Understanding Your Business Energy Usage and How to Cut Back

Understanding your business energy usage and the resultant bills can be tricky, particularly if you have a large-scale facility. However, increasing energy rates are a major contributor to rising business operating costs, and it has become imperative to reduce energy costs to maintain profitability.

To achieve this, businesses must analyze and assess their energy usage so they can figure out ways to cut back on their consumption and save money. Here is a small guide on how to understand your business energy usage and what you can do to cut back.

Understanding Energy Consumption in Your Business and Reducing Usage

To understand how and where energy is used in your business, you must understand your utility usage and when and how the equipment utilizes energy. This will give you a baseline to incorporate changes for improvement and track them to assess their effectiveness. Ultimately you will be able to reduce how much energy is used, manage energy costs, and improve operational efficiency.

Here is what you can do to understand and curtail your business energy usage.

Evaluate Energy Consumption

The first step in this regard would be to analyze your gas and electricity bills. You can contact your energy provider or view your energy profile on the website, and this will help you analyze how much energy is consumed in your facility. 

To measure overall energy usage, you must consider how much energy is used at the facility level. Next, you must measure at the system level to gauge the energy used by systems. This includes HVAC systems (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) and subsystems like fans, pumps, chillers, etc. This must be followed by an assessment of energy consumption at the equipment level to gauge how much energy consumption is by individual equipment. 

To understand how much energy the equipment in your facilities uses, you can use energy monitoring software to analyze which equipment in the building uses how much energy and at what time it is used. You can also hire an electrician or plumber to install electricity and gas meters in your business equipment to gauge energy consumption. 

Determine Energy Wastage Sources

Next, you can conduct an energy audit to identify the areas where energy is being wasted and adversely affecting the business’s financial health. The purpose of the audit must be to present comprehensible information with suggested actions for reducing energy consumption. 

You can also use energy efficient solutions to optimize energy usage by monitoring consumption and getting insights into energy usage by equipment. The automated solutions can help you monitor indoor and outdoor lighting, HVAC systems, and EV chargers to highlight problem areas and ensure the systems are running efficiently. 

Identify Areas To Cut Back On Energy Usage

Your analysis of energy data will provide insights into areas where energy is wasted. You can use the information to identify opportunities to reduce your costs. Here are a few examples

• Prioritize the equipment that consumes the most energy and consider how to cut back
• Turn off the equipment when it is not in use or needed, for instance, after office hours or on the weekends. Do not leave appliances on standby mode
• Switch your light bulbs to LEDs to save on electricity bills, and install light sensors for areas that are not used regularly
• Turn off lights when not in use and make full use of natural light when possible
• Invest in energy-efficient electrical equipment to optimize energy consumption
• Use programmable thermostats for heating and cooling systems. Turning the thermostat back by 7° to 10°F can help you reduce the energy costs by 10%
• Insulate the office facilities to prevent heat or cool air from escaping from the building

Final Thoughts

Energy management in a business facility is a daunting task. However, with rising energy costs, this aspect cannot be overlooked. If you do not prioritize it, your energy costs will begin to increase, impacting overall operating costs and lowering your business profitability. 

To begin cutting back on your energy costs, you do not have to implement changes that require you to spend considerably. The tips mentioned in this article are small steps that do not require you to make big changes and may inspire you with a few ideas on how you can reduce your energy costs. Small changes can make a huge impact in the long run. 

 

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