by Jbs022009 a3 — February 23, 2009—The UK’s Carbon Trust is offering tips to save energy with low-cost or no-cost action as it launches its “One Million A Day” energy-saving campaign for UK businesses.
The Carbon Trust’s Top Tips to Save Energy include: Good Energy Management:
- Set a company policy and target;
- Train staff—for example, a single computer and monitor left on 24 hours a day will cost over 50 a year. Switching them off after hours and enabling standby features could reduce this to 15 a year each and prolong the lifespan of equipment; and
- Measure how much energy is being used in order to know what impact any changes make. Keep track of energy bills, and how they change once these energy-saving tips are introduced.
Improved Lighting:
- Lighting control—artificial lighting can be automatically controlled through daylight sensors, motion detectors, and zoned controls to switch off lighting in unoccupied areas, all of which could cut lighting costs by as much as 15%;
- Replace high wattage filament lamps or tungsten halogen lamps with compact fluorescent lamps or metal halide lamps to make energy savings of 65-75%; and
- Make the most of natural light—cleaning windows and skylights regularly will allow maximum daylight to enter the building and significantly reduce the need for electric lighting.
Efficient Heating:
- Temperature control—keep thermostats set at the minimum comfort level. Heating costs go up by 8% each time the temperature is increased by just one degree;
- Keep the thermostat away from drafts or hot and cold spots—these will all affect the thermostat and automatically increase heating costs;
- Don’t put equipment that generates large amounts of heat, like photocopiers, near cooling vents—the cooling system will need to work harder to cool an area that is constantly being heated; and
- Maintain equipment properly—if heating equipment is not checked regularly, it could be adding as much as 10% to the heating bill.
