7 Ways Your Business Can Reduce Energy Consumption

Reducing energy costs not only helps you keep your overhead low at your place of business, but it also has a positive impact on the environment. On the one hand, you don’t want to be paying outrageous amounts of money for your electric bill and on the other hand, you have aspirations of making your business greener. You can have both, but it’ll take a concerted effort on the part of your company to communicate and practice green habits. Here are the ways that your business can reduce energy consumption.

Remote Work

Fewer people in the office means that there are fewer people to consume electricity. This also means that you can reduce the size of your office space. If you require your staff to be in the office a few days a week, or you offer a fully remote work environment, you can leverage these practices to feed into your green initiatives that reduce energy consumption. Remote employees are more likely to be diligent with their home electric bill than they are with the energy consumption at an office building because they can see the impact their habits have on the bill.

Improved Demand Management Systems

Sometimes you need a lot of electricity and sometimes you don’t. If there are only a handful of people working in your office at a time, all the lights don’t need to be on, or they could be triggered by motion instead. Think about bathrooms where you go in and the lights turn on. Consider when you’re walking through the refrigerator aisles of updated businesses and the lights only turn on when you walk by or open the refrigerator doors. These are small examples of how demand management can be used.  There are companies out there that can help you look at your processes end-to-end to come up with solutions that make sense for you.

Generate Your Own Electricity

Want to save money, or make money? Make your own electricity. Many companies, especially those in production are adding solar panels and other methods of generating electricity to their buildings. This means that you’ll not only be able to cover a significant amount of your own energy consumption, but you’ll also be able to earn back some money if you produce more than they use. And with big incentives for installing solar panels, you can’t go wrong.

Teach Your Employees Good Habits

Education goes a long way to reducing energy consumption. Leaving computers on overnight can draw a lot of unnecessary energy. Turning lights on when you aren’t going to stay in a conference room is wasting energy as well. Creating incentives and implementing good change management practices can help your staff understand the benefits of jumping on board with your green and energy-efficient habits will go a long way to getting buy-in from them as well. You need to look at your staff as partners with you in helping you reach not only your business goals but also your energy efficiency needs and goals. Look at them as stakeholders.

Make Your Building More Energy Efficient

Having a huge warehouse with older systems and poor insulation is a recipe for disaster when it comes to energy efficiency. Look to things like shades for windows to keep the temperature more consistent with less input from the HVAC system. Consider adding more insulation in hard-to-heat or cool spots. You can also look to making your equipment more efficient and upgrading your machinery where it makes sense.

Use Compact Fluorescent Lights

If you’re still using incandescent bulbs in your building, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to save big bucks on energy costs. Not only do compact fluorescent bulbs use less energy when they are turned on, but they also last longer meaning you’ll purchase new ones less often.

Leverage Sunshine

If you have big windows, there is no need to light up your office like a Christmas tree every single day. Leverage the brightest times of day to let in natural light so that you don’t need to use as many overhead lights. While some employees might prefer a desk lamp or work light in their space, if it’s bright enough, they won’t need it. Think about the ways that you can use the sunshine to your advantage on cloudless days.