers of business organizations have come to notice that carbon footprints are not just threats to the operations of the organizations but could also provide a good opportunity for the establishment of better programs in the organization (Matthews, 2009, p.1).
A good management of an organization is that which understands and considers the risks and opportunities that are involved in a given business operation.
Firstly, the management of a business organization needs to understand that the prices and availability of energy influences the operation strategies of the organization. The amount of energy that is consumed by a given organization will be proportional to the carbon footprints of the organization.
Consumptions of large amount of electricity produced from fossil fuel like coal, translates into large emissions of greenhouse gases. An understanding of the carbon footprint of the organization can enable the management of the organization to shift to the energy source that may cost a little more but is effective.
Secondly, the government and other regulatory agency will provide rules and regulations that protect the environment. These regulations will affect the relationship between an organization and its suppliers and/or clients and the prices of the company’s products and services.
The business organizations need to operate under such provisions. Competition among organizations will also be based on the compliance to the provisions. The knowledge of the carbon footprint of the organization will help the organization examine if they operate within the legal provisions.
The organization needs also to understand and acknowledge the impact that their relations with the public have on their operations. The brand of a given company product is influenced by the environmental actions of the public. The individual activities and behavior of individual clients to an organization will determine the products and services provided by the company.
On the other hand, the environmental impacts of the activities of an organization will affect the reputation of the organization. An organization whose activities have adverse environmental effects will have poor reputation among the public and lose its competitive advantage in a given market.
Understanding the carbon footprint and taking the correct measures will help the organization build on its reputation among the members of a given society.
Besides, business organizations are also supposed to contribute to the other development aspects in the society and in the global economy. The attempt to reduce global warming is of concern to different climate-change organizations across the globe.
It is desirable that every individual contribute towards the reduction of the process. A proper understanding of the carbon footprint of a given organization helps the organization contribute to the fight against global warming.
Thus, it is very essential that the operations director or facility manager of a given organization perform an assessment of the carbon footprint of the organization. The carbon contents associated with the processes in the organization are important in developing the production and marketing strategies in the organization.
It has been noted that ‘thriving in the 21st century [market] will depend on the ability to track, manage, and report on climate, environmental, carbon and GHG-related risks with speed and precision’ (Matthews, 2009, p.3).
In general, the understanding of the carbon footprint of a given organization will improve the organization’s production, as it will be operating under little uncertainty. The organization will be able to produce goods or services that are in line with the demands of the customers and consider the environmental impacts.
The business will also gain a competitive advantage over the others due to its awareness of the environmental constraints and the role that a business should play in environmental conservation.
Different Renewable Energy Technologies
In developing a good climate strategy, a business organization should consider the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as one of the business strategies. The development of good climate change strategies by an organization contributes significantly to the development of corporate strategies.
It helps the organization in the development of brand. It also helps the organization in developing new products and services. An effective climate change strategy will also improve on the efficiency of the operations at the organization (Matthews, 2009, p.2).
The proper management of carbon footprint by organization requires a reexamination of the facilities in the organization. The transportation systems in the organization should be rescheduled to suit the standard established by environment regulatory agencies.
It has been pointed out that the amount of energy consumed by an organization is proportional to the carbon dioxide emissions produced in the process. Thus, an organization needs to establish new programs that are energy efficient. The organization should embark on programs like Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) in developing the GHG reduction measures.
The organization can also reduce the fuel consumption by its vehicles by optimizing the transportation network. Similarly, the organization needs to reduce its use of brown energy (energy from fossil fuels like natural gas, petroleum products, and coal) and increase the use of green energy.
The use of renewable energy sources like solar energy, hydroelectric power, or geothermal helps in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by an organization. Water and geothermal energy are used to generate large amounts of electricity.
A typical organization cannot produce HEP or geothermal energy but will tap it from the national grid. Geothermal power is mainly used in the United States (Geothermal Energy Association, 2011).
Recommendations
The different renewable energy sources described above can be effective in the reduction of the carbon footprint in an organization. However, they have varying characteristic factors that will make one be preferred to the other. The green energy sources include solar, wind, geothermal, and hydroelectric energy.
