words Al Woods
Running a business can be strenuous. It requires a lot of energy, time and money to be dedicated to the company and the products and services you provide. One of the expenses to your company can be the upkeep of a physical company and owning and operating a store or company property use up a lot of your resources.
But don’t fret, because there are many ways that you can adjust your business to be more energy-efficient and save you money on things like electricity and gas.
Inspection
Before you start making any changes, have someone inspect your workplace. When you are considering ways to improve your energy usage and keep operating costs down, you should first have a professional inspect your place of business. Energy experts will be able to audit the amount of electricity, gas, and energy you are using and relay how much that is costing you. According to the guide at Energy Seek energy consumption has gained increasing importance given the global energy crisis although most offices do their best to conserve energy, their efforts are most likely misguided since they don’t truly understand where their biggest energy consumption lies. Once you have taken the necessary first few steps to examine your energy expenditure, you will be able to make the changes that will best suit your company.
Timers
Installing timers in your business for the use with lights is a great way to save money on your electricity bill. This will help you manage larger businesses and operating buildings that run only at certain times during the day by being able to access lights in a quick and efficient manner. This works with other things in your business or on company property such as outdoor sprinklers, fans, and general electronics. This can also save you time in closing procedures when you are the one in charge of ensuring everything is set when you leave.
Thermostats
Similar to lights, having thermostats installed in your place of work will save you a lot of money without having to constantly turn on or off the systems yourself. Thermostats are integral parts of any business to managing the temperature of your buildings without having to worry about it yourself. This passive method of saving electricity will allow you to simply set the temperature you see fit in your business and go on with the rest of your work tasks.
Insulation
In order to save money when it comes to the heating and cooling systems in your business, insulation works hand in hand with your thermostat and entire HVAC system. Without the proper insulation, the temperature in your business is susceptible to fluctuating to the temperatures outside. This will cause your heating or air conditioning to have to work extra hard to sustain indoor temperature to what you set on your thermostat. Ensure that you are not losing warm or cold air along with your money by checking all entryways for proper insulation.
Passive Use
When you leave your business for the day, you will shut off your systems. But some of your electronics can be running passively even when turned off. These include computers, monitors, chargers, printers, telephones, etc. If you are a small business, it does not sense to have timers built into your electronics system for automated shutdown. Instead, you can purchase and use surge bars or power strips. With these, you have an option to plug in a variety of electronics and once you close your business, so, you easily shut off the bar with the flick of a switch.
Lighting
Lighting is a great way to ensure that your business is able to save on electricity. You’ll want to examine all the lights you have and see what you can do to adjust that to be more energy saving. Installing LED lights helps to save you a lot of money and will generally last longer as well since they are energy efficient. If you own a small store or business, try to use the daylight by installing and using large windows as well to offset electrical light usage. Through this, it has a potential to drastically cut down on your electricity bills.
If you are trying to find ways to save money with your business, look into the operational costs. A lot of the time, these things get overlooked as it is not something you consciously make note of when you run your company’s day-to-day numbers. There are a few ways you can impact and improve your bottom line, regardless if it is major changes or minor tweaks. Every little bit helps when it comes to running your business.