Many businesses in the UK waste a lot of energy. One of the largest overhead costs for many businesses comes from heating, electric, and water systems.
This is enough reason to encourage you to take effective measures to lower the energy consumption of your business.
Considering that there is the climate crisis and many other energy pricing crises, you need to implement these measures right away. This article discusses the top tips to help you to lower your business energy consumption.
Building and systems
Regardless of how great your systems are, the drafts and leaks in your property can cause your property not to be energy efficient. Therefore, you need to invest in double-glazed windows and insulation to reduce your energy consumption.
It’s also a good idea to do ceiling insulation. This is an important part that assists to keep your property during the cold season and can cool it in summer. Also, loft insulation can keep your indoors cooler during summer.
You can also find some roof tiles that are better at reflecting the rays of the sun or you can decide to paint your roof using heat reflective paint.
This can decrease the amount of heat that is absorbed in hot weather conditions and exerts less pressure on your cooling devices.
Solar panels are also a good long-term strategy that can help you save on energy costs. Therefore, it’s a good idea to make sure that the energy utilized in the business is renewable and clean.
Solar panels can have expensive upfront costs, but you can recover this in the long run. Once you install the solar panels, there are few maintenance problems and they can begin to reduce your monthly energy bill.
You can also consider smart design elements. This is especially true if you decide to build a custom commercial property.
Some of the energy-smart design elements include rooftop green areas and reflective outside mirrors.
Planting trees outside of your business can also offer shade and even keep the property cool during summer. The good thing is that trees can purify the air and help you create a healthier environment for your employees.
Depending on the location of your business, you can decide to cover up the windows using blinds.
This can halt direct sunlight from getting into and heating the property. This can especially be helpful on south-facing windows.
You can also choose to shut off some areas of your premises that you are not using. If you have an extensive business premise, then you can shut down some areas and carry out the work in designated portions of the building. This can reduce operational costs as well as optimize operations.
Every time your machinery, system, or equipment breaks down, you should see this as the chance to invest in better and more energy-efficient options.
At first, this can seem an unnecessary cost, but your business can depend on more efficient tools that are durable.
You can also utilize a production chain control system to reduce waste. Keep in mind that an automated system or inventory software may assist you to minimize waste and overproduction for your business. When you do this, you can decrease the production cost and streamline your operations.
Find clean energy and keep up with HVAC maintenance
It’s crucial to find the best energy supplier at Utility Bidder who can give the right customer support and services. If there is a problem with your billing, then a good energy supplier needs to resolve it right away.
It’s also important to find a good balance between price and quality. Energy prices keep on changing and they will continue increasing. Therefore, make sure that the potential supplier guarantees to provide fixed rates and clean and renewable energy.
You can also consider partnering with other businesses in your area. By connecting with other business owners, you can assist each other and even share some energy-saving tips. Before you connect with other business owners, ensure that you look at your industry’s standards.
Besides this, you should keep up with the HVAC maintenance. It’s worth noting that the HVAC system for your business is one of the most important pieces of equipment, but it also consumes a lot of energy. You can reduce energy costs by cleaning and maintaining the HVAC system.
Some of the things you can do for your HVAC system include carrying out preventive inspections and maintenance, cleaning air filters regularly, cleaning the heat-exchanging surfaces, and replacing defective insulation systems.
Because an HVAC system consumes a lot of energy, it can be a good idea to use fans rather than an air conditioner.
This can assist you to maintain a good work environment by regulating humidity levels, temperature, and air movement.
If there are any leaks in the HVAC system, then make sure that you address them right away. Besides helping you save a lot of cash on energy bills, quick repairs can prevent some costly structural problems, such as mold and rot.
Smart thermostats can also be a good investment for your business. The good news is that you can find innovative motion sensors, mobile and web applications, and usage monitoring features on many smart thermostats to assist you to regulate the temperature with minimal errors or effort.
Some of them are programmable and can adjust temperature settings automatically depending on the time of the day.
You can also keep your thermostat at a specific temperature during summer and winter. You should note that adjusting the thermostat setting during summer even by one degree can usually save at least 3 percent on cooling costs. Therefore, you should program the temperature using the smart thermostat.
For example, when the building is not occupied, such as non-working hours and weekends, you can decide to adjust the temperature accordingly. It also makes sense to lock your thermostat so that several people should not use it.
This can help you to control the temperature because the preferences of people tend to vary. Some people can choose to get a certain temperature that can consume a lot of energy.
