It's a
GREEN FUTURE
for ICRTouch
to reduce our environmental impact – here’s a quick outline of some of the measures we’ve put in place.
Our rainwater harvesting
tank currently holds
4,405
litres of water
In total, we’ve collected
and used
313,376
litres of water across the campus
Our solar panels
have generated
71,712
kWh of electricity
the ICRTouch HQ
off-grid
for multiple days each year
Carbon neutral operations for ICRTouch
Here at ICRTouch HQ, we’re always looking for ways that we can invest in making the campus more energy efficient. Colin and the team have always been dedicated to reducing the impact ICRTouch has on the world and over the years, we’ve made significant changes to the way we work.
“As a company that is investing in its future, we feel it is our responsibility to lead from the front and implement renewable energy solutions in the hope that more businesses will follow suit.”
As a business, we’re working towards being fully carbon neutral 2025; and hope that you’ll join us on this journey too.
Autumn 2024
EPOS Buzz
We’ve recently purchased a 2024 VW ID Buzz. The brand new electric vehicle is used by the ICRTouch team to carry out daily errands, from post office trips to Partner transport around the Isle of Wight and more.
By using the electric vehicle, we’re greatly reducing ICRTouch’s overall carbon footprint, and therefore putting us a step closer to reaching our carbon negative goals in 2025.
Summer 2024
E-bikes
We’ve recognised the importance of reducing carbon emissions not just directly at the ICRTouch HQ, but also on an individual level, which is why we offer our team an alternative, more sustainable way of travelling to work. After tonnes of positive feedback and a high demand for the ICRTouch e-bikes, we purchased 4 additional Bosch powered, Scott electric bikes for the team to use.
The e-bikes greatly reduce personal carbon footprint, as well as improving the team’s overall wellbeing through exercise.
Spring 2024
Trees planted at TouchWood
As part of ICRTouch’s ongoing commitment towards a greener future , we’ve made a start on project TouchWood, by planting 600 trees in March 2024.
The trees were carefully planted around the field with the help of our staff, allowing them to immerse themselves in nature. Planting the trees was the first step of aiming towards rewilding and regenerating the land back to its natural habitat.
Summer 2023
Tesla batteries
The ICRTouch HQ is equipped with nine Tesla Powerwalls. With nine lithium-ion batteries in place, we have around 100 KWh of available usable space to store power from our 164 solar panels.
That’s plenty to keep our offices running efficiently and will mean that we’re able to run for periods of time throughout the year without the need for any electricity from the grid at all. Offsetting our electricity usage is a cruical element of our carbon negative goals for 2025.
Spring 2023
The purchase of TouchWood
In alignment with our carbon neutral ambitions, we’ve officially purchased a large piece of land here on the Isle of Wight. The intention is that these 8 acres will be rewilded, regenerating the land back to natural habitats.
Between 400 – 600 trees are to be planted, which could provide an opportunity for the local community and school groups to get involved. Named TouchWood, the space will provide our team the opportunity to immerse themselves in nature and enjoy the natural environment, whilst knowing that we’re dedicated to offsetting our carbon footprint.
Autumn 2022
Automated lighting
To further reduce the amount of electricity that’s being used throughout the campus, we’ve updated the interior lighting at ICRTouch HQ to be automated.
Motion detectors are now in place to control the lighting in the bathrooms, hallways, stairs and walkways throughout the building, resulting in a big reduction in the electricity usage.
Summer 2022
E-bikes for the team
Our commitment to becoming carbon neutral and reducing our footprint over the next few years isn’t just a company aim. It extends to our teams, too.
Part of that includes encouraging the team to be more conscious of their impact on the environment and helping them reduce this. We purchased a fleet of Scott eRIDE bikes which are free for the team to use, encouraging them to leave their cars at home, reducing carbon footprints on a personal level.
Spring 2022
Solar panels & rainwater harvesting
In time for the improving weather, we’ve been adding more solar panels to Building 1 at ICRTouch HQ. Electricity from the panels is now being stored within a series of Tesla Powerwalls; rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. We already have three installed and have another six on order!
Further to our efforts with renewable energy, our new whopping 38,000 litre underground reservoir rainwater tank is now in place. The water in this tank will be collected from our guttering systems and groundwater, reducing the amount we need from the mains supply.
Summer 2021
Upgraded EV charging
We’ve invested in two brand-new ‘Pod Point’ EV workplace charging stations. This ensures staff and guests are able to charge their electric vehicles on site for free.
We hope this will encourage our teams to follow suit and look at purchasing their own electric vehicles in the future. The Pod Points are powered by our own energy harvested from the solar panels.
Spring 2021
30 megawatt hours of energy
Since the install of our solar panels back in 2019, we’ve generated a huge 30MWh of energy. That’s equivalent to 30 tonnes of CO2, which is the same as six passenger cars on the road for one year.
It would also be enough energy to run the whole of the Isle of Wight’s main town, Newport, for approximately 10 minutes.
Spring 2020
Eliminating single-use plastics
To help keep our teams hydrated, we have a number of water coolers throughout the office and one of the few single-use plastics we’d been using were cups.
To combat this, we switched to disposable cardboard cups without PE or PLA coating. These are fully compostable and each cup will last up to 5 days before being disposed of.
Autumn 2019
Updated lighting
All the lighting in the newly refurbished office space and across the whole campus is now LED, using up to 90% less energy and significantly reducing lighting costs. We’ve also cleaned all the skylights to allow for more natural light to enter the building. All windows are now A++ rated thermal energy efficient glass to radiate and retain heat within the building.
Spring 2019
The first solar panels are installed
At the start of 2019, solar panels were installed on the roof of the ICRTouch HQ in Sandown on the Isle of Wight. The move to renewable energy was the next phase in ICRTouch’s sustainable energy strategy, eliminating 5.25 tons of carbon emissions every year, which is the equivalent of planting over 130 trees annually.
51 x 280W solar panels installed on the southwest side of ICRTouch’s HQ, alongside 3 inverters which combined can generate 14.28KW.
Summer 2019
Green Impact Award winner
Throughout the year of 2019, we made a substantial effort to go green and minimise our footprint.
After assessing what our top negative environmental impacts were, we set about changing them and our efforts were rewarded when we attained the Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce Green Impact Silver Award.
and simple things that everyone can consider:
- Install a dual flushing toilet & label the lower volume flush.
- Collect rainwater in water butts to tend to plant life around the buildings.
- Fridges & freezers rated at A+.
- Use instant water boilers rather than kettles.
- Set office heating to only operate during working hours.
- Add signage reminding staff to not overheat the offices, keep lights and equipment switched off when not needed and keep doors and windows closed when the air conditioning is on.
- Electrical accessories and personal items not left on unnecessarily and that computers auto sleep after 30 minutes.
- Switch water heaters and coolers off overnight.
- Run a cycle to work scheme.
- Encourage staff to car share.
- Use the ICRTouch electric car for work duties.
- Use of ICRTouch electric bikes for cycling to and from work.
- Install bee houses, bug boxes and bird houses/feeders.
- Plant wildflowers.
- Educate staff on picking up litter.
- Recycle all cardboard waste.
- Coordinate waste disposal in full awareness of WEEE waste regulations.
- Recycle printer and toner cartridges.
- Reduce the amount of printing and postage (since 2014 our invoicing has been completed via email).
- Implement systems to monitor purchasing patterns and reduce over ordering.
- Annually audit the environmental impact and create objectives to improve.
Find your local ICRTouch Authorised Partner
We’ve used
16,567
ltrs of rainwater.
