If you own or operate a large commercial building, surely one of your biggest expenses is energy consumption. What’s worse is that a lot of energy used is simply wasted.
In fact, over 30% of the energy used accounts for waste. Much of this is from the HVAC system. The rest of the waste doesn’t need to happen. You can cut costs on your commercial building drastically with a few simple steps.
Tips to Save Energy in Your Commercial Building
Reducing energy use shouldn’t be difficult, once everyone is on board. That’s why you need to start with education.
Education
Once you have a list of ways to conserve energy, everyone needs to understand that they all play a role. Perhaps a meeting with each floor or business in the building, with a list of items you have decided on.
Involving everyone in the plan allows people to feel they are a part of it and they will be more easter to participate. Make it fun by having challenges with rewards.
Regular Maintenance and Inspections
An inspection from an HVAC professional will make sure your system is in top working order. There can be damage or other problems that you are unaware of costing you a lot of money.
Dirty or clogged filters, ducts, and coils, vents with blockages or debris, and simply parts that are worn out make your system work harder than it needs to. You should have these inspections at least twice a year.
Turn Off Everything You Can
Turning off all the equipment in the building once everyone leaves will cut power consumption greatly. Many printers, computers, coffee makers, and other equipment normally found in offices have timers, lights, and panels that still draw energy, even when not in use.
Turn off all the lights, as well. Lights and equipment will cut your energy costs by a considerable amount.
Replace Old With New
Change out your old fluorescent lights with LED lights. They will last much longer and they use a fraction of the power. Also, upgrade to energy-efficient appliances, as well.
If you have an old office refrigerator, water cooler, or vending machines, they use a lot of power. Same with printers, scanners, kitchen appliances like toaster ovens, or old microwaves can also drain the energy.
Go Smart Technology
Look into the latest controls and programmable thermostats as part of your changes to reduce energy consumption. Smart building controls can remember what to do, even when people forget.
These can turn off the lights, the heat, the air conditioning, or whatever else you want when no one is there. Control these remotely, including monitoring, and preset commands.
Insulation
By changing or adding more insulation to the walls of the building it will reduce the amount of heat loss. It also helps keep the building cooler in the hotter months.
Extra layers of insulation around your HVAC, heating and cooling pipes, and electrical outlets will also help reduce waste by maintaining efficiency levels.
Windows
Energy-efficient windows can help save a lot of money in energy bills and cut back on waste. Adding more windows to cut back on electric lighting can go a long way in helping you save, as well. Daylight lighting is more cheerful and productive.
Contact The Experts
The expert team at Fusion Electric can help you find plenty of ways to keep your costs lower and your commercial building running in top form. Contact us today to find out about saving you can take advantage of to keep your commercial building operating below cost.
