2. Saving on your appliances<\/a><\/p>\n 3. Saving on equipment<\/a><\/p>\n 4. Saving on heating<\/a><\/p>\n 5. Saving on water<\/a><\/p>\n 6. Saving on lighting<\/a><\/p>\n 7. Reminding staff<\/a><\/p>\n 8. Extra savvy tips<\/a><\/p>\n Before we start, we’d like to say that switching provider is the fastest and most dramatic change you can make to save on your business energy- and results are fast. Click below for a free quote using our comparison service (the process takes under a minute!)<\/p>\n Energy efficiency in home appliances are no secret, and people often try to upgrade theirs whenever possible to save on their electric costs. In the workplace, however, this sometimes isn\u2019t the case. It\u2019s definitely a large investment to buy a state-of-the-art, A+++ fridge (which would still pay for itself over time), but even just looking at marginally higher ratings when your current fridge meets its untimely end is worth consideration. Dishwashers are another appliance that deserves some thought. You can find a short article from Green Choices explaining what the labels on your appliances mean here.<\/a><\/p>\n This is a short one. Microwaves often use more energy to power the little clock on the front than it does to actually cook food, just because it\u2019s on all day. This can be fixed easily.<\/p>\n People are creatures of habit, and love to fully fill up the kettle before making a cup of tea. However, did you know that the kettle is one of the most energy eating appliances in the kitchen? Boiling a litre or two of water for a cup of tea is a waste, and doing this over and over again during the day really racks up unnecessary money on the water bill and the electricity bill. Try boiling a mugs worth next time, and tell your staff to do the same!<\/p>\n This one isn\u2019t very obvious, but a lot of company kitchens have their fridges at almost freezing temperature. This isn\u2019t necessary, and could be costing you a bomb- especially as a restaurant or other place with large food storage costs. The most common recommended settings are somewhere between -25.5\u00b0C and -22\u00b0C for freezers and 1.6\u00b0C to 3.3\u00b0C for fridges.<\/p>\n Even if you\u2019re within the recommended temperature range, turn your fridge down by 1\u00b0 and you’ll reduce energy consumption by 2% to 4%!<\/p>\n Workplace fridges and freezers are often not given as much care as they require, mostly because it\u2019s one of those things no one wants to volunteer to do. That being said, taking the time once every 6 months to a year to give it a good clean can save your company a lot of money. Other tips we think would benefit your business greatly are:<\/p>\n For the average fridge freezer, the savings of cleaning it alone could be around \u00a362.00 per year, but this could be much higher if your company follows all of these points.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a care home, gym, hotel, or anywhere else that uses a washing machine often, it saves a lot of money to do larger washes less often than the other way around. This makes sense when you think about the amount of energy it\u2019d take to fill the washing machine with water, heat up the water and spin. Those three things don\u2019t change, whether there\u2019s a single tee shirt or an entire school football team\u2019s kits in the wash- so it\u2019s a lot more efficient to let the basket build up a bit.<\/p>\n Most of your washing can also be done at a much lower temperature and still give you exactly the same results, which will save a lot over time too.<\/p>\n Power management settings are a powerful thing. A lot of computers are set to go into hibernation during periods of inactivity but if not, we\u2019d recommend a quick look through the control panel to make sure. We\u2019d recommend enabling automatic sleep mode for computers that are inactive for longer than 10 minutes.<\/p>\n The hibernate feature in a laptop or a PC is good in out of work hours, but turning it off at the socket is even better.<\/p>\n Make sure all the other office equipment (like display TVs, fax machines, printers, projectors photocopiers) are set to energy saving mode if they have it. A lot of these also have settings which turn them off after a period of inactivity, but again, turning them all of at the switch before leaving is even better.<\/p>\n Never use screensavers, they\u2019re a monumental waste of energy! There\u2019s no point in keeping your screen on for the sake of it.<\/p>\n By reducing the brightness of your monitors from 100% to 70% can save up to 20% of the energy that the monitor uses!<\/p>\n This is something people often do in their homes but take for granted in the workplace. A master switch could make it easier to turn everything off when shutting down for the night, which will save you a lot of time and money. If not, even just doing the rounds after closing time, making sure everything is off, will be worthwhile.