Nuclear energy is also considered as green energy since it produces lower waste output compared to the fossil fuels. The use of green energy is aimed at producing the same amount of energy as those produce by the brown energy but with reduced amounts of pollutants as the by-products.
Wind energy is common in the desert regions where wind can be harnessed to drive a turbine and generate electricity. This kind of energy is not appropriate for an organization that is not established in windy region.
Solar energy is trapped from the sun’s radiations through the solar cells and converted into electrical energy. This could then be used for various activities in the organization like lighting, heating, or driving power tools. The solar panel is easily mounted on the roof of the buildings in the organization. Its installation is cheaper compared to connection to the national grid for electricity supply. The organization should adopt this energy source to supplement electricity from the national grid.
Nuclear energy is generated from the radioactive decay of atomic particles that combine or disintegrate to release some form of energy. Nuclear energy contributes 16% of the total amount of electricity used globally (ThinkQuest, n.d). This kind of energy is expensive and requires a lot of expertise to be adopted. It also produces some radiations that are harmful to human being (ThinkQuest, n.d). Thus, it is not recommended for this organization.
There are further requirements that the organization needs to incorporate to ensure the success of the carbon management strategies. Firstly, there needs to be leadership support for these programs in the organization (Matthews, 2009, p.2). The management of the organization should recognize the need to have such programs and provide the necessary support.
Secondly, it is necessary that the management involve all the stakeholders of they organization in the carbon management program. It is a collective responsibility and requires the contribution of the employees, shareholders, and even the clients of the organization.
The employees are of particular importance as they are the implementers of the operational strategies that will be developed (Matthews, 2009, p.2). In working towards the reduction of the GHG emissions, an organization needs to be working to achieve some goals.
Thus, another important requirement is to establish the goals and objectives of greenhouse gas reduction. Finally, these requirements and steps would not be successful if there are no good implementation plans. The organization needs to incorporate the carbon-footprint reduction strategy into the plans of the organization.
The Need for Sustainable Development in an Organization
Sustainable development in an organization refers to how the organization strategizes to meet its present needs keeping in mind how it will function in the future as well. It refers to the steps of conserving the resources in the organization so that it ensures a prolonged life of the business.
The conservation of environmental resources is a key factor in the framework for sustainable development (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, p.61). With the increased industrialization, more of the environmental resources like water, land, and air become highly contaminated by the excess waste products from the industry.
The burning of fossil fuels for energy production produces emissions that have contributed greatly to climate change. This poses problems to economic growth and development. In effect, the attention of many researchers has been diverted towards the most appropriate measures of environmental management and conservation.
A business organization that is to survive in the current market must identify and manage the environmental challenges caused by its activities that can influence its future operations. The organization should apply effective assessment methods and measurement tools in managing the challenges.
The decisions to be made by the organization should be based on the analytical measurements so obtained. The decisions that are made on wrong measurements will lead to massive losses at the organization.
In the development of the facilities of the organization, it is important to consider the needs of the modern day life as well as the kind of comfort that the users of the facilities will need. These factors will be incorporated in the design of the building of the organization.
Organizational Objectives, Strategy, and Vision
The hotel management has set a number of goals and objectives to be met. Firstly, it has an aim of reducing the total cost of production and the negative environmental effects by reducing the energy consumption. Secondly, the organization aims at providing healthy working conditions for its employees as a way of ensuring the employees are motivated in their respective tasks.
The organizational also aims at improving the lives of all its stakeholders through extensive initiatives. The satisfaction of the needs of the customers and the other stakeholders of the organization has been given a significant consideration.
To achieve the above objectives, the organization should schedule to take the following strategic initiatives. The organization should purpose to embark on energy conservation measures as a step towards the reduction of carbon footprint. In the design of the facilities of the organization like buildings, there has been a need to adopt energy conservation measures by using kinds of energy that do not generate much pollution into the atmosphere.
The buildings of an organization need to be constructed in a manner that reduces the energy needs right from the construction time to the period of its usage. For, instance, a modern housing facility should be architecturally designed such that it provides warmth when it is cold and becomes cool during the hot afternoon.
