Our CSR commitments: Reducing our energy consumption

Our campaign dedicated to our 15 CSR commitments continues by addressing the issues surrounding our energy use.

 

Participating in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions

Reducing the carbon footprint of our activities is a major goal of our environmental action plan, the Sixense Green Program.

To this end, we have implemented a structured energy saving approach applicable to all our business units, which allows us to simultaneously reduce operating costs and contribute significantly to the reduction of our environmental footprint.  

 

By adopting environmentally responsible practices

Reducing our energy consumption is achieved through multiple means: 

  • Adapting the operation of equipment to field conditions
  • Implementing plans to reduce the use of heating and air conditioning in offices
  • Installing energy saving systems in offices (automatic management of lighting and water distribution) 

 

Our actions on the ground

Committing to an energy sufficiency plan

Sixense sobriété énergétiqueAt the end of 2022, we implemented a series of measures to reduce our annual gas and electricity consumption.

Some of these measures are structural or based on good practices adopted by our employees: reducing office temperatures in winter, not turning on the air conditioning below 26°C, continuing to install LED light bulbs, programming lights to switch off, systematically putting equipment such as monitors and multifunction printers on standby.

 

 

 

 

Using solar energy to power our equipment and reduce its energy consumption

Sixense capteur autonome à énergie solaireWhen we install our monitoring systems on our customers’ sites or buildings, it is not always easy to connect them to the power grid.
However, they need to be powered continuously to transmit measurement data. In the past, we used fuel cells. Our engineers have now implemented more economical power solutions using solar panels and a configuration tool to optimise their installation (type and inclination of the panel, characteristics of the backup battery, etc.).

We have also redesigned some of our equipment configurations to make them more energy efficient. Modems consume much less energy than mini-PCs, so we replaced the latter with new solutions connected to the cloud.

 

 

Training our teams and encouraging eco-driving

Formation Sixense à l'écoconduiteIn 2022, we launched eco-driving training, which was rolled-out by several of our business units in Morocco, Australia, UK and France. This approach will be extended to other parts of our business. At Sixense Monitoring, 40% of our employees have improved their driving style to be more fuel efficient.

In the UK, 10 employees who drive company vehicles have installed the Lightfoot device, which monitors driving behaviour (speed, sudden acceleration, braking, turning, idling) and displays green, orange and red indicators to signal whether driving is appropriate. The system provides a reward and recognition system for the best drivers to motivate them.

In the United States, Sixense uses fuel cards to measure the fuel consumption of its company vehicles and encourages good ecodriving
practices. This approach has yield fruit: in the first three quarters of 2023, we used 1,300 litres less petrol than in the same period last year.

At Sixense Monitoring we were looking for a solution to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions related to travel. We suggested to our employees that they reduce their speed on the motorway to 120 km/h (in France, the speed limit on motorways is 130 km/h) and respect the principles of ecodriving. Driving at 120 km/h reduces emissions by 12% to 15% compared to 130 km/h. We are proud that more than half of our employees have agreed to adopt this practice. The feedback has been very positive, as it has been easier to implement than expected. Moreover, employees are also applying it to their personal car journeys. We hope that others will follow, before we go to 110 km/h!Martin Beth - Managing Director - Sixense Monitoring