why does the gov have to spunk our £ on lighting

deano72_2

i got a price for some spot lights that are used mainly as a decorative affect but shine on some posters on the walls.so to cut a long story short the original fittings/track come to £3700 & run 20w lamps in each fitting.i have recomended a replacement option that will do the same job for £1500 & run 11w lamps in each fitting,this price would be for all the lights in the building & bareing in mind theres probly every type of these offices in every town in the uk,so thats a lots of offices nationwide....now i know the the gov dont buy the lights but if they only knew they was throwing our £s & energy down the pan,bet they wouldnt do jack about it...wonder how many other simular circumstances there is.could save the country squillions..

more_money_for_me

I agree with you I think councils and government departments could be a lot more efficient. The question is who makes sure it happens. In a normal business the owner or shareholders say we want to do the same thing but for 5% less (as the company I work for has done). There isn't that same pressure for government departments as there is always an option to increase taxation in one form or another. If there is any threat to cut money, it is always a case of we'll have to cut services, rather than lets just cut some dead wood and be more efficient.

foxgloves

Agree. I work for a council which is currently imposing swingeing cuts, including jobs. The amount of energy wasted must be astronomical. Partly this is down to individuals though. I have lost count of how many of hundreds of times I have switched off lights in offices/rooms that are not being used, switched off fans (sometimes 3 running at once) when no-one is in the room, plus hundreds of PCs left on standby all night every night because that's when updates/uploads are done. I've pointed out that having one part of the council issuing greener living guides & encouraging households not to be wasteful clashes massively with its own enrgy wasting practices elsewhere, but so far, no sign of any big campaign to improve matters.

deano72_2

i know where your coming from fox,a guard goes around switching on all the lights at 7am (including offices that are empty approx 30% of them & thses are big offices)then turns them off at 7pm thats becuse hes told to by the client eg civil servants in this case