Reducing Energy Costs & Consumption
When it comes to operating a commercial property or facility, ensuring that your heating and air conditioning systems are reliable and efficient is essential for employees and customers alike.
If your business operates in a large commercial building, you may find that your electric bill accounts for a relatively large portion of your monthly expenses. Additionally, the global effect of commercial energy consumption is a common concern when it comes to commercial building operations.
There are things you can do to cut back on your building's energy use. Here are some tips:
- Monitor your building's energy use for maximum efficiency. This means checking and updating your building's commercial energy consumption on a regular basis in order to ensure you are not wasting energy or using excessive energy. Keep these things in mind when assessing your commercial building energy use:
- Adjusting your building's operational timing can make a big difference in your energy bill. For example, it is not necessary that you heat or cool your building to levels that are optimal to employee comfort during non-business hours. Therefore, you may want to reset your thermostat to save on electricity during off hours.
- You may utilize occupancy sensors that will turn off unnecessary systems in unoccupied areas.
Optimize your Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system
Your HVAC system can account for up to 60 percent of your commercial building energy bill. Therefore, it is important that your building's boilers and/or chillers are checked regularly by a professional and maintained for optimal performance.
Check the controls of all of the operating systems in your commercial building. Outdated technology, improper programming and malfunctioning control indicators could all contribute to providing an inaccurate account of how efficiently your building's operational equipment is running. You may need to replace, reprogram or upgrade your equipment controls to ensure your building's operational equipment is running most efficiently.
Update your fixtures with the most advanced technology
Replacing old windows with energy efficient models, using new lighting fixtures and employing modern construction techniques to upgrade your building's efficiency can greatly reduce energy consumption.
Carry out a cost assessment on fluorescent tubes of either 36 watt or 18 watt value. Remove the tubes and replace them with equivalent LED tubes. The return on investment is quite good over a period of years and your energy consumption during the normal hours of operation will be reduced dramatically.
The bottom line is that almost all of the conservation measures discussed here represent good investments. Most will not only save you money but will also enhance both the aesthetics of your office/facility and the productivity of your workers.