Go Greener Tips

As a business owner you understand that saving cash on your energy cost can help your bottom line. You have probably heard about building energy audits and wondered what is involved, how much you could save, and most important how much it will cost you?

First of all, what is an energy assessment? An energy audit is an in-depth examination of your company’s operation. It includes analyzing your buildings, machinery, work schedules, energy rates: anything that affects your energy cost.

Obviously, some businesses will profit more from an energy audit than others. The first thing you need to look at is your energy expenses. How much are you spending monthly for all your utilities (include your electricity, oil, gas, coal, etc…)? If you spend under $1000 dollars monthly on average it probably won’t be worth the cost of hiring an energy assessor. That’s not to say there aren’t things you can do to maximize your savings. We will go over some the little things you can do yourself to save cash later in the article.

If you spend $1000 – $10,000 per month a preliminary assessment or a self walk thru audit that doesn’t require an assessor to come out to your company is a good way to get an idea of your probable savings. It will highlight the major energy wasters, what you can do to improve them, and how much expenditure will be needed. You collect the data and send it to an assessor who can show you several low or no cost things you can do to save energy. They can point out equipment that needs to be maintained or replaced and show you how long it will take to recoup your expenditure. Keep in mind the analysis is only as good as the data you provide and will not be as good as having a professional assessor come to your site and collect the data himself. But it will give you a good idea of your probable energy saving opportunities for a fraction of the price.

If your company spends over $10,000 per month, has heavy machinery, or multiple facilities you will most likely be better off hiring a professional assessor to come out and do a full assessment of you company. This will cost anywhere from $5000 to $25000 or more based on the size of your business and length of time the auditor will need to be on site.

Who should pass and just do it themselves? Small companies with little or no machinery, especially if the building is less than 5 years old. Small commercial buildings who spend little on their energy.

So who benefits most from an energy assessment? Small to large manufacturing facilities that spend more than $1000 per month on their energy bills, especially in older facilities. Also, large commercial buildings that spend more than $1000 monthly on energy.

Here are some energy savings tips anyone can do themselves to save energy:
1) Get a programmable thermostat. You have possibly heard this before and may have one at home but don’t think about it for your business. A programmable thermostat cost around $100, is easy to set up, and can save you 20-30% on your heating and cooling bill.
2) Change old incandescent signs with LED signs. LED signs use less energy and last 50 times longer.
3) Install motion sensors that automatically turn lights on/off in areas that aren’t used for long intervals of time ex. Bathrooms, conference room, break room.
4) Shut down computers, monitors, printers, etc…during non working hours this not only saves electricity these items put off a lot of heat which increase your cooling cost.
5) When it’s time to upgrade computers consider laptops in its place of desk tops. According to E-source laptops save 80-90% of electricity cost.

If you have any questions or would like additional information on building energy audits please contact us.

Laurie Smith is president and CEO of Industrial Energy Audit Services, a company specializing in energy audit services.

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