Businesses can save hundreds of dollars every year by learning to use energy efficiently. Compared to households, office-setups consume more power due to use of multiple devices at the same time. Besides computers, offices also have heavy equipment like servers, printers, copiers, projectors and air conditioners. Given that a business needs to use such equipment to function smoothly, it is not really possible for it to stop using the appliances/electronics entirely. However, the company can reduce the amount of energy consumed every day, and with it the costs involved by several folds. The most efficient way to do it is to create a culture of energy saving.
Make a plan
Talk to energy experts and make a plan to reduce energy consumption across all your offices. Energy auditors can find ways to bring down energy costs at the workplace without hampering productivity. Once you pinpoint where and how energy is being wasted, you can put a tab on it. The plan should also include targets – as in reduction in percentage of energy consumed, reduction of energy costs by X amount and so on, within a specific time period.
Rope in the upper management
The next step to building an energy-saving culture at work is to get the higher management, partners or board members to agree on the plan. Explain the many benefits that your company can enjoy by saving energy. Not only will your firm be saving money, it will also be contributing to protecting the environment by reducing its carbon footprint. Once the senior management approves, you can roll out your strategy.
Educate staff
Along with the management, every other employee in the office should be roped in. Educate your staff about the importance and the benefits of reducing energy consumption. Make sure everybody in your office is aware of the new energy-saving guidelines – send emails explaining what they should do and should not do in their efforts to save energy. Also put up posters, placards and banners to remind and encourage your employees to make efficient use of energy.
Appoint an “energy supervisor”
Have an individual, or a team if necessary, oversee the energy usage in office. The team or supervisor will also observe patterns that lead to wastage of energy and offer feedback accordingly.
Integrate energy-saving practices into policies
The task of creating an energy-efficient culture is not quite finished until the best practices are integrated into the company’s policies. Once you realize that the best practices adopted to save energy are indeed reducing costs without hampering the productivity and profitability, integrate them into the policy.
