Business - Energy Saving Tips
Overall
- Establish your baseline energy use. Go back through your utility bills and chart monthly demand and consumption. This will give you a point of reference to compare future utility bills once your plan is in effect.
- Understand your energy consumption by knowing when energy is used and what equipment is using it.
- Understand your energy rates and how you are billed by your utility so that you can make the most of the energy you do use.
- Identify and eliminate waste energy.
- Take advantage of new, efficient technologies when buying new or replacing old equipment.
- Engage your employees in your energy conservation efforts.
- Track your monthly billing demand and consumption and compare to your baseline so that you can demonstrate the success of your plan.
- Celebrate your success by communicating with those involved what has been achieved.
Office Equipment
- Use the “sleep” or “standby” option on your computers to reduce energy usage during periods of inactivity.
- Shut off office equipment such as photocopiers, monitors, scanners and printers when not in use. Use a power bar to help make this easier.
- When replacing any office equipment consider the most energy efficient models. Look for ENERGY STAR® qualified products.
Heating and Cooling
- Reduce temperature set points whenever the building is unoccupied after hours and on weekends and holidays. Programmable thermostats can help make this easier.
- Keep doors, windows, and loading docks closed when heating or air conditioning.
- Maintain heating and cooling systems as per manufacturer’s instructions and change filters regularly.
- Keep heating and cooling ducts, radiators and baseboards free from obstruction.
- Minimize heating and cooling of unused areas.
- Check condition of seals on doors and windows and replace if necessary.
Hot Water
- Fix leaking plumbing fixtures as soon as possible.
- Insulate exposed hot water piping.
Lighting
- Turn off lights when not required.
- Take advantage of natural light as much as possible.
- Use light coloured paint on walls to reduce the lighting requirement.
- Make sure light fixtures are clean.
- Use energy efficient LED bulbs.
- If replacing or buying new fluorescent light fixtures look for high efficiency T5 or T8 fixtures.
- Keep outdoor lighting to a minimum. Automatic timers, photocells and motion sensors can help make this easy.
Other equipment
- Check air compressors and lines for leaks and repair as soon as possible.
- Ensure only required equipment is powered on at any given time.
- Keep kitchen equipment maintained and in good working condition.
- Be sure to turn off exhaust fans when not required.
- When buying new equipment or replacing old equipment, look for the most energy efficient models. Look for products with the ENERGY STAR® symbol.
