Perspectives from a WorldClimate committee member
Daniel Aping, Financial Advisory Manager, shares his impact story
I was absolutely thrilled upon opening my inbox and noting that not only had Deloitte established a WorldClimate committee but that they were asking for volunteers to be part of a regional group for the Caribbean and Bermuda Member firm and there was a possibility, albeit a small one that I could be a part of it all!
Why the excitement you may ask? Well, I was intrigued by our new Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CR&S) activity! During my check-ins, my line Manager would routinely enquire what committees I was a part of and when I responded none, I’d be reminded that I should ideally be part of a CR&S activity, as giving back was is the right thing to do and is central to our firm’s purpose. I immediately thought that this committee was also aligned with my interests and decided to give it a go!
The only thing now was to get selected for it so I reached out to the originator of the WorldClimate Volunteer initiative, our Caribbean and Bermuda, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Co-Chair – Sonja Julien-Wells. I was informed that the Trinidad representative would ideally be a senior professional and would be nominated by the Office Managing Partner (OMP)….who just as it turned out was my line partner.
After a couple days had passed, I decided to reach out to the OMP, who thankfully, as do all our Partners, maintains an open-door policy. After listening to me express an interest in joining the WorldClimate Committee, he identified that it was good that I was interested as I was the one he had nominated.
I then remembered that I would have had multiple discussions with the OMP as I was going through the process of importing a hybrid vehicle from Japan for myself; so he would have well been aware of my interest in clean technology and my willingness to put in the research.
One of the first projects of the WorldClimate committee involved obtaining costings for the provision of a solar solution, to meet the needs of the Deloitte offices throughout the Caribbean; with the aim of achieving Deloitte’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2030. In support of the aforementioned goal, I computed the size of the solar plant that was necessary to meet Deloitte Trinidad’s peak electrical demand, taking into consideration the average number of daylight hours per day.
I then liaised with potential suppliers who identified the angle, direction and design of the roof as key variables; as well as the relative placement of neighboring buildings that were taller than the Deloitte Trinidad’s office. Upon performing an audit of Deloitte Trinidad’s electrical components and providing the square footage of the building to the potential solar suppliers, roof square footage and electrical load factor were identified as potential limiting factors.
Based on the above, it was decided to achieve our goal, focusing on further reducing the power consumption and improving the overall energy efficiency of the Deloitte Trinidad’s office was critical.
Previous improvements had been made through the adoption of LED lighting and AC Units with inverters, along with other energy saving equipment. We now embarked on an energy audit and were fortunate enough to be able to kick this phase off with a walk-through by one of the potential solar suppliers; with the aim of highlighting energy leakages and other deficiencies in our energy architecture.
As with all new experiences this process was an edifying and thankfully enjoyable one.
