Energy Efficiency Made Simple
ENERGY EFFICIENCY GUIDE
Lighting
During the summer months use the days
natural lighting to your advantage. If you
have natural light coming into your building,
only turn on the lights if it is necessary, even turning on just some of the lights, instead of them all will reduce your energy consumption. Switch to energy saving light bulbs. Night time energy wastage, costs your business money, so turn the
lights off at the end of the day. Don’t forget
to turn your sign lights off too if these are not needed.
Equipments
Cut down on energy costs just by raising awareness and changing bad habits within your business. Office equipment – computers, printers, and kitchen utilities –
can be big energy users. We all need to use equipment to run our business, whether it is a glue gun, an office computer, a vending machine, or a
large piece of industrial manufacturing
machinery. As often as possible turn
things off and even unplug them during
the day, when they are not being used.
Investing in newer equipment where
possible can reduce your energy usage.
Standby
So much energy is
wasted on electrical appliances being kept on standby. The ease of powering an appliance back on from standby mode can often be a reason to leave electronics on standby. However when considering the energy consumption of electrical appliances left on standby, there is a strong case for businesses to reduce their costs and consumption by ensuring they fully power down their appliances.
Heating & Cooling
Adjusting your heating or Air Con down by just one degree can cut your energy bills by up to 8%, So be conservative with your temperature settings to minimise costs and energy consumption. Ensure your business avoid wasting heat by closing doors and windows when heating or air conditioning is on. Fitting draught excluders and making sure your premises are well insulated is also cost effective, with short payback times.
Servicing
Annual servicing of your equipment,
can be annoying and on the bottom of
your priority list, but making sure all
your equipment is running at its best,
will ensure better energy efficiency.
Boilers, Air con units, and larger
industrial equipment, can really over
use energy if is not in its best possible
condition. Remember using less energy
will save you money on your energy
bills.
Building
It’s estimated that around 10-15% of total energy costs are wasted by heat losses through buildings due to poor insulation and draughts. If your premises suffers with draughts, before you put the heating on, find the source of the draught, and deal with it. Draughts can be reduced and even stopped with some very low cost solutions. New doors could be a great investment if your doors aren’t quite fitting, but if this is not an option
for you right now a simple weighted draught excluder can be used under your doors.
