We caught up with Lorraine Sebata, Director of Impact at Stink Studios, to discover how they achieved 25% reduction in energy use and 22% drop in CO2 emissions. Here is what Lorraine shared with us:
We're a creative advertising and digital experience company and we're determined to leave the industry better than we found it.
At Stink Studios, we've always believed in the power of responsible practices, but a profound shift occurred three years ago. Our leadership team expressed a deep commitment to addressing environmental impact and fostering diversity. This resonated throughout the organisation and laid the foundation for a journey that focused on ethical conduct, organisational transparency, and reducing our environmental footprint.
Our first challenge was to identify the areas we should measure and tackle. Recognising that energy consumption was a key area for improvement led us to measurable.energy.
The data on energy consumption and emissions caught our attention because as we all know ‘you can’t manage what you can’t measure’.
The capability to control equipment automatically and remotely was an incredible bonus. It meant that we could have a real impact, achieve savings and report on all this great work in one swoop. The solution perfectly complemented our goal of achieving a more energy-efficient operation.
After installing the sockets, we received training on the dashboard and the data available, and we have been using the reports since. Being able to access data at any time is really convenient. I like to see how much energy we’re using and saving, and what impact that’s having on our emissions.
The capability to map and group sockets allows us to report on different areas of the office and spot any hot spots. We share the office with Stink Films so this is quite useful to us.
We often share the initiatives we’ve taken internally and with others to raise awareness. Dashboard is a great visualisation not just for our team but external reports and presentations. The ability to compare data from different time periods is perfect for highlighting our savings.
The team was apprehensive about the automation at first due to fear of not having power when needed. However, this was quickly forgotten once they found out about the override buttons.
Now, the automation is our favourite feature. It’s quite exciting when we’re in the office and can hear the relay go off and see the automation in real time. I think it was just surprising to people that it really does kick in at the time that it's supposed to. Incredible!
The automation is also where the savings mostly come from. After the initial baselining, we implemented rulesets to turn off all devices from 6pm to 7am on weekdays, and always on weekends.
This helped us achieved a:
The LED lights on the sockets are also helpful for raising awareness and encouraging behavioural change. Shift in behaviours is something that will take a lot of work and time, but visual ques like these make it more achievable.
If you’re early in your sustainability journey, start small. It can be really overwhelming since almost any aspect of business can be reviewed and improved upon. So, start with something you can measure right now and go from there.
But if you feel like you’ve made a good progress and want to implement bigger change, work with other experts. At Stink Studios, we recognise the invaluable role of partnerships. Collaborations with teams such as measurable.energy have provided expertise and solutions that significantly contributed to our achievements in sustainability.
Expand your network and lean on it!