<\/p>\n If a 5KW grill is left on all day over a year, this would add up to about \u00a32,630 being spent on just leaving the grills on between services. Turning off the grill between breakfast and lunch, and between lunch and dinner will save a lot of money.<\/p>\n Most chargers actually use energy when not even turned on, meaning just turning them off isn\u2019t enough. This phenomenon is known as \u201cvampire power\u201d. If it’s warm when you get back to work, then it’s been wasting electricity, even if it had nothing to charge. It is definitely best to unplug phone and laptop chargers when they\u2019re not being used.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a hotel with a budget that allows this, smart key cards ensure that empty rooms aren\u2019t adding to your already huge energy bills.<\/p>\n While they\u2019re inside the room, the guest can get electricity by putting this card into a slot on the wall. They take this out when they leave, and everybody wins. You can\u2019t guarantee every guest is conscious of how much energy they\u2019re wasting- so installing these will stop them leaving things on.<\/p>\n This doubles as a key too (and can fit in a wallet alongside a guest\u2019s debit card and ID), so they start to associate the electricity being off with the door being locked. This will reduce the amount of people being locked out, as people leaving their room will realise the lights are still on. If you’d like to learn more about this, we recommend this blog post<\/a> by Kisi, which goes into more detail on how they work, and debunks some myths that usually scare people away.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a kitchen or a gym especially, this one will be massively beneficial to you.<\/p>\n Gyms now have the option of machines that generate their own power through use. While they may cost a lot, they\u2019re definitely the best option for any gym that has the budget to pick these up. They don\u2019t need electricity to run, as the people using them are creating the power to run the display on it, and some eco-friendly gym equipment will also allow you to put any additional energy created back into the building- giving you energy for free!<\/p>\n As for kitchens, traditional hobs are up to 50% less efficient than electric induction hobs, so a simple switch in equipment could end up saving you a fortune over time. That goes for the majority of things in the kitchen, as grills, fridges and more can all benefit from an upgrade.<\/p>\n This is often overlooked, but companies, especially stores, lose a lot of money from doors and windows being left open. This is a bottomless pit of money, and a constant uphill battle to keep the room a comfortable temperature- whether it\u2019s the summer fighting against your air con, or the winter fighting against your heating. Ensure that doors and windows are kept shut in the winter, and open in the summer, to help you save on heating or air con. This is especially important for retail, as customers are in and out constantly, but also expecting the inside to be a comfortable temperature.<\/p>\n Revolving or automatic doors on the outside could prove an effective solution to this problem, as it gives your business a barrier against the chilly\/hot air outside, and doesn\u2019t sacrifice ease of access!<\/p>\n No one needs to be in summer heat all day, so we\u2019d recommend trying to keep thermostats at around 20\u00b0C (66\u00b0F) max. Your heating costs will go down by almost 10% per degree, which is a huge amount to just lose for no good reason. It should probably go without saying, but if it\u2019s over 20\u00b0C, the heating should be off altogether. If you have the windows and doors closed, like we\u2019ve mentioned before, you\u2019ll do a much better job of retaining the heat you put into the room anyway!<\/p>\n Turn your heating down by 1\u00b0C if you feel comfortable with your temperature currently. This won\u2019t feel like much, but it\u2019s a massive price difference.<\/p>\n You should definitely try and sync these up. It\u2019s simple but makes a huge difference in how much you pay for your heating- turn off the heating\/ air con after your company closes! If you usually have it on 24\/7, you could half your heating bill instantly.<\/p>\n Every unit of heat put out by an electric heater will cost two to three times as much as a unit of heat from one of your radiators. If your business uses electric heaters, it would be extremely useful to make the switch to central heating. Doing this can half the amount of greenhouse gases that leave your heating system, and can chop two thirds off the amount you pay to keep it running.<\/p>\n Electric heaters are great for warming up one room, but can quickly become something people easily overpay for. Make sure you\u2019re not one of them.