Whether you are a business owner, facilities manager, want to impress your boss, or save the environment, cutting your company’s energy bill in half would be great. I have listed a few ways that you can make significant savings to your energy bill and are sure to keep your boss happy for a few weeks, and if you’re in the UK I’m offering a Free Survey so you don’t have to work out the savings you can make on your own.
The Futures Bright, The Futures Fluorescent
Out with the old and in with the new, swap old incandescent lights for new fluorescent ones. As you know incandescent bulbs work by running electricity through a filament, the filament offers resistance which turns the electrical energy into heat. The heat makes the filament glow white hot and this is the light. Heat is not light and this wastes a lot of energy.
A fluorescent bulb is slightly more complicated, I’ll try my best not to bore you, and give you the basic version. Fluorescent bulbs work by electrons reacting with mercury inside the tube, the mercury atoms become excited and as the return to their unexcited state they release photons of light. We cannot see that light however until it collides with the phosphor coating inside the bulb which creates visible light.
Because this process does not produce as much heat it is much more efficient, in fact a fluorescent bulb can be between 4 and 6 times more efficient than an incandescent bulb. That is why you can buy a 15-watt fluorescent bulb that produces the same amount of light as a 60-watt incandescent and can also have over a 20,000 hour lifetime (if you invest in a high-efficiency bulb).
Switching to fluorescent can reduce the electricity you use to light your building by 75%, considering that over a quarter of your building’s energy is used on lighting this is a great area to start saving energy.
Passive Infrared Sensors (PIR)
The easiest way to save money is to stop using lights that you don’t need, using sensors to control when lights are on/off can save your business money every year. Installing a PIR in rooms that aren’t in constant use, such as toilets or corridors, is relatively inexpensive. These sensors detect the level of ambient light in a room, so during the day when plenty of natural light is filling the room the lights are kept off. When the light level falls and people enter the area they are detected and the lights turn on for a period set by you.
Voltage Optimisation Transformer
A voltage optimisation transformer reduces the voltage entering the building by inducing voltage in the opposite direction, which also reduces the current. Most office appliances work fine when the voltage has been reduced, some are even suited to it. The Carbon Trust has a great document showing you how to work out your possible savings, it is perfectly reasonable to expect a 5% saving on your total energy consumption.
Note: A Voltage Optimisation Transformer is different to a Step-Down Transformer which cannot save you nearly as much money because they do not reduce the current.
With energy bills continuing to rise it is a good idea to make changes now to save energy. If you want to know more about your options you can get a Free Electrical Survey from Project Skills Solutions, an engineer will come to your office/business and look for ways you can reduce your energy consumption and provide you with a report including a cost analysis of how much you could save.