Energy efficiency for other businesses
If your business doesn’t fit into any of the other categories, we’ve put together a list of general measures that any business can use to become more energy efficient.
Being proactive about energy efficiency measures and taking steps to reduce your consumption could result in bills that are 18-25% lower, getting any investment money back in less than a year and a half.
Simple no cost changes
Heating, ventilation and cooling
Avoid opening doors and windows when the heating is on, because the thermostat will sense a change in temperature and fire more heat
Obtain feedback from staff – encourage them to report draughts, or if they are too cold or too hot. This will minimise the amount of people who use additional small heaters or open windows to regulate the temperature.
Make sure furniture doesn’t obstruct radiators and fans as the space won’t heat evenly.
Reducing the temperature by 1°C can save enough energy to print over 40 million sheets of A4 paper.
MYTH: Turning the thermostat to maximum warms up a place faster. TRUTH: No, it just overheats.
If you overheat through overusing lighting and other equipment, the ventilation has to work harder in turn to maintain the temperature, which uses more energy.
Take advantage of natural ventilation and free cooling with doors and windows and halve costs. Make sure you don’t do it in such a way that it poses a risk to your business or staff.
Align cooling times with working hours and occupancy, so you don’t overcool or overheat out of hours. A temperature reduction of 10°C is sufficient during the night for most buildings.
Decide on an outdoor temperature range (for example between 19-24°C) when neither heating nor cooling will be turned on.
MYTH: Leaving air conditioning on overnight reduces energy costs as the system stays at the required temperature. TRUTH: It only needs a fraction and the temperature naturally cools during the night anyway.
Lighting
Use simple light switch stickers so everyone feels confident that they are turning off the right light! The Carbon Trust website also has printable posters and labels you can use.
Keep windows, skylights and light fittings clean to let through as much natural light as possible.
Office and small power equipment
Encourage all staff to turn off equipment at the end of the day. This saves energy costs, but also lowers cooling costs and extends the lifespan of the equipment. A single computer left on 24 hours a day costs £45 per year. With turn off and standby features enabled you could reduce it to £10.
Place heat-emitting equipment like printers in a cooler area of the office (e.g. north side of the building) with good ventilation. Clean parts and maintain regularly for optimum efficiency.
Using less paper leads to a more efficient workspace, less printing, less storage and less damage to the environment (through overuse of natural resources and incorrect recycling).
Catering
If you provide catering facilities to your staff, raising awareness of energy efficiency measures could reduce bills by 25%. Advise catering colleagues to:
Not switch on appliances too soon
Avoid using kitchen equipment to warm the space
Switch off cooking appliances immediately after use
Avoid overfilling saucepans and kettles
Use lids, keep refrigeration unit doors closed and defrost regularly
Switch off lights and extraction fans when not in use
Make sure refrigeration units are well ventilated and not placed against the wall
Straightforward low-cost changes
Heating, ventilation & cooling
Turning the heating down by 2°C could save you £140 on a £1,000 bill, so make sure to do so where reasonable.
Clean and replace filters with the recommended regularity from the manufacturer.
Make sure you get boilers serviced as it could save up to 10% on costs.
Ensure you review the performance of your ventilation and air circulation systems. If you’re not getting the desired results, there might be a fault with certain parts that you could easily replace. A system that is well maintained every year could lead to a 60% increase in efficiency.
Lighting
Use timers to match working hours and/or occupancy of the space to automate the process so you don’t have to rely on others.
Occupancy sensors in toilets or lesser used areas save 30% to 50% on lighting costs, while daylight sensors turn lights off when there is enough daylight.
Install sensors that dim the light rather than switching it off completely.
Replace conventional bulbs with CFL (Compact fluorescent lightbulbs) – they last 8x longer and use 80% less. What’s more, LEDs could give you 30,000-50,000 hours of use.
Office and small power equipment
Consider installing plug-in timers which you can find for under £10 online or in a DIY store. You can use them to automatically cut the power at outlet outside of working hours. Make your staff aware in case they are working late.
When buying new equipment, account for energy efficiency ratings and not just the initial cost. Buy equipment rated at least A+.
DID YOU KNOW? Laptops are more energy efficient than desktop computers and allow your staff to be more mobile. For example, they could take notes or share presentations on a laptop rather than use the printer when they go into a meeting or work remotely (if possible) which leads to a lower carbon footprint.
Building fabric
- If you can insert a 1p coin on its side between a window/door and its frame, fit draught strips.
Long-term savings from the right investments
For larger savings from energy efficiency you might need to spend some money upfront, especially when you’re planning refurbishment already.
Heating
Insulate to minimise heat loss. You could get a payback in the first few months by insulating pipes, boilers and tanks.
Upgrade your heating controls. For example, use a compensator which works based on external weather to regulate the temperature. Or use an optimum start controller which optimises heating based on the time it takes to reach desired temperature. These two devices could give you a return on investment in about two years.
Create zoned areas with different thermostats and different default settings.
Building fabric
Heat loss in a building occurs 9% through walls, 8% through floor, 22% through roof, 26% through windows, 35% through ventilation and air circulation. Investing in better insulation can lower these costs, as well as increase the value of the buildings.
Did you know that insulating pipework can reduce energy losses by 70%?
Improve window glazing. The most efficient is triple glazing, or you can also coat windows for insulation.
Catering
Buy energy rated A+ equipment, preferably with built-in sensors that automatically switch off when not in use.
Consider heat recovery from the kitchen if feasible to be used for heating water.
Action plan
Start by making a note of your current consumption. You can access that data in your My Opus Energy account.
Are there any variations during the year caused by weather or business seasonality you can see? Make a note of them and think about what could cause them. For example, if your business is affected by the weather, you could save energy by investing in better insulation and save money in the long term.
Last year’s or Last season’s energy use will be your benchmark: what you will compare your results against. A smart meter will give you access to a lot more consumption data so you won’t have to wait a whole month to reap the results of small efforts. Remember to compare a specific month or year (for example, December 2018 with December 2019) to make sure the improvement in efficiency isn’t influenced by other factors.
Set a goal of how much you’d like to reduce your consumption by. Make it realistic and set a target date when you’ll measure it again to track how you’re doing.
Choose the steps you’ll take to achieve those goals from the categories above and involve your employees. To motivate staff, try to make it into a competition. Why not offer a free meal out to the team that comes up with the most energy saving ideas or commit to donating the savings to a local charity that they choose?
Finally, make the changes and measure the results. Communicate all improvements with your staff, no matter how small, to encourage an energy efficient state of mind.
When you’re ready to make more changes to become energy efficient, come back to this action plan and start again.
The facts, figures and advice have been sourced from the Carbon Trust, Energy Trust and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (formerly known as the Department of Energy and Climate Change).