How to Save Energy in the Workplace

As the cold weather rocks the UK, business owners across the country are no doubt concerned about the rocketing price of their energy bills during these chilly months. Implementing some simple energy saving measures into your business operations can save a lot of money in the long run, with the added benefit of reducing your carbon footprint and environmental impact.

You need to be able to strike a balance between energy efficiency and catering to the comfort of your employees. Afterall, you still have a duty to ensure the workplace maintains a suitable temperature. However, with a few simple, non-intrusive changes to how your workplace operates, you will be able to create a more energy efficient environment without sacrificing the comfort of your workforce. Here are just a few things to consider for your business:

Switch Off Electronics

This may seem like an obvious point, but you would be surprised at just how much electricity is wasted by computers, monitors and printers alike when they are left idle. Computers and laptops in stand by mode may use less power, but they’re still consuming about a third of the power of one that’s in use. Make sure your employees switch off their computers and/or laptops in the evening before they leave. Consider making it someone’s job to ensure everything is switched off before they leave the office. If you have everything plugged into power strips, then these can be switched off at the mains as the last job to do before you lock up for the night.

Switch off Electronics

Draught Excluders

Heating a workplace can be a costly job, especially if you have a large building that requires various heaters throughout the space. An awful lot of heat is lost under the gaps in doors, so make sure you eliminate the possibility of losing all of that heat by installing draught excluders.

Natural Light

To help save on electricity usage, try to make the most out of the available natural light. This might be trickier during the winter months with the sun setting much earlier in the evening, but you should try to let as much natural light in as possible. If you have anything blocking the windows, such as plants or large pieces of equipment, consider moving things around so the window is completely clear, allowing as much natural light as possible to spill into the building.

Double Glazing

If possible, you should consider getting all of the windows in your business fitted with double glazing. Double glazing is an incredibly efficient way of retaining heat in a room by reducing the amount that can escape outside. With double glazed windows, you should be able to turn the heating down by a couple of degrees in the building, saving more energy and knocking some pounds off of the heating bill.

Man Installing Double Glazing

Motion Detector Lights

Let’s face it, when you work in a building full of so many people, not everyone is going to be great at remembering to switch the lights off when they leave a room. Whilst everyone remembering to do this would be ideal, it’s just not realistic. By investing in motion detector lights for certain rooms like toilets and corridors, you can be assured that the lights will always be switched off when no one is occupying these spaces.

Encourage Staff Involvement

Trying to be more energy efficient shouldn’t be a one-person endeavour, it will work the most effectively if everyone gets involved. Send around a staff-wide newsletter or hold a meeting about the new energy-saving measures that are being put in place to get everyone on board with the changes; encourage everyone to offer suggestions for how things could be improved further. By making it part of the work environment and culture of your business, employees will be more likely to get involved and become active in saving energy.

Programmable Thermostats

Heating and air conditioning units should be used efficiently throughout the year to save energy. The easiest way to do this is by programming them to turn on only when needed and keep them off at times when the building is not going to be occupied. Most modern units will be programmable in this way, so when you get them installed make sure you consult the manual and learn how you can programme them to work in the most energy-efficient way possible.

Air Conditioner and Heater from Air Conditioning World

At Air Conditioning World, we provide both heating and air conditioning units. Whether your premises needs commercial heating systems, an under ceiling air conditioner or a ceiling cassette air conditioner, we are certain to have a unit available to suit your needs.

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