Juggling the various types of charges you have to deal with everyday energy is one of the things that makes owning a business such an adventure. These can include salary and perks for your employees, as well as space fees and utilities.
All of these elements can have an impact on your budget in one way or another, so they should be carefully considered. Using energy intelligently is one method to save money on your operations.
It is the responsibility of every business owner to consider practical ways to make wise adjustments in the workplace. However, it is equally critical that everyone in the firm participate in this energy-saving project.
Staff and other employees should also work together to make a difference in the organization.
Easy ideas and tips
Creating a more energy-efficient workplace is about more than just saving money. Considering improving your workplace’s sustainability, a mission might potentially boost staff morale.
Many businesses are now making it a point to think about how they might cut their energy consumption. Thankfully, with a little forethought and dedication, there are various ways to store energy in the office.
You can save money while also reducing your company’s environmental impact. Many steps can reduce carbon dioxide emissions and lower your company’s electricity bills, whether you’re a small business or a large corporation.
Here are some of our favorite office energy and resource conservation practices:
Lighting
- When you’re not using a light, turn it off. Turning off fluorescent lights, for instance, saves energy, extends lamp life, and lowers replacement costs. Lower or replace your building’s inefficient, outdated, or overbearing lighting.
- Examine new technologies that may require fewer fixtures and/or fewer lighting fixtures within existing fixtures when replacing old lighting equipment.
- Before switching out technologies or reducing the number of lamps, be sure that brightness will remain adequate.
- Use Compact fluorescent bulbs instead of incandescent lamps wherever possible (CFLs). If you’re using CFLs with a dimming system, make sure you utilize compatible dimming technology.
- If your fluorescent T-12 bulbs blow out, consider replacing them with T-8 lights and switching from a magnetic to an electronic ballast.
- Put lighting presence sensors that turn lights on and off automatically based on occupancy. These sensors function effectively in locations that aren’t constantly inhabited, such as meeting rooms or individual offices.
Key tip
Make the most of natural light by turning off or dimming electric lighting when there is enough sunlight to illuminate the interior space. During the day, make sure the external lighting is off.
Heating and cooling
Set up a preventative maintenance schedule for your HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems and equipment. Follow the below points regularly:
- Every month, ideally, replace or clean all air filters.
- Surfaces of heat exchangers, water and refrigerant coils, condensers, and evaporators should be clean.
- Fix leaks in the piping, air ducts, coils, and fittings, as well as at the unit.
- change Insulation, ducting, and piping on damaged equipment.
Replace obsolete motors with high-efficiency motors that have a lower annual cost of operation. Make sure you mention the correct motor size for the job. Use variable speed drives on heavy motor loads whenever possible to cut energy.
Key tip
Consider replacing older chillers with newer, more energy-efficient units that operate at or below.60 kilowatts per ton.
Temperature control
- Set the office thermostat between 65 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit for the day hours, and 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit during unoccupied periods in the winter.
- Adjust thermostats between 78 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit during the day/business hours, and over 80 degrees Fahrenheit during unoccupied hours in the summer.
- Set thermostats to a higher setting when cooling and a lower setting when heating an active building or unoccupied parts within a building, for example, on weekends and during non-working hours.
- During the summer, raising your thermostat by one degree can save you between 2% and 3% on cooling costs.
- To keep preferred temperature settings, consider placing locking devices on thermostats.
- Install smart thermostats that alter temperature settings automatically based on the time of day and week.
Key tip
Verify that thermal set points and operation schedules for controlled equipment are proper in bigger buildings with energy management systems. Propose a retro-commissioning project to recover the functionality of EMS systems that are no longer operating as intended.
Office equipment
- Turn off computers, screens, printers, and copy machines during non-business hours to save energy and decrease interior heat accumulation.
- Make sure your office equipment’s built-in power management system is turned on to save energy during periods of inactivity.
- Ascertain that your screen saver is compliant with the computer’s power management functions and that the setup permits the system to enter power saver mode.
- According to E-Source, utilizing a laptop computer instead of a desktop computer will save you 80-90 percent on energy costs.
- Look for the energy-saving label when purchasing new office equipment. This encourages the use of energy-efficient devices that power down automatically when not in use. It is feasible to save 50% or more on energy.
Key tip
In cubicles, use plug load controllers to control numerous loads such as monitors, task lights, and fans. These gadgets use a motion detector that is also a surge protector for plug loads. When the cubicle is empty, the inactive device can be turned off.
Role of employees
Employees should be educated and encouraged to be energy sensitive and to contribute ideas on how to save energy.
Employee buy-in and participation can greatly affect your company’s energy-saving efforts. Assign a “responsible person” to be in charge of the organization’s and/or facility’s energy practices and to promote them.
This person should collaborate with management to develop energy-saving ideas and tactics; optimizing energy use and costs reduces overhead and operating costs.
Conclusion
To conclude, while certain businesses are more electricity than others, almost every company wants to lower its energy expenses and carbon emissions.
Some require time and money to implement, while others may be done for free in a couple of minutes. Ignoring the basic changes and maintenance can lead to major costs for your business.
For instance, it’s better to look for an AC Repair shop near me as soon as it needs maintenance rather than completely breaking down.