The building should be designed in a manner that it does not require air conditioning. This reduces the amount of energy that is used in maintaining the temperature of rooms. The organization should apply this model in designing the guest rooms and the other accommodation facilities.
In ensuring the healthy working conditions for the employees, the organization has to follow the legal provisions that are given that govern the employees at the work places.
The management of the organization needs to ensure that the employees are supplied with safe working equipments and that the working practices in the organization takes into account the employees’ safety (Booty, 2009, p.5).
The management has to ensure that the facilities and equipments of the organization are handled safely so that the employees are not at risk when using the equipments or accessing the facilities; the equipment needs to be stored safely.
There should be close relationship between the management and the suppliers of the equipments and the contractors to ensure that the facilities and equipments are developed that do not pose risks to the users. The management should ensure that the whole environment at workplace is safe for the employees (Booty, 2009, p.5).
It is also important to consider the safety of the other stakeholders of the organization that may have access to the facilities and equipments of the organization.
Management of Carbon Footprint by the Hotel
The management of the carbon footprint by an organization has certain fundamental steps. The carbon footprint will be managed only after it has been measured. Thus, the first step in the management is to develop an inventory for the greenhouse gas emissions by the activities of the organization.
In developing the inventory, the hotel management will decide on what to measure, the method that is to be used in measurement, and how the information so obtained shall be handled (Matthews, 2009, p.2).
The accurate measurement of these fundamental aspects of the carbon footprint will enable the management to develop the strategies for operations aimed at reducing the emissions through identifying the risks and the opportunities that that are associated with the carbon footprint.
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is one of the standard methods that are appropriate in measuring, reporting, and verifying the greenhouse gas emissions (Matthews, 2009, p.2). The data pertaining to carbon footprint of the organization should be determined for some known period, say one year. The fuel consumption by the organization can be used to determine the carbon footprint.
The amount of carbon dioxide emissions can be calculated depending on the energy consumption by company vehicle. Different fuels will produce different amounts of carbon dioxide emissions from equal consumption. The table below shows some of the commonly used fuels in the United States and UK and the respective amount of carbon dioxide that each will produce.
The knowledge of the fuel consumption by a given vehicle over a distance of one kilometer and the total distance covered in a given period will be sufficient in calculating the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by the vehicle.
Adapted from Time for Change
The next step is to understand the risks and opportunities that are identified above. The inventory defined above only identifies the risks and opportunities that are associated with the carbon footprint. It does not provide the details on an organization’s exposure to a market with constraints on carbon emissions (Matthews, 2009, p.2).
The risks associated with climate changes are of great significance to business organizations. The organization should perform a thorough risks assessment and adopt practices that can help in managing the climate change risks. The organization needs to review its internal management and operations systems.
There is also a need to consider the roles of all the stakeholders of the organization in the planning of the strategic operations to manage the risks. The organization should also perform these analyses to understand the opportunities that are brought about by these climate change strategies.
The last step in carbon footprint management by the organization is to act appropriately to reduce the footprint. The organization has to identify the opportunities that can help in reducing gas emissions (Matthews, 2009, p.2).
An examination of the organization’s facilities and transportation systems provides these opportunities of reducing emissions. The above steps should be implemented in order to realize a successful carbon management.
Corporate Social Responsibility in Facilities Management
The management of the facilities of an organization enables the organization to cut down costs and gain competitive advantage in its business (Atkin & Brooks, p.4). It should be the responsibility of every stakeholder in the organization.
The management of the hotel should include employees, the clients, and the shareholders in the decision-making processes that are aimed at ensuring sustainable development. For instance, the clients of the hotel should be aware of the need of the hotel to recycle some materials that are produced as wastes or remains.
The materials that are to be disposed off by the clients should be directed to some well-positioned recycle bin that can be accessed by all the clients. The employees are the implementers of the operational strategies of the organization and should be consulted in the decision-making processes in the hotel.
Similarly, the stockholders of the hotel are key stakeholders and have to be involved in the management of the facilities within the hotel. The waste management programs will also involve other individuals from the community that are not necessarily workers of the hotel like the truck drivers of the city council.
