One of the simplest methods to reduce expenses for your company is to reduce energy use. Reduce your company’s energy bill by making even a few adjustments to your current energy usage habits, and you’ll find that you suddenly have a lot more money to use in other areas – this could be vital to your success and growth. Read on to find out more about how you can use less energy in your business, save money, and protect the environment at the same time.
Conduct An Energy Audit
If you don’t know where your money is being wasted, you can’t begin cutting energy expenditures. The point of conducting an energy audit is to find the places in your company where energy consumption is costing you money. Energy audits that work present the data in a style that’s easy to digest and offer concrete recommendations for cutting back on consumption. Depending on the size of your building, they can be completed in as little as four to six hours. Some commercial energy providers even include energy audits at no cost to their clientele, so it could be worthwhile to see if your present provider offers such a thing.
Of course, simply conducting the audit isn’t enough. You have to look at the data you get from it (even if it is an unpleasant surprise to see just how much energy (and money) you’re wasting) and make changes where necessary. This could be big things like changing energy suppliers or even installing new energy systems, such as solar panels (we’ll discuss this more later), but equally, it could be small things like teaching everyone to turn off lights when you leave a room and understand how to turn two sided printing on Mac which will save paper, ink, and energy all at once.
Change To LED Bulbs
LEDs may cost more at first, but they last 25,000 hours longer than regular bulbs, which only last 750 hours. This means that 33 bulbs will be saved for every LED bought. Also, LED lights use about 30 percent less energy than fluorescent lights, so you’ll use less energy overall, which is exactly what you need to do.
You could also look into lights that can tell if a room is occupied or not, so they only turn on when they are needed. Research shows that the average business could cut its energy bill by up to 25 percent by putting in place these kinds of energy-saving measures. Since they are so easy to implement, this could be an excellent place to start in your energy-saving goals. Once you see the difference this one thing can do, you’ll be a lot more motivated to do more.
Think About Your Heating
A reduction of only one degree in the winter can reduce heating costs by as much as eight percent. In contrast, during the warmer months, you should raise your thermostat’s temperature setting. To prevent wasting unnecessary energy, keep thermostats out of drafts and out of direct sunlight; otherwise, you might be using more energy than you need to.
You should also figure out how to keep heat from going to waste. When the heat or air conditioning is on, keep doors and windows shut. Installing draft excluders and making sure your building is well insulated should be very cost-effective, with a short payback time.
Turn Things Off
There is good news if your business uses laptops; they have a lower carbon footprint and use less energy than desktop computers. However, it’s often the case that they are left on all night, whereas desktops are usually shut down. So this cost-saving, while not completely lost, is reduced by a reasonable amount.
To make your energy costs lower, these laptops should be completely shut down and unplugged when no one is using them, and certainly, this should be the last thing your employees do before they leave the office (apart from turning out the lights, of course).
In fact, it’s not just laptops that are causing a problem like this. Anything that is left plugged in at all times, whether it’s on or not (simply being plugged into a wall socket uses energy even if it doesn’t actually power anything), is costing you in terms of energy. This is why you should implement a rule that everything that can be shut down and unplugged is at the end of every day. Things like your main server, fridges or freezers, and your alarm system will clearly have to stay running, but things like computers, printers, and machinery can usually be entirely shut down until the next day. Do this, and you’ll certainly notice a reduction in cost and energy usage on your next bill.
Install Solar Panels
Costs associated with switching to solar energy are higher up front, but the money saved on power and other utilities is substantial over time. All surplus power can be sold to the utility company in many cases as well, so it is even more cost-effective than you first thought.
As legislation to reduce emissions grows more prevalent, investing in this type of renewable energy source will position your company well. Customers like spending their money with eco-conscious companies, and by showing – in a very obvious way – that you are thinking of the health of the planet, you can gain more customers, make more money, and save on your energy use in one go.
Switch To A Better Deal
Did you know that one easy way to cut energy costs is to switch to a cheaper provider? Suppliers now have a wide range of prices, and some even have different prices for different times of the day. So, it’s a good idea to learn about the different suppliers out there and choose the one that’s best for your business. Remember that finding the cheapest deal is important, but many suppliers also offer free energy management software and other perks, so it’s worth taking the time to see what each one has to offer before making a choice.
(Cover Image Source: Pexel)