Five Low-Cost Ways for Businesses to Save Money on Energy

October 31, 2024

Energy efficiency is good for business. Spending less on energy means more money for your bottom line, and improving your energy efficiency doesn’t require big upfront costs. Here are five low-cost things you can do to start saving energy at your business.

Put your building to sleep at night

Do you know what your building is doing overnight and on the weekends? You might assume all the lights are off and the thermostats are programmed around business hours, but it turns out that a lot of buildings aren't optimized for the off hours. One company that Efficiency Smart worked with thought all its equipment was turned off over the weekend, when in fact it was all still on. The company saved $10,000 a year on energy costs just by making sure everything was properly turned off.

Here are a few key things you can do to reduce energy consumption when your building is vacant:

Make sure your computer equipment is off or sleeping. You can use smart power strips so that when one item on the strip is off, they're all off. If you have an IT department, it can remotely implement sleep mode on all computer stations during certain hours.
Install a light logger or an occupancy logger. These tools provide data on your building's after-hours lighting. They can also show trends in certain rooms, like if the lights are always on in the mechanical room but it's only occupied a few times a week. Equipped with that data, you can decide whether it makes sense to install an occupancy sensor (which automatically turns off the lights when it hasn't detected movement in a certain amount of time) or something like a twist timer (which keeps the lights on for a set amount of time).
Set back the thermostat. You can use a building automation system or a smart thermostat to record your building's actual temperature on nights and weekends. This data will help you determine whether you need to make any adjustments. If your building uses a heat pump, your temperature setbacks should be less dramatic than a traditional heating system. That's because heat pumps are designed to maintain a more stable temperature, and they use a lot of electricity to get back up to temperature if they've been set too low.

Efficiency Smart can help investigate your building’s after-hours electricity use. We can install light loggers and review advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) data to help you get a better sense of what’s happening when you’re not there.

Create a culture of efficiency

The businesses that are most successful at reducing energy costs have one thing in common: they create employee buy-in. Enlisting your employees to help reduce energy use ensures that your efficiency efforts reach each corner of the business. Your employees might also have some unique and effective energy-saving ideas based on first-hand knowledge of their work.

Each department can contribute to the culture of efficiency. For example, the procurement department might update its standards to ensure that all new office equipment is ENERGY STAR rated or that all new lighting is LED. You can create "energy champions" and have a competition between departments or buildings to see who can use the least amount of energy in a given time period. You can also encourage nighttime security or custodial staff to shut off lights and report any equipment they notice running during off hours.

Use all your free resources

Making your building more energy efficient shouldn't cost a fortune. You can use the free ENERGY STAR Treasure Hunt tool to identify areas of your building that are unnecessarily hogging a lot of energy. You might be surprised at what you find. For instance, what if your thermostat is hiding behind the copy machine? The thermostat might be getting pelted with hot air, so it thinks the building is warmer than it actually is. Or what if your air compressor is leaking, so it's turning on when no one's using it? The Treasure Hunt tool will help you find those sneaky issues that might be hiding in your building.

Efficiency Smart is also available to help your business discover additional ways to save energy and help prioritize your energy efficiency opportunities.

Beware of simultaneous heating and cooling

It's almost impossible to choose a building temperature that works for everyone. But you can get closer by trying some of these tips:

Make sure all the windows are closed when the heat or air conditioning is running. If some employees have their windows open, it's a sign that the building is being over-cooled or over-heated.
If your employees are using personal space heaters, it's a sign that you're over-cooling the building.
If you use hot water for heating, make sure there are no water valves stuck open.
If you have a loading dock, make sure the doors are sealed. If you can see sunlight coming through the door, it's very likely letting air inside. Also, keep these doors closed when not in use.
Window shades or external awnings can help regulate your building's temperature. By welcoming in the sunshine in the winter, you'll use less energy on heat; by blocking some of the sunshine in the summer, you'll use less energy on air conditioning.

Do regular HVAC maintenance

Maintenance isn't glamorous, but it could save your business a whole lot of money (and headaches) down the line. Regular maintenance of your building's HVAC systems will keep your space comfortable and ensure that your equipment lasts longer. Here are some key places to keep an eye on:

Change your air filters on a regular basis. When filters are clogged, your HVAC system uses more energy to do the same amount of heating or cooling.
Make sure your condensing unit fins are running smoothly. This is especially important if you've recently had a hail storm or other extreme weather that could damage the fins.

More tips for your commerical HVAC system

Want more information?

Efficiency Smart is your energy efficiency partner from start to finish. We can work with your business to provide customized recommendations based on your goals. We also provide financial incentives on qualifying projects.

Contact your local account manager or our customer support team at (877) 889-3777 or [email protected] to get started.