‘Green Guardians’ Marylebone Cricket Club

Article posted by Coliseum, September 2^nd, 2024

Image: Coliseum GSVA

Jason Court knows that turning off the lights does not make an impact on the heat-trapping greenhouse gases but it does help to reflect on how to make the planet healthier. After all, it is all about the intention.

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Court, who is the Estates Manager of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), UK, says that turning off the lights when leaving the room saves energy, reduces carbon emissions and is a ‘Green’ thing to do.

Jason Court brings over 25 years of operational expertise to his role as the Estates Manager at the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), UK. Court oversees a large team responsible for building maintenance, energy budgets and sustainability initiatives.

In an exclusive and short conversation with ‘Coliseum’, Jason Court, Estates Manager, Marylebone Cricket Club, UK, says that the entire issue of turning the lights off is “just a small drop in the bucket and the bigger issue at hand is the air-conditioners and the boilers which are drivers of carbon emissions and this is what we wanted to tackle at the Lord’s”. He talks about what the team at Lord’s did internally to get their heads around sustainability.

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at the Lord’s Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John’s Wood, London, UK. The club, formerly the governing body of cricket, retains considerable global influence.

Lord’s Cricket Ground

The 31,100-capacity Lord’s Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord’s, is a cricket venue in St John’s Wood, London (UK) and is owned by the Marylebone Cricket Club. Lord’s is widely referred to as the ‘Home of Cricket’.

Global Energy Crisis

Jason Court pointed out that the global energy crisis which began as an aftermath of COVID-19 in 2021 proved to be a kind of wake-up call for the entire staff at MCC, including the Chief Executive, “because all of a sudden high energy bills were at work and we were asked to cut down on energy consumption (10 percent)”.

Court and his team were asked to take the help of technology to bring down energy consumption and everybody got into action to come out with a workable plan.

Turning Nose Up

Observed Court, “Generally, everybody turns their nose up when you talk to them about sustainability and it was no exception in MCC. The team felt that why should they work towards sustainability when the MCC has got a Sustainability Manager, in fact the United Kingdom’s first full-time Sustainability Manager in the world of sport. But we decided that each and every employee in MCC should be responsible and work to bring the energy consumption down.”

Mission Mode

Court took a concerted approach to address the goal of saving energy as he puts in, “We made energy saving part of our employee induction program. When you join the MCC as an employee you are told you must turn off your computer at the end of the day, you must turn off your office lights, you must recycle, etc. We publish our energy use every single month by Department.”

The technology that the MCC team deployed for energy saving initiatives “proved its worth”.

Sum-up

Jason Court summed up by stating that the MCC team was so aggressive and focused in their drive to save energy that “we ingrained it into our employees’ minds as to how important it was to save energy and we did reduce consumption by about 14.8 percent, about a million kW hours. The key mantra is to keep telling your staff, keep getting them involved and rely on some internal sustainability and responsibility and it will bring in the desired results. We should use the lights responsibly and intelligently.”

Addressing climate change requires action at all levels, from the international Government organizations all the way to the individual households, and small steps like making it a habit to switch off the lights when going out of the room or switching off the computer will not only help save money but also prevent light pollution.

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