If you are not committed enough to implement green energy and environmentally-friendly practices for your business (just like me), let us forget doing energy saving to make your business environmentally friendly for a minute. Just consider this: You can relieve some pressure to your business’ cash flow by practicing the surprisingly-simple energy saving principles.

Whatever your endeavours are, energy conservation directly affects your bottom line. For no or a relatively small investment, you can cut your small business’ energy expenses considerably.

Energy saving tips that can save you a fortune

Here are 10 surefire energy saving tips that you can implement and see the result right away:

1. Use energy-consuming equipments only when needed
   Turn off lights and any other equipments when not in use. Do this wisely, as turning off and on equipments and lighting often can cost you more energy than before.
2. Seal every leak you can find
   Leakages cause your office/store consume more energy – Seal any leaks you can find in windows/doors, pipes, ventilation ducts, etc.
3. Adjust your thermostat accordingly
   In winter, set office thermostat between 65 and 68 degrees during busy hours, and 60 to 65 degrees during non-busy hours. In summer, set the temperature between 78 and 80 degrees during the busy hours, and above 80 degrees during the rest of your business hours.
4. Implement work from home policy for your employees
   Send your employees home and let them do teleworking. Implementing this not only cuts your office energy bills, but also enhances employees retention.
5. Use more mirrors and reflectors
   Placing mirrors and reflectors on the right places can light part or all your office/store space with daylight.
6. Install ceiling fan
   Whether in winter or summer time, ceiling fans help regulating your office air flow better, thus reducing the burden of your thermostats (and eventually cut your energy bills.)
7. Paint your office space with light colours
   The lighter, the better – Lighter-coloured paints reflect light better than the darker counterparts.
8. Plant trees around your premises
   Trees that lose their leaves (with the right height, growth rate and shape) in the fall can help you reducing heating and cooling energy costs in both summer and winter time. Placing trees selectively around your premises can protect you from the summer sun and permit winter sunlight reach your office space. What’s more, they are pleasant to view, thus helping your employees reduce stress.
9. Use energy efficient office equipments
   Obviously, this mean more investment on your part. However, in the long run, replacing your old and energy-consuming equipments with Energy Star-certified equipments and any other low wattage equipments can save a fortune in the long run. One example of this is to replace your PC’s CRT monitor with LCD monitor.
10. Maintain your office equipments well
    Well maintained equipments run the most effective. Schedule regular maintenance for your equipments to prolong equipments’ life and cut your energy bills.

More tips

Here are some resources to consult for your small business energy saving endeavours:

• Business.gov’s easy energy efficiency improvements
• SRP’s energy-saving tips for businesses
• BusinessLink.gov.uk’s money saving tips by using energy more efficiently
• BEA’s energy-saving tips for businesses

Ivan Widjaya
Save energy, save the world (and improve your business’ bottom line)
Image by Paul Keller.

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