<\/p>\n Heating and air con cost a lot of money over time, but this can be massively improved if you\u2019re a little bit smarter about it. Speak to your building\u2019s landlord and ask whether the building has the right insulation- and if not, nicely ask them to get it installed. Things like double glazing or wall insulation can shave a substantial amount off your heating bill while making the room\u2019s temperature easy to maintain. Landlords might not like the idea of the outlay, but it makes the building a lot more appealing to other potential tenants (if it\u2019s an office block or other multi-company building) and keeps the good tenants in!<\/p>\n Saving money on heating or air con may just seem like an unwinnable battle against the elements, but all it takes is a small amount of preparation. If you have any windows that get direct sun exposure, invest in some blinds or other cover to use in the summer.<\/p>\n You can also use plants as natural air con, which sounds strange but completely works. Other than the obvious methods (planting a tree outside for shade is still a good idea), even just having plants in the workplace can cool you down. The moisture that plants release as a part of their respiratory cycle makes the air more humid- which improves air quality and leaves a cooling effect.<\/p>\n This one might cause some upsets in an office environment. The constant fight of people being too hot and others being too cold only costs your company more in the long-run, and can be resolved by one person being at the helm. As long as you stick to the recommended temperature range we\u2019ve mentioned earlier, this shouldn\u2019t cause too many arguments- but no promises.<\/p>\n Allowing employees to wear jumpers in the winter and tees in the summer means that the workforce is happier, and more appropriate dress for the seasons also eliminates the need for over-heating or excessive use of the air con. This gives everyone power in saving the company money and keeps them at the right temperature through the day, meaning they will more than likely be more productive too. This should also stop the perpetual heating argument we mentioned earlier- no promises again.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a company that requires a dress code, think about getting branded jumpers or fleeces that can also be worn!<\/p>\n Sealant can go a long way in saving energy. Making a quick run around the workplace sealing any holes in door or window frames can make the building warmer in the winter, and more importantly, better at keeping heat in. The money saved in the long-run is well worth the slightly time-consuming task.<\/p>\n The biggest change you can make to save money is to change your provider. Energy companies change their prices constantly, and it\u2019s definitely a good idea to keep on top of what\u2019s best for your business. Our team here at\u00a0 BusinessCostComparison are constantly searching for the best deal for SMEs, as they are often under a lot of pressure to keep costs low. That\u2019s why when you fill out our short online form, we\u2019ll get back to you with your cheapest possible provider- and quickly.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s a leaky pipe or dripping tap in your workplace, you should make it a priority. The cost of the water dripping 24\/7 will build up to a lot more than the cost of fixing it- and the longer you wait, the more you\u2019re spending! A single dripping tap is estimated to waste over 5,500 litres of water every year, which is your money going down the drain. To stop this in the future, you can take a few avenues- flow restrictors and self-closing taps are proven money-savers that will save you a lifetime of issues. Meanwhile, just make sure you get that leak fixed before you\u2019ve paid a pipe repair-worth of funds on water bills!<\/p>\n In a care home, baths and showers are just as dangerous as each other, but did you know that the average bath uses around 80 litres of water, while a shower lasting 8 minutes uses just 62 litres of water?<\/p>\n This brings about massive saving potential. If you can convince some of your residents to use showers, even if just once or twice a week, it\u2019d shave a lot of the water bill.<\/p>\n For hotels, having rooms with just showers will save a healthy amount over time once you get past the initial instillation price.<\/p>\n While we\u2019re talking about saving money with showers, water efficient shower heads are another amazing solution. Low flow shower heads can lower your average water consumption by 40% or more! This cuts down hugely on your monthly water bill. Showers take a lot of energy to heat the water anyway, so your energy bills will be a lot healthier if you put some of these in.<\/p>\n Dual flush toilets are high efficiency toilets that can save water by giving you two choices, low flush for liquids and a regular flush for solids. They also generally use less water in the regular option due to the shape of the toilet itself, which can accumulate a lot of savings over time.