Ashridge Business School is working with CloudApps sustainability software to monitor and assess all aspects of its sustainability footprint, to precisely identify energy usage and trends, in the effort to achieve outstanding ‘green’ standards.

CloudApps will also act as an educational resource for the many leading international business people and organisations that attend Ashridge. The business school is the first beneficiary of the CloudApps Foundation, an initiative which voluntarily offers its services, time and resources to the wider community.

CloudApps sustainability and energy technology will monitor and assess usage of electricity, fuel, waste, water and associated carbon emissions right across Ashridge’s campus. Results from CloudApps will be a core learning tool for the teaching of sustainability and social responsibility, which is incorporated within most of the school’s programmes. As a result, Ashridge will use CloudApps to help other businesses instil sustainability within their organisations.

CloudApps will capture and allocate both consumption and costs for heating, cooling and lighting as well as those for corporate travel from the college’s faculty, students and non-academic staff. Having also recently achieved CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) accredited provider status; CloudApps will allow Ashridge to prepare its CDP 2011 disclosure report.

Ian Downie, Ashridge’s Facilities and Maintenance Manager, explained: “This programme will enable us to easily assess our energy outputs so that we can identify areas where we can strengthen the sustainability and energy efficiency. Instead of poring through spreadsheets, this will give us more specific information for more pointed and flexible analysis.

“In the past year we have made significant strides forward in improving our energy efficiency. The results of the CloudApps work will help our efforts to further reduce emissions, to support sustainable practices across our supply chain – and in achieving ISO 14001, the international environmental standard.”