But unless you then take steps to alter your intake, and add additional steps such as exercise, you’re unlikely to see any improvement from documenting alone.
And so it may be with your building’s energy usage. You can collate and monitor the relevant information, but an effective building energy management system will help you take it that all-important stage further and manage energy consumption. Think of it as a personal trainer for your building, telling you the changes you could be making that will help your building run more efficiently and save you money.
If you want to get energy usage under control across your building or site, investing in building energy management is likely to save you money in the long term. But there are also some quick wins you can put in place to help control energy use. Here’s our good housekeeping guide to get you started on the road to a fully fit building.
Lighting
- Replacing all old-style lights in your building with energy efficient versions can save as much as 80% energy.
- If staff come and go at different times of day, consider installing timers and sensors to prevent lights being left on when no-one is around.
- Keep building users informed of which lights must be left on during the day. For example, hallways and reception areas may require constant lighting, but kitchens and bathrooms won't.
- Likewise, encourage building users only to use the lights they need. If an office is only part full, consider turning lights off in empty areas.
IT equipment
- A lot of IT equipment now comes with an ‘energy saving’ feature that can help you use less power.
- If equipment is not in use it should be switched off. Avoid using standby mode as your equipment is still using power.
Heating
- Spring brings with it wide variations in temperature throughout any given day. Weather compensating your radiator circuit will reduce overheating, but if you find your building does grow uncomfortably warm, encourage people to turn the heating down rather than open windows to cut energy wastage.
- Heat loss can be reduced dramatically by installing and using window blinds, which in turn means less energy will be required to heat the whole building.
- A reduction in room temperature of just 1°C is unlikely to be noticed, but it can cut fuel consumption in a typical office by around 8%.
To find out more about how effective building energy management could help get your building back in shape, get in touch today.