<\/p>\n Replacing a regular toilet with a new dual flush one will ensure you use less water when you flush, but if cash is an issue, you have the cheaper option of fitting the dual flush button onto an older style toilet. The toilet won\u2019t be any more efficient in full flush, but you will get to give the people in your workplace the option.<\/p>\n This one is great for an office, a care home, a gym, a hotel, retail and more or less any other job that has a w\/c on the premises!<\/p>\n No, we\u2019re not joking. There are various options for energy efficient devices that can give you instant boiling\/ice cold water, which are cheaper and better for the environment. While a lot of these are expensive at first, the savings made from swapping your cooler and kettle for this, as well as the added bonuses of some of the higher-end ones are well worth it.<\/p>\n It costs less to having boiling water in one of these devices than to constantly boil a kettle throughout the day. As well as this, kettles will have to be replaced a lot more.<\/p>\n The capacity of the water boiler is also a very useful feature in an office of employees constantly in need of tea or coffee, and the convenience of having already boiling water at the push of a button saves some time too.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve touched on this one before, but the lights don\u2019t need to be on during the daytime- open those blinds! It is also useful to check the amount of light in certain areas of your business, and take away lamps and other light sources that aren\u2019t necessary- there should be some overly-lit areas that don\u2019t have to be.<\/p>\n With a dimmer switch, you can adjust to different amounts of light to better suit your job, the time of day, the time of year and more. Having the perfect amount of light at all times means you\u2019re never overpaying for no good reason.<\/p>\n Task lighting is used to brighten up areas where more lighting is needed for certain tasks or purposes. For example, if you\u2019re a store, the tills, dressing rooms, back office and stockroom would all benefit from task-specific lighting. This means you can reduce the need for overly bright ambient lighting.<\/p>\n Quick fact: Good task lighting also helps fight against eye-strain, migraines and even boosts productivity!<\/p>\n There are some rooms that don\u2019t require light 24\/7, but tend to be too dark to find a switch when someone actually does end up going in- think storage rooms, stockrooms, staff toilets and bar cellars. A fast and easy solution to this is to install automatic lights. The room won\u2019t be wasting energy when there\u2019s no one in for long periods of time, but will come straight on when the room needs to be used- this adds up hugely over time if it\u2019s a less commonly used room.<\/p>\n This is the big one. If you don\u2019t already have these, you really should. On average, lighting is responsible for a quarter of a company\u2019s overall electricity costs, but a switch to the more efficient LEDs can reduce this by up to 80%, but averaging at 50%.<\/p>\n LED lighting has developed tremendously in a short space of time, and every year they\u2019re getting more and more efficient and gaining new bonuses, which we\u2019ll go through now:<\/p>\n If you make your company LED-powered, you\u2019d save a lot of money in the long term, and without<\/p>\n This can help you keep on top of when bulbs need replaced and when your building needs a quick run-around to get back to max efficiency. The most basic lighting maintenance to keep track of would be:<\/p>\n If you\u2019re worried that your colleagues aren\u2019t as green as you and will fail to remember to do any of these, feel free to leave little notes next to the kettle reminding them to think about how much they\u2019re putting in, or to turn off the microwave when they\u2019re done, or to turn off the lights on the way out. This should maybe only be a short-term thing, because it\u2019ll catch on and become a habit for your fellow employees soon enough, but it\u2019s effective!<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve got your boss onside, it\u2019d be a great idea to conduct a meeting, to let all of the staff know that you can do more for the environment as a company- and save money at the same time. If everyone\u2019s on the same page, it\u2019d be a lot easier to do this as it\u2019s a group effort. You can use this as an opportunity to brainstorm ideas, or even elect an energy leader who can be in charge of energy saving. The sky\u2019s really the limit here!<\/p>\n While brainstorming ideas, there\u2019s a lot of unique solutions that can help your company on its energy-saving mission. A quarterly energy usage newsletter, talking about how much you\u2019ve collectively saved and what you can still do to improve? incentivised rewards for those coming up with good ideas? Again, there\u2019s really no limit to how far you can go with this.