A business energy audit is the best way you can assess your business’s energy efficiency and reduce energy costs. Regardless of the size of your business, a business energy audit can be a great way you can find energy waste, which is crucial with the recent increases in wholesale energy costs. Remember that even those businesses that have switched to the right energy deal can be losing a lot of money. In most cases, this is due to a lack of energy efficiency.
Many businesses are losing money because of high energy costs, so it makes sense to learn about some summer energy saving tips that can help you save on your business energy. Before you decide to implement any energy-saving solutions, you need to do an energy audit so that you can know the areas that need improvement. This article discusses what you need to know about a business energy audit.
Understanding A Business Energy Audit
A business energy audit can assess your current electricity and gas consumption against your current business requirements to identify energy waste. An energy efficiency audit for a business can find out anything that utilizes energy on your business premises by considering any staff habits that can affect overall energy efficiency.
In other words, a business energy audit looks at everything, such as the structure of your building, the equipment you use, and many more. This can give you a good understanding of your current energy consumption. This can go into your energy saving plan and identify specific areas where you can make business energy savings.
A business energy audit can include several things. Some of them are lighting in the building, energy-intensive activity, computer usage, insulation or heat loss, hot water, musicalnepal heating or cooling systems, and employee awareness.
Conducting Your Business Energy Audit
The first step you can take to become more energy-efficient and save money on your business energy bills is to understand how your business utilizes energy. This can require you to walk around your business premises and make notes.
It’s crucial to make sure that you analyze any potential risks before you decide to walk around your business premises and adhere to safety measures. There are a couple of things that you need to check while walking around your business premises.
This includes checking your heating and cooling equipment. There are several things you need to think about as you try to figure out how your business premises are cooled in the summer and heated in the winter.
You need to find out how long your boiler has been used and whether or not it’s a good idea to upgrade it. You should also check if your heating system is maintained regularly, the availability of adjustable radiator valves, whether or not your employees use electric heaters, and if your heating system is on a timer that matches the building occupancy. Other things worth considering include the heating of unoccupied areas during the day, opening doors and windows when the air conditioning system is on, the maintenance schedule of the air conditioner, and many more.
They can seem like obvious things you need to check, but most business owners tend to overlook them, especially when they are busy handling other important things in their business. Therefore, you need to take a notepad and write down these things and check the areas that you need to fix.
The other thing you should assess is lighting. Lighting can be a fast and cost-effective way you can lower your business electricity bills. You need to check any lights that are on in unoccupied rooms, such as meeting rooms, hallways, and bathrooms. You can also find out any LED light bulbs that you have installed, motion sensor lighting installed in intermittently used rooms, accessibility of manual switches, and how often windows are cleaned.
When it comes to electrical equipment, you need to check if they are energy efficient. Also, assess whether or not your employees switch off their computers when they are leaving for their homes. Check the cleaning and maintenance schedule of the refrigeration equipment, the rating of fridges on the energy efficiency scale, the energy efficiency of the elevators, the inclusion of energy efficiency guidelines in new employee inductions, and many more.
Lastly, you need to walk around your building, but safety is crucial in this section. It means don’t do anything that is unsafe. You can check the way your roof has been insulated, any damp marks on ceilings or walls, any leaks at windows or doors, and how the automatic doors close. Also, you should assess if the loading doors are left open and whether or not the building has double-glazed flowerstips windows.
The Benefits Of Carrying Out A Business Energy Audit
It’s a legal requirement for businesses that employ more than 250 people to do business energy audits. While SMEs can decide not to do a business energy audit, they can significantly benefit from this exercise. Several studies have indicated that businesses are losing a lot of money due to wasted energy.
Energy efficiency improvements are usually affordable, so your business can take the necessary steps to be more energy efficient. Remember that even something as easy as changing lighting can be a good energy-saving solution to reduce your expenditure. Also, a business energy audit can also be beneficial to the environment. This is something that many businesses are interested to be involved in. Taking steps to lower your energy usage can reflect well on your business because it allows you to show that you are environmentally friendly.
In conclusion, a business energy audit can discover opportunities that you can take advantage of for greater energy efficiency. But putting your outcome into action can go beyond just implementing projects. In most cases, you may need the services of a qualified professional to help you to understand how your business is utilizing energy. A professional can also help you identify opportunities for lowering energy consumption and improving energy efficiency for your business.