The management has to develop good relations with all these groups of individual to ensure effective management of the facilities of the hotel and ensure proper environmental management. In general, individuals of all categories have to be included in the waste management programs within the hotel (Bilitewski et al, 1997, p.109).
Waste Management Plan
The management of waste by the hotel is encompassed in the environmental conservation measures. In the UK, a government policy governs the operations of organizations that can be hazardous to the environment and stress on effective waste management (Barton et al, 1996, p.35).
The management of the environment by the hotel is a response to this increasing concern about the environmental effects of their activities. The requirements of these responses are outlined in the environmental management system; this provides guidelines and ensures compliance by the organization.
Waste management in an organization will include the processes like ‘the collection, transport, storage, treatment, recovery, and disposal of the waste’ (Bilitewski et al, 1997, p.11).
The organization that is to abide by the provision will draft a waste management plan. The waste management plan can take different forms depending on the organizational design. However, there are characteristics that are common to all the plans.
Firstly, the WMP shows the different types of wastes that are likely to be produced by the organization. This provides insight on the modern technologies that should be adopted in the waste management in the organization (European Commission Environment DG, 2003, p.6).
It should also show the methods of waste disposals to be used, the waste products that can be reused, and those that can be recycled. The waste management plan of the hotel is shown in the following table.
Table 1: Waste Management Plan for HTF General
Most importantly, the hotel management has to take the necessary measures to ensure that it produces little waste products. Reduction of waste, reuse, recycling and disposing the wastes should be equally considered in developing policies of waste management (Choe & Fraser, 1999, p.235). The hotel should order for the right amounts of food products and other materials from the suppliers.
It should have a proper supply chain management to ensure the right amount of raw materials or finished products are at the right place, in the right amount and at the right time. The effective supply chain management will also ensure that the hotel optimizes its transport schedule to cut down the fuel consumption by its vehicles.
This will enable the reduction of the carbon footprint of the hotel. Besides, there is need for the organization to expand the collection sites that it uses to store the waste products temporarily before they are taken to the various destinations.
Simple Cost-Benefit Analysis
Before making any decision in a business organization, the management needs to examine the costs and benefits that are associated with the decision. It is to be adopted if the benefits are higher than the costs (Richard et al, p.1).The benefits that the hotel derives from the general environmental conservation measures are far much above the additional costs involved in implementing the measures.
The reusing and recycling of waste products within the organization helps the organization to cut down costs. Some of the waste products are sold to other users and provides revenue source to the hotel. The plastic wastes are taken back to some company t be recycled.
The hotel can then purchase the reprocessed products at reasonably reduced cost. The long term relationship that the hotel will have with the clients due to the environmental awareness will ensure constant sales that is necessary for the success of the hotel
Similarly, the architectural design of that requires no air conditioning in the buildings may have a higher initial cost. However, the amount of energy that will be saved due such design will outweigh the costs of construction. Thus, all the environmental conservation measures to be adopted by the hotel will have net positive influence towards the success of the organization.
Reference List
Atkin, B. and Brooks, A., 2009. Total Facilities Management. Third ed. West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons.
Barton, J. et al. 1996. Life Cycle Assessment for Waste Management. Waste Management, Vol. 16(1-3), pp. 35 50. Web.
Bilitewski, B. et al. 1997. Waste management. Berlin: Springer.
Booty, F., 2009. Facilities Management Handbook. Fourth ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Carbon Footprint Ltd. 2011. What is a Carbon Footprint? Web.
Choe, C. and Fraser, I., 1999. An Economic Analysis of Household Waste Management. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 38, 234–246. Web.
European Commission Environment DG. 2003. Preparing a Waste Management Plan: A methodological guidance note. European Topic Centre on Waste and Material Flows. Web.
Geothermal Energy Association. 2011. Geothermal power plants- USA. Web.
Matthews, J., 2009. Managing Your Corporate Carbon Footprint – The Benefits Go Beyond the Environmental Impact. Solutions Inc. Web.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2001. Sustainable development: critical issues. Paris: OECD Publishing.
Richard, P. et al. 1994. Cost-benefit analysis. Second ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ThinkQuest. Nuclear Energy. Web.
Time for Change. N.d. What is a Carbon Footprint- definition. Web.
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