In fact, a recent report highlighted that 50% of senior managers don’t know what proportion of their expenditure goes on energy.*
There are some simple steps that businesses can take to improve their energy efficiency and, in turn, cut carbon and save money.
Measure where you are now
In order to identify issues and aid your decision making, you need to have a clear position on where you are now. Start by measuring and monitoring your current energy use.
Your energy bills will give you a good starting point, however be aware that they provide a limited amount of detail. They may not, for example, account for day and night rates or the variable number of working days within a month, or seasonal temperature changes.
New initiatives such as half-hourly meters, sub metering and comparing consumption to local degree days can give you far more accurate results.
Identify the waste
Once you can see your current energy usage patterns, you can identify potential areas of wastage.
For example, are you still using energy during weekends when your office or factory is closed? By leaving your PC monitors or security lighting running over the weekend means you are paying for energy that you’re just not using.
Around a third of companies we’ve seen have significant energy consumption on the night tariff, mostly when the business is closed for the night, with the amount of consumption varying from 16% to as high as 33%.
Check that your thermostats aren’t too high. A 1o heating reduction could reduce costs by 8%.
Compressed air leaks in manufacturing companies are common. A small leak could cost your business over £700 per year if not repaired.
Research alternative technologies
If you’re spending £1000s on lighting costs, are you using the best technology available?
Technology has advanced considerably in the last few decades with newer technologies offering significant savings on running costs.
LED lighting for example consumes far less electricity and the lights themselves last 25 times as long.
Create an Action Plan
Knowing what you should be doing is one thing, but it is implementing change that will get results.
Make someone in your organisation responsible for energy and draw up your energy action plan.
Some of your improvements may be behavioural changes, such as switching the lights off when you leave a room, or turning off all monitors at the end of the working day.
Perhaps you can change production schedules to run during a cheaper tariff.
Others may require greater research and analyse of the payback, for example the capital investment of replacing your current strip lighting for LED lights.
Decide on what improvements you want to commit to, who’s going to be responsible for them and when you want to implement them by.
Continuously measure and monitor the results so that you can quantify and improve on your energy targets.
The Business Energy Efficiency programme is due to close at the end of February 2020 and interested SMEs have five weeks to enrol to get their fully funded energy efficiency audit and report, to help identify the cost and carbon savings that can be made through becoming more energy efficient, thanks to funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
They have sufficient capacity to support 25 more businesses with visits available on a first come-first served basis.
Register now at www.beecp.org/sign-up email [email protected] or call 01733 882549
*YouGov/Telegraph Survey 201
About Business Energy Efficiency Cambridge & Peterborough:
The Business Energy Efficiency Cambridge & Peterborough programme (BEE) aims to provide support and grants to small businesses to help catalyse investment in energy efficiency initiatives, to reduce carbon emissions and realise the associated business benefits including; reduced operating costs, increased competitiveness, business growth and resilience.
The project is offering two strands of support to help businesses improve energy efficiency:
- Energy Reviews - A fully funded on-site review to help identify, prioritise and quantify opportunities for cost and carbon savings for businesses. Additional support will be available to help businesses identify specific solutions and products, with detailed feasibility studies as required.
- Capital Grants - Qualifying businesses may be able to apply for a capital grant – up to a maximum of 25% or £20,000, whichever is the lower - to help catalyse investment in products and solutions that will reduce energy use.
The project is bringing together experienced organisations and energy efficiency practitioners, led by the charity PECT, and delivered in partnership with Nwes. The project is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). For more information, visit www.beecp.co.uk
European Regional Development Fund
The project is receiving up to £1,368,576 of funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for ERDF. Established by the European Union ERDF funds help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding