Running a business can be expensive, which is why saving costs wherever possible is essential. While electricity prices can increase and there’s not much you can do about it, there are ways you can reduce your energy consumption which can help you lower costs. And by reducing your businesses energy consumption you can also reduce your impact on the environment.
If you’re a small business, every expense matters. And when it comes to your electricity, those costs can add up quickly. Everything from office equipment and computers to refrigeration and lighting can add up on your electricity bill.
Consider how you’re currently using energy. Do you have office lights that are turned on everyday? Are all your employees working off desktops or even multiple monitors? Or, perhaps your workspace is always cold, which means you have heating running all day?
Luckily, there are many ways you can save on your energy usage and costs, and many don’t require a big investment. If you want to avoid your energy costs eating into your profits, here are our tips for saving on energy.
Small changes
You might be surprised how much energy you could save just by making small changes to how you use energy within your business.
- Turn off computers, monitors and printers at the end of the day. Remind employees to turn off computers and printers before they leave work.
- If possible, switch to using laptops instead of desktops, as they use less energy.
- Instead of using screensavers, set computers to turn off after 15-20 minutes of inactivity.
- Reduce your printing use by sending emails or sharing files digitally instead.
- Turn off lights when not needed. Try to utilise as much natural light as you can during the day to reduce your reliance on lighting. Place signs to remind your team to turn off lights when they leave a room.
- Close doors to prevent loss of hot or cool air. This includes both internal and external doors.
- Avoid having heating or cooling on all day. Don’t turn it on in the morning unless necessary, and turn it off for the last few hours of the work day.
- Use curtains or blinds to insulate against heat or cold.
- Keep refrigerators relatively full with bottles of water to improve efficiency.
- Get your team involved. Often the small changes to energy usage simply require a change in employee behaviour in order to execute.
Low cost improvements
Once you’ve considered the small changes you can make to your businesses energy consumption, it may be worthwhile looking at other options to reduce energy costs. There are also some effective energy saving changes you can make that require low cost, but can provide good long-term savings.
- Switch to LED or CFL bulbs as they are more energy efficient.
- Install timers or programmable thermostats in order to better maintain temperature control.
- Change air conditioning/heating filters regularly to ensure optimal efficiency of systems.
- Replace worn door seals on refrigerators to reduce energy loss.
It’s a good idea for any business to take a closer look at your energy costs, but especially for small businesses, where every cost can make a big difference. There are many ways to save electricity, but first you need to identify where you may be using excessive electricity and where you may be able to cut back.
If you’re struggling to reduce your business energy usage during these colder months, check out our recent blog on efficient heating in winter.