Energy Saving Tips for Your Business
You can reduce energy use whether you rent or own a facility for your business. Reducing energy use can be as simple as turning off a light when you leave a room or purchasing energy-efficient lighting and office equipment. Doing a bit more could be the addition of sunshades and yearly maintenance of cooling equipment.
Top 6 Tips to Save Energy and Dollars
- Make energy conservation a part of your business plan. Discuss energy efficiency with your employees.
- Educate yourself about your rate structure.
- Know which equipment uses the most electricity, and set priorities.
- Investigate new equipment that is more energy efficient.
- Monitor usage and compare it to historical electric use.
- Building Benchmarking can help you track your building’s energy use with tools to measure and compare your building’s energy use to similar buildings, past consumption, or a reference performance level.
Bonus Tips
- Keep the air conditioner in top working order.
- List everything that uses electricity in your business. The length of the list may surprise you. Include large and small equipment. Do you really need 10 clocks and 5 coffee pots for 8 employees?
- Pick a day to read your meter first thing in the morning, then again at the end of the business day. Record electric usage. Decide upon a second day to read your meter in the morning and at the end of the business day, only this time implement all your energy-saving ideas. Compare the usage for the 2 days to see the benefit of your efforts. (See Watch Your Watts: Read Your Meter.)
Peak Use
MID customers use the most electricity on hot summer days, especially between 4 and 7 p.m. Help MID avoid energy problems by shifting your use to off-peak hours during the summer.