3 Easy Ways to Conserve Energy in your Commercial Property
Conserving energy where possible is essential for fostering a healthy and sustainable environment. With the holidays coming to a close, it’s important to find ways to conserve energy in your commercial building to ease your mind off the stress of winter maintenance. Not only will you save money, but you’ll also be benefiting the environment!
1. Adjust the Temperature
A great way to conserve energy is by programming your building’s thermostat to be set at different temperatures depending on whether employees are there or not. Energy.gov reports that lowering your thermostat by 10 to 15 degrees for 8 hours per day will help you see an energy usage reduction of 5 to 15 percent per year on your bill.
Thus, when everyone has gone home, you can save energy by lowering the temperature and then raising it again for the next day.
Also, think about letting the sunshine in by opening blinds and window covers to warm the space. To prevent heat loss, make sure to close the blinds at night before you leave.
2. Unplug Machinery
When machinery in your building is not being used, unplug it to reduce energy costs. For example, microwaves, printers, computers, and TVs can all be unplugged without harm to the equipment or your wallet.
If there are machines that need to remain powered on, purchasing Energy Star appliances is one of the simplest ways to save money and protect the environment at the same time. Energy Star is the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency, administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
3. Turning Off Lights When Not in Use
Lights in restrooms, supply closets, and conference rooms do not need to remain on, so make sure to encourage building inhabitants to be conscious of their energy usage throughout the day and turn off lights when not in use.
Installing Energy Efficient Sensor Lighting is an even easier alternative. The lighting will only remain on for a certain amount of time and then shut off until there is motion in the area again. A quicker way to upgrade lighting is to swap your current bulbs with LED bulbs.
Additional Ways to Conserve Energy
These are just a few ways that will aid businesses in conserving energy, and more ways are always around the corner.
Now, many commercial buildings are moving towards becoming “smart buildings.” This means their building is equipped with sensors to monitor the light, heating, and cooling usage.
There are also HVAC units that work to reduce unnecessary maintenance trips to properties by sending notifications to technicians that detail the issue. Technicians can then prioritize the alerts without having to visit the property, which cuts down on both time and expenses for you.
