Ideas Here Spotlight: Summer 2023

We’re always looking for bright ideas to improve things at Torque, and through our Ideas Here scheme, anyone can submit their suggestions for improvements. If the idea gets taken on board, the employee with the bright idea is awarded £150!

Every quarter, we’re taking a closer look at an Ideas Here submission that we’ve implemented, and the positive impact it’s having on the business.

The Bright Idea

Earlier this year, Operations Manager James Senkiw submitted an idea to save both money and energy at our Castleford site.

The car park at Castleford uses street lamp-style lights at night, which worked on a PIR (Passive Infrared) sensor. This meant that the lights would switch on automatically when it got dark, and would stay on all night – even when nobody was on the site!

James’ idea was to look into ways we could keep the lights off after everyone has gone home, saving on electricity costs and making sure energy isn’t wasted.

The site closes at 10pm, so James suggested that we switch the lights off at 10:30pm, after all employees have gone home.

The Positive Impact

We implemented the idea earlier this year. Our experts in the Finance and Facilities teams have calculated, on average, how much money Torque can save by turning these lights off overnight: £573 per annum.

But this isn’t just about saving money. By saving power throughout the night, we can contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth’s atmosphere. We’ve worked out that the power saved from switching the Castleford lights off at night could result in a reduction of approximately 12.7 metric tons of CO2 per year.

As James’ bright idea has proven, even the simplest ideas can have an important financial and environmental impact!