Organisations should continuously be looking for ways to become more energy efficient to not only help the environment but to save money as well. At LCE we have a range of services to help our clients become more energy efficient, from benchmarking your current energy usage to our Retained Energy Management Service (REMS) which provides you with a dedicated account manager and team of subject experts to assist with all your energy management requirements.
Below are some useful tips on simple ways to save energy, the old adage ‘every little helps’ very much applies to energy efficiency and small changes often all add up to make big differences:
Understand your energy usage – This can be as simple as taking and monitoring your meter readings, do they stay the same month on month or do you see any spikes? Know what your energy is used for? – Do you have lots of machinery or a large building that needs heating or cooling? Understanding your energy will help you identify where you are able to make savings.
Engage employees – It is important to train and inform your employees about how much energy they use, the costs this involves and how reducing energy usage can benefit the environment. There are simple ways you could help increase awareness within your business including; a company dashboard accessible on an intranet or poster throughout any staff only rooms or as a standing agenda item at regular team meetings. Increase staff engagement through the implementation of initiatives, incentivising staff to be a part of saving energy solutions, in turn reducing costs within the business. The greater employee’s engagement the easier it will be to manage your energy saving and make lasting change.
Review your contracts – check supplier rates. If you have not switched your energy supplier in the last three years, make sure this is one of the first things you do! There is an extremely good chance you will be able to improve your rates.
Investment in new technology – by having the most up to date equipment, the lower the running costs. Update to energy efficient products where possible. Where appropriate, equipment such as computers should be switched off when they are not in use, this could save a considerable amount of money over time (British Gas state that switching off a single monitor when it is not in use and over the weekends could save your organisation up to £35 per annum). Technology can be key to energy saving, PIR sensors on lights so they only come on when movement is detected as well as systems to control room temperature are just two examples. Quite often investment in technology provides a significant return on investment and pays for itself even where initial investment may be significant.
Reduce lighting wastage – find out what you use and when! One very easy way to start to save on energy is by switching lights off when not in use. You can include “Switch it off” stickers in appropriate places around your business to remind people. Energy-saving light bulbs can not only help you save energy bills as they use 80% less energy than standard lamps, they also last a lot longer so will not need to be replaced as often. You should also make sure that your employees make the most of natural sunlight by opening window blinds.
Reduce heating costs – – a small reduction to the temperature in every room will ensure considerable savings each year.
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