Net Zero Week reminds us to continually challenge ourselves to lower our carbon impact

An extraordinary headline caught my attention this morning: European Power Prices Go Below Zero Again as Solar Output Surges. 

It was in the Bloomberg UK edition and strange as it may seem, as Europe weans itself off fossil power, its solar feed can be so strong during the day that prices drop below zero as the grid struggles to cope. 

The article goes on to say that unless demand shifts, such an occurrence may be more common. It could also mean that the optimum time to charge your electric car is in the middle of the day when prices are low and energy is abundant – rather different from current thinking here in the UK where using off-peak during the night is the best time to charge! 

It’s interesting how we start to adapt to a low-to-zero carbon future.  Established practices unwind. For electric car drivers fortunate enough to have home charging, that visit to the fuel filling station, with its diesel-greasy forecourts, is a thing of the past. Now it’s a case of get home, plug in and charge up. 

But we shouldn’t become complacent. This is only just the start and we need to keep our foot on the gas (figuratively speaking) to drive down carbon usage, as Net Zero Week is reminding us. 

Net Zero Week, which runs 01-07 July, is a national awareness week to remind us all that driving down carbon usage is critical for the welfare of our planet. 

That often means making those changes to habits formed over years – both for businesses and for individuals. Of course, it’s always easy to stick with what we’ve always done – but that way nothing changes. 

So it’s important to reassess what we do as private individuals around carbon usage and how businesses can take steps to decarbonise. 

At Fleet Alliance we have a yearly assessment with Eco3 Partnership to reduce our carbon impact. It’s working. From the initial assessment in 2021 to the most recent in 2023, this has led to us switching to a green energy tariff, reducing our energy consumption by changing our lighting set-up in our Glasgow office, and moving away from an older building in Uckfield and relocating to a more energy efficient building. 

But there’s always more that can be done with analysis and reassessment. We’re currently assisting one of our clients, Edwin James Group, to convert its 230 commercial vehicle fleet to electric. It’s starting with a pilot study to understand the operational implications of the switch from diesel to electric. But the aim is to convert the fleet by 2027 to be fully electric.  

I also noticed that Net Zero Week picked up on our work with the Pinnacle Group to transform its 500 van fleet to electric which I was pleased to see. 

As a company, Fleet Alliance is committed to switching our corporate clients to zero emissions by 2030 as part of our undertaking to the EV100 movement, a group of likeminded businesses committed to making electric vehicles the new normal by 2030. 

But achieving such targets is down to planning, implementation, and analysis of results to achieve improved operational efficiency. 

It’s what Net Zero Week is all about: reminding us to take the right steps towards a decarbonised society. 

If you want help in decarbonising your fleet, then we would be delighted to help. We understand it might not happen immediately. But we can help advise you on the journey – step by step. 

Take a look at our electric fleet hub for more information.