You can make big energy savings by upgrading your premises with things like modern lighting and heating, good insulation and taking advantage of renewables. But there are also lots of small, no cost things you can do straight away to start saving.
Our team has put together some simple tips to help you start saving today.
Save on heating
Staying warm at work shouldn’t mean watching your energy bills soar. A few easy tweaks to how you heat your space could cut unnecessary costs. Here’s how to make your heating work smarter, not harder.
- Before turning the heating on, encourage staff to make sure your windows and doors are closed. Leaving them open means you are effectively asking your system to heat the entire planet, and that’s not a great idea.
- Turn off heating in unoccupied areas (such as meeting rooms, quiet corridors and storage areas). Nothing can be gained from heating areas where no-one is going to benefit from it.
- If you do need your heating on, avoid overheating. Try turning the heating down. It’s unlikely that anyone will notice a 1°C change to your thermostat, but this small change would cut your heating bill substantially.
- Once you have set the right temperature, don’t allow staff members to tamper with your heating controls. Instead, give a member of staff responsibility for maintaining your heating settings – and make sure all staff know who the appointed person is. Our downloadable poster can help you do that.
- Ensure heaters and radiators are kept clear from obstructions by not covering them or placing furniture in front of them. This will allow them to heat up your office much more efficiently. This free poster will help.
- Are you keeping heating switched on until home time? You probably don’t need to. Your workplace is probably staying warm long after everyone has gone home. You should be able to switch off your heating much earlier than you think. This free template will help you optimise your heating times.
- Does your workplace have heating and cooling systems? You could make big savings by properly specifying a ‘dead band’ in which neither the heating nor cooling is turned on. For example, heating turned off above 21°C and cooling turned off below 25°C has a dead band of 4°C. A dead band of 0°C or only 1°C will use significantly more energy as heating and cooling systems start to compete with each other.
- Discourage people from using supplementary electric heaters if you can. These heaters are expensive to run. If a member of staff is cold, check to see if there is a nearby draught, faulty radiator or if they can ‘hot desk’ to another, warmer area.
Save on lighting
Big savings can be made by upgrading to modern, energy efficient lighting systems. But even before investing in upgrades, there are a few no cost things you can do to save energy.
- Get everyone into the habit of switching lights off when they aren’t needed, particularly in unoccupied areas like storerooms, corridors and kitchens. For help getting the message across, download our free switch-off campaign posters and stickers.
- If you have zoned area lighting, ensure lighting switches are clearly labelled to encourage staff to turn off lighting in areas where its isn’t needed.
- Encourage staff to open the blinds and use natural light wherever possible, rather than turn on the lights.
- Relocate any objects such as boxes, plants and paperwork that block light entering your office and try to position your desks where they can make the most of natural light.
Other quick ways to save
- Encourage office-based staff to turn their computer monitors off if they are going to be away from their desks for more than 10 minutes – and certainly encourage them to turn off their PCs, monitors and communal equipment at the end of the day.
- More staff working from home these days? Staff thinly spread across your site? Why not try hot-desking and encourage desk-based staff to sit closer together to reduce your heating and lighting costs.
- Get back to basics with a team tea rota. Instead of everyone boiling a full kettle for their morning coffee, take it in turns to make a round.
- Take advantage of energy-saving ‘eco-settings’ on equipment.
- Some electrical chargers continue to draw power when they’re plugged in, so unplug them when not in use.
- Print less. One minute you’re just printing an invoice, and the next you’re shelling out on electricity (not to mention toner cartridges, paper and maintenance). Grab this free poster to remind your colleagues to think before they print.
Switch tariff
At Business Energy Scotland we’re here to help you become more energy efficient – by using less energy and taking advantage of renewables.
But if you’re finding energy bills getting out of control, it may be time to find a better tariff. To help you find out if you’re getting the best deal, our energy efficiency advisors have shared their top tips for reviewing your tariff.
Lay the groundwork for an energy-efficient future
- Measuring and monitoring your energy usage is the essential first stage in any bid to save energy. It’s a skill that every organisation should master – from the quirkiest coffee kiosk to the mightiest corporation. We can show you how with our free energy usage tracker.
- Your staff play a key role in saving energy and we’ve got lots of resources to help get them onboard. From setting up a Green Team, to staff training, to off-the-shelf campaigns, our Staff Engagement Toolkit has everything you need. It covers water and waste too.
- If you don’t have one already, train a green champion. With our free Green Champions training course, they’ll learn new skills and get access to tools to improve your organisation’s environmental performance and save money.
- Conduct an energy audit. A quick site walk around can often reveal energy-saving opportunities. You don’t need a technical background to conduct an energy audit – whether you are a business owner, facilities manager, health and safety manager, office manager or green champion, this free guide will take you through the process.
- Plenty of businesses have already made energy-saving upgrades, so why not learn from their experience? Speak to people who’ve made improvements and find out what worked, what didn’t and what to watch out for. The Green Network for Businesses is a great place to connect with other organisations across Scotland.
If you are a Scottish SME, our team of experienced business advisors and energy-saving consultants are here to provide you with free energy-saving support. If you’ve not already requested support, you can request support here.