There are a number of easy and affordable ways you can slash your electricity bill and make your commercial building more energy efficient, such as sealing gaps in windows and doors, retro-commissioning your building or replacing old heating and cooling systems.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, commercial and residential buildings contributed to 40% of all US energy consumption in 2015. This not only puts a strain on the environment, but it also tightens profits because, let’s face it, energy costs quickly tally up. Here are some ways you can reduce the energy usage of your commercial building.
Recommendations To Make Your Commercial Building More Energy Efficient
1. Rent Energy Efficient Generators, Air Conditioners & More From Cooling Power Corp
Cooling Power has the latest energy efficient spot coolers, generators and more for rent or sale. Our goal is to help keep your business as comfortable as possible while using as little energy as possible. For instance, if you are trying to cool down a server room with your central AC system, you could end up spending a fortune. It’s often more energy efficient to invest in a portable AC unit that operates separately from your central AC.
2. Make Conserving A Part Of Your Office Culture
Create rules that limit office electricity usage, but make it fun by adding incentives through games and prizes. For instance, if your business is dispersed on multiple floors, you could create a competition to see which floor consumes the least amount of energy. Or, have the whole office band together to reduce energy consumption by X amount, and if successful throw an office party during work hours.
3. Retro-Commission Your Building
Retro-commission your building and you’ll reap the rewards instantly. You can commission someone to audit the overall heating, air-conditioning and other electrical systems in order to see how they are performing. Based upon results of the inspection, you’ll be guided in the right direction to improve efficiency, such as fixing leaky valves or cleaning out filters. Little fixes like these can shave off as much as 4-6% of your total electrical costs.
4. Seal All Gaps In Your Building
Fix loose doors, faulty or old windows and seal in any gaps in the walls, ceiling, floorboards and so forth. In doing so you will save a lot of money on energy consumption each month. Check weather striping on all windows and doors, and seal any cracks. You can request a building energy audit through your utility provider, and they will use infrared imaging to pinpoint where heat is escaping out of your building.
5. Stop Running Old Heating & Cooling Systems
Make any necessary repairs and updates to existing HVAC infrastructure. It may be time to replace or repair aging cooling systems that are not considered energy efficient.
6. Switch To Automatic Lighting & Auto HVAC Controls
Auto settings on lights and HVAC systems, as well as anything else that hogs energy, can greatly reduce energy consumption. Start by installing daylight sensors or motion detecting lights around the office. Purchasing smaller task lights for individual desks is a handy way to avoid turning on stadium lights when only 1 or 2 people are in the office.
Install systems that turn all computers to sleep mode when they are not in use for X amount of time, this is yet another way to reduce energy usage.
By simply setting all of your appliances to automatically shut off at the end of the workday, you can cut utility costs by as much as 4% or more.
7. Upgrade Air Conditioning Thermostats
Maintaining the same exact temperature isn’t easy and results in your system regularly turning on and off, which consumes a lot of energy. Thermostats that allow dead bands are more energy efficient than traditional thermostats, because they are not set to one particular temperature. A dead band thermostat allows you to set a range of temperatures, such as 69 to 75 degrees, or whatever you see fit. Adding this type of thermostat can reduce energy usage by 3%.
8. Fix Leaky Ductwork
If your ductwork is leaking it could cost you an unexpected fortune. Recent studies have found that leaking ductwork results in 10% to 25% of leakage in commercial buildings. Checking over existing ductwork and making repairs as needed pays for itself.
9. Look For Energy Efficient Programs In Your Community
Your business could benefit from energy efficient financing programs, but first your community has to lobby to make them a reality. Many emerging programs, often instituted by third-party businesses, will pay for energy efficient upgrades through your property taxes, as well as “on bill” through your utility provider.