Deutsche Bahn is offering its employees financial incentives to save energy in the workplace, Germany’s national rail operator announced on Tuesday.
A one-time bonus of at least €100 ($102) will be offered to Germany’s 200,000 employees, encouraging them “to be active, to pull all the little and big levers to end a significant amount of [energy] savings,” said director of human resources Martin Seiler.
There are several ways Deutsche Bahn staff can help the energy-saving operation, such as only using lights, heating and air conditioning when necessary “or perhaps using the stairs instead of the elevator” , Seiler said, before adding. , “even small savings add up to a significant amount.”
The bonus could be increased
The bonus will be included in the employees’ payroll and if Deutsche Bahn achieves a specific target, the financial incentive could be increased to €150. However, Seiler did not specify exactly what that energy savings figure was.
He added that the rail operator will introduce other energy-saving measures, such as the replacement of fossil heating systems with alternative heating systems and the removal of exterior lighting at its Potsdamer Platz headquarters in the German capital.
From Tuesday evening, the LED lights on the Deutsche Bahn tower will no longer shine. Only the air traffic control logo and position lights will remain on. Similar measures are being considered for other buildings used by the operator, Seiler said.
Deutsche Bahn hopes to recoup the money through savings
The program is likely to cost Deutsche Bahn around 20 million euros, although the operator hopes to recoup at least that amount from energy-saving proposals.
With an annual consumption of around 10 terawatt hours, the railway operator is Germany’s largest consumer of electricity.
Faced with the drastic reduction in delivery by the Russian energy giant Gazprom, the German government has asked citizens to reduce energy consumption to save gas for the winter.
Meanwhile, a number of landmarks across the country have seen their lights turned off to save energy.
The head of Mercedes-Benz recently announced that the company was preparing to reduce its natural gas consumption in Germany by up to 50%.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and subsequent Western sanctions on Moscow, have sparked an energy crisis that has European politicians scrambling to draw up contingency plans ahead of the most energy-intensive winter.
jsi/msh (dpa, AFP)
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