5 Low-Cost Energy Efficiency Tips for Businesses

Energy efficiency is good for business. Spending less on your energy bills means more money to invest back into your work. But making your building more energy efficient doesn't have to involve big upfront costs. Here are five low-cost things you can do to start saving energy at your business. 

Put Your Building to Sleep at Night

Do you know what your building is doing overnight and on the weekends? You might assume all the lights are off and the thermostats are turned down, but it turns out that a lot of buildings aren't optimized for the off hours. One company that partnered with Efficiency Smart thought all its equipment was turned off over the weekend, when in fact it was all still on. The company saved $10,000 a year on energy costs just by making sure everything was properly turned off. 

Here are a few key things you can do to reduce energy consumption when your building is vacant:

1. Make sure your computer equipment is off or sleeping. You can use smart power strips so that when one item on the strip is off, they're all off. If you have an IT department, it can remotely implement sleep mode on all computer stations during certain hours.
2. Install a light logger or an occupancy logger. These tools will provide data on your building's after-hours lighting. They can also show trends in certain rooms, like if the lights are always on in the mechanical room but it's only occupied a few times a week. Equipped with that data, you can decide whether to install an occupancy sensor (which automatically turns off the lights when it hasn't detected movement in a certain amount of time) or something like a twist timer (which keeps the lights on for a set amount of time).
3. Set back the thermostat. You can use a building automation system or a smart thermostat to record your building's actual temperature on nights and weekends. This data will help you determine whether you need to make any adjustments. If your building uses a heat pump, your temperature setbacks should be less dramatic than a traditional heating system. That's because heat pumps are designed to maintain a more stable temperature, and they use a lot of electricity to get back up to temperature if they've been set low.

Efficiency Smart can help investigate your building’s after-hours electricity use. We can install light loggers and review your advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) data to help you get a better sense of what’s happening when you’re not there. Equipped with that knowledge, you can choose the next steps that make the most sense for your business. 

Create a Culture of Efficiency

The businesses that are most successful at reducing energy costs have one thing in common: They create employee buy-in. Enlisting your employees to help reduce energy use ensures that your efficiency efforts reach each corner of the business. Your employees might have some unique and effective energy-saving ideas based on first-hand knowledge of their work. 

Each department can contribute to the culture of efficiency. For example, the procurement department might update its standards to ensure that all new office equipment is ENERGY STAR rated, or that all new lighting is LED. You can create "energy champions" and have a competition between departments or buildings to see who can use the least amount of energy in a given time period. 

Use All Your Free Resources

Making your building more energy efficient shouldn't cost a fortune. You can use the free ENERGY STAR Treasure Hunt tool to identify areas of your building that are unnecessarily hogging a lot of energy. You might be surprised at what you find. For instance, what if your thermostat is hiding behind the copy machine? The thermostat might be getting pelted with hot air, so it thinks the building is warmer than it actually is. Or what if your air compressor is leaking, so it's turning on when no one's using it? The Treasure Hunt tool will help you find those kinds of sneaky issues that might be hiding in your building. 

Efficiency Smart is available to help you discover ways to save energy in your business. We provide free consultations to help you identify and prioritize your energy efficiency improvements. 

Beware of Simultaneous Heating and Cooling

It's almost impossible to choose a building temperature that works for everyone. But you can get closer by trying some of these tips:

1. Make sure all the windows are closed when the heat or air conditioning is running. If some employees have their windows open, it's a sign that the building is being over-cooled or over-heated.
2. If your employees are using personal space heaters, it's a sign that you're over-cooling the building.
3. If you use hot water for heating, make sure there are no water valves stuck open.
4. If you have a loading dock, make sure the doors are sealed. If you can see sunlight coming through the door, it's very likely letting cold air inside.
5. Window shades or external awnings can help regulate your building's temperature on sunny days in the winter or summer. By welcoming in the sunshine in the winter, you'll use less energy on heat; by blocking some of the sunshine in the summer, you'll use less energy on air conditioning. 

Do Regular HVAC Maintenance 

Maintenance isn't glamorous, but it could save your business a whole lot of money (and headaches) down the line. Regular maintenance of your building's HVAC systems will keep your space comfortable and ensure that your equipment lasts longer. Here are some key places to keep an eye on:

1. Change all of your air filters on a regular basis. When filters are clogged, your HVAC system uses more energy to do the same amount of heating or cooling.
2. Make sure your intake fans are running smoothly. This is especially important if you've recently had a hail storm or other extreme weather that could damage the fans.

Want More Information?

Efficiency Smart is your energy efficiency partner from start to finish. We help residents, businesses, and municipalities identify and prioritize energy-saving projects. We also provide financial incentives on qualifying projects.

Contact your local key account manager or our customer support team at (877) 889-3777 or [email protected] to get started.