Commercial buildings can reduce their carbon emissions by a third by the year 2020, creating significant savings on energy bills, according to the Carbon Trust.
The trust suggests that a net benefit of £4 billion pounds could be made by implementing energy efficiency measures on all 1.8 million commercial buildings in the UK.
A recent survey from the Confederation of British Industry revealed that a number of businesses are already implementing their own energy efficiency measures in a bid to reduce their carbon footprint and the associated costs. Over one-third of businesses chose to switch their energy supplier in the past year.
Recommendations for achieving the targets were given including the installation of lighting and heating controls and, after the year 2020, the installation of ground source heat pumps and triple glazing as standard.
Stuart Farmer, head of buildings strategy at the Carbon Trust, said: "Commercial and public buildings offer the UK a big bang for its carbon reduction buck. But it wont just happen on its own; energy efficiency needs to be the first and second priority."
He added that measures need to be put in place to ensure that the UK reaches its carbon reduction commitment. These included a programme in conjunction with energy suppliers to "install simple, low cost energy efficiency measures in SME buildings".
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