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Tips to Help Commercial Buildings Save on Energy
Tracking the energy consumption of a commercial building can be a very challenging task for owners or facility managers. However, this is one area that should never be taken for granted.
It was found out that average buildings waste most of the energy they consume and this means a total waste of money and resources. The amount even gets higher if you are using older systems.
To ensure that your money won’t go down the drain, here are a few energy saving tips you can follow:
Tips to Save on Lighting
If you are still using fluorescent lighting in your building, talk to your electrical contractor to know how to shift to a more efficient solution. If your budget doesn’t allow it yet, you can reduce the number of overhead lights you are using and encourage the use of more efficient task lighting for every workspace.
You can ask your employees to switch off the lights if there are parts of the building that still get adequate natural daylight. It will help you reduce your lighting expenses for 10% up to 40%. To ensure that there is maximum daylight available inside the building, see to it that the skylights are clear and clean, blinds are also open and clean and other daylight sources are used to their fullest potential.
Finally, don’t forget to turn off the lights if you are not using them and ensure that all employees know this, including your office cleaners.
Tips to Save on Office Temperatures
The thermostat is one of the best ways to lower your cooling and heating expenses because you can program this to go off or on according to your working hours. You can also alter in based on the season. Also, you can try to adjust the cooling and heating by several degrees so that it doesn’t get noticed and help you save more money.
Don’t forget to check the vents in the office to ensure that they are clear. Build up of dust can mean 254 more energy is required for proper distribution of air.
You should schedule the yearly maintenance for your heating and air conditioning units so they can run at their optimum level.
Tips to Save on Office Technology
Always activate the sleep function on electrical items and computers if they are not in use. If possible, electrical items should also be turned off because they can still consume energy even if you put them on standby mode.
If standalone office equipment is being used, you can limit it to one for every 10 users or more. It will help lower the costs by 30% or 40% for hardware maintenance, consumables, electricity use and hardware replacement.
When you replace your office items, look for some opportunities to shift to products with better energy efficiency. For instance, laptops are more energy efficient compared to standard desktop computers. You can also ask your office cleaners about the products they can change that are more cost-effective and if they can use green cleaning techniques to save more energy.
Talk to Courtesy Building Services, Inc. to know how their commercial cleaning services are both cost effective and energy effective so you can enjoy more benefits.