The UK’s office sector is being accused of failing to address the amount of energy it throws away on heating and lighting buildings.

Green Alliance, the UK environmental think tank, has said that wasted energy use in five of the UK’s main office sector locations is generating the same level of annual carbon emissions as that of 82,000 cars.

Unused energy in office buildings in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, and the City of London, is also costing businesses over £60 million (€71 million) a year in unnecessary energy bills and could power over 100,000 homes in the UK. In a report, the think tank has said that most of the UK’s commercial buildings are energy inefficient and, that overall, energy consumption per square metre has flatlined since 2002.

Despite the waste, Green Alliance has said that there have only been “limited efforts” put in place to address the problem. Better use of digital technology is one “obvious solution”, accordin