<\/p>\n Similar to the use of LED lights, the amount of energy saved through using less paper is massive and is extremely good for the environment. With the rising popularity of Google Docs, Google Sheets, Dropbox and various other online file-storing sites, paper isn\u2019t as necessary as it once was. This means that you can cut costs by refraining from using printers, photocopiers and so on and instead send co-workers documents digitally. While not printing or copying, it\u2019s also a good habit to have the relevant devices turned off at the wall to save even more money. This may not sound like a big change, but the results add up, just like a lot of these other points.<\/p>\n A sizeable amount of small businesses are unsure on how much energy they actually use, with a third not understanding their energy bills. Energy bills can be really informative and effective way to see first-hand how much you\u2019re paying for certain things, and whether this can be improved on. This can also tell you whether you\u2019d be better off with another provider altogether.<\/p>\n Research what all of the complex terminology means, as it\u2019ll help you a lot in the long-run. You gain a better understanding of your bills, and it\u2019s a lot harder for providers to pull the wool over your eyes with jargon you don\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n The small detailed laws of the country are a lot to take in, especially as a small business or charity without the resources or prior knowledge. That being said, it\u2019s always a good time to find out whether you\u2019re overpaying for certain things, or if you qualify for special tax relief or discounts.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re an industrial, commercial, agricultural or public service company, you\u2019ll have to deal with CCL. It was unveiled in 2001 as encouragement for businesses to go greener, and charges you a percentage of your energy as a tax. It\u2019s measured in kilowatt hours and the current rates are:<\/p>\n
\nClick here
\n<\/a><\/p>\nAppliances<\/h1>\n
Get new ones with a higher energy rating<\/h2>\n
Turn off the microwave between uses<\/h2>\n
Don\u2019t put too much water in the kettle<\/h2>\n
Turn down the fridge<\/h2>\n
Top tip:<\/h3>\n
Care for your fridge<\/h2>\n
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Wash smarter<\/h2>\n
![\"washing-machine\"](\"https:\/\/businesscostcomparison.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/washing-machine-943363_1920-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEquipment<\/h1>\n
Have power saving settings on everything- offices especially<\/h2>\n
Top tip:<\/h3>\n
Quick fact:<\/h3>\n
Turn them off when you\u2019re done!<\/h2>\n
Unplug all chargers<\/h2>\n
Smart cards for hotels<\/h2>\n
![\"hotel-key-card-slot\"](\"https:\/\/businesscostcomparison.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/bedroom-door-entrance-271639-1024x717.jpg\")
<\/p>\nUpgrade your equipment<\/h2>\n
Heating<\/h1>\n
Watch windows and doors<\/h2>\n
Top tip:<\/h3>\n
Be conservative with heating<\/h2>\n
Top tip:<\/h3>\n
Business hours and heating hours should be the same<\/h2>\n
Central heating > electrical heating<\/h2>\n
Learn about your building<\/h2>\n
Prepare for the seasons<\/h2>\n
Have one person in charge of the heating<\/h2>\n
Think about relaxing your dress code<\/h2>\n
Top tip:<\/h3>\n
Fix draughts and cold spots<\/h2>\n
Compare energy prices<\/h2>\n
\nClick here for a FREE Quote.
\n<\/a><\/p>\nWater<\/h1>\n
Fix dripping taps as soon as you see them<\/h2>\n
Showers > baths for care homes and hotels<\/h2>\n
While you\u2019re at it, switch your shower head<\/h2>\n
Dual flush toilets<\/h2>\n
Consider binning the kettle altogether<\/h2>\n
![\"kettle\"](\"https:\/\/businesscostcomparison.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/blur-close-up-empty-894613-1024x695.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLighting<\/h1>\n
Minimise artificial light<\/h2>\n
Make the switch to dimmer switches<\/h2>\n
Task lighting for stores<\/h2>\n
Motion sensors for stores<\/h2>\n
Install LEDs<\/h2>\n
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Think about a lighting maintenance program<\/h2>\n
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Staff<\/h1>\n
![\"post-it-note-energy-saving\"](\"https:\/\/businesscostcomparison.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/postit-1024x740.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLeave kind reminder posters<\/h2>\n
Organise a meeting<\/h2>\n
Get Creative!<\/h2>\n
Extra Savvy Tips<\/h1>\n
Make an effort to become paperless (or at least use less)<\/h2>\n
Read your energy bills!<\/h2>\n
Top tip:<\/h3>\n
Learn the laws- especially CCL<\/h2>\n
![\"server-room\"](\"https:\/\/businesscostcomparison.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/server-1235959_1920-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n