Owning a business can become very costly and saving money wherever you can is a top priority for any business owner, so why not start with your energy bills? There are a surprising amount of changes that you can make to your business, both big and small, that can result in cheaper energy bills. Read on to find out what they are!
1) Smart Power Strips
Smart power trips can be a great and cost-effective way to make a small change to your business that can impact your energy bills at the end of the month. A smart power strip is a device that detects when the device that has been plugged into it goes into standby mode and is not in use and cuts off the energy supply so that no energy is being wasted. However, be wary of using smart power strips on certain devices such as computers as if your computer goes into stand by mode as you’re away from your desk the power to this computer will be cut and could result in the loss of whatever you were currently working on.
2) Invest in a smart meter
The installation of smart meters is a great way to not only monitor your usage of electricity. This is a great way to get a precise reading on how much electricity you’re using rather than estimating using your electricity bill. This is a great way to see how much you’re spending and seeing where you can make improvements to your energy spending.
3) Insulate exposed water pipes
Water pipes that are exposed to the elements can lead to a huge loss of heating in your water meaning that even more energy is needed to reheat that water back up. All this heating and reheating can lead to a surprising increase on your heating bills, which you don’t want at all. Insulating these exposed hot water pipes is, luckily, quite an easy job. There are multiple ways that you can go about insulating the pipes, I’ll go over the basics below however it is advisable to find a tutorial online from a reliable source that you can follow.
- Pipe Wrap Insulation
- Using either fibreglass or foil insulation wrap, tape one end of the wrap to the end of the pipe and then wrap it around. You will want to wrap it around the pipe a few times.
- Make sure that the entire pipe is covered by the insulation wrap.
- If you decide to go with a fibreglass wrap, make sure you cover with plastic to prevent any condensation from the pipes dripping onto the floor.
- Tubular Pipe Sleeve
- Measure the length of the pipe you’re looking to insulate, then cut the tubular sleeve to the length that is required.
- You’ll then want to cut the sides of the sleeve and wrap it around the bare pipe. You may also want to wrap duct tape around a few times to make sure that the sleeve is secure.
4) Install LED or CFL Light Bulbs
Even something as little as changing your lightbulbs can make a difference to your businesses energy bills in the long run. Changing the bulbs in your office to either LED or CFL is a great small change that you can make to cut an extra few pounds from your heating bill. LED bulbs can use up to 90% less energy than traditional bulbs and CFL bulbs have been shown to reduce the levels of CO2 from the atmosphere significantly over their lifespan. Switching over to LED and CFL bulbs can be a minor investment to start with as a pack of LED bulbs, on average, can cost £10 – £15. However, despite the initial cost of LED and CFL bulbs, in the long run, they will not only decrease your energy bills but also help reduce CO2.
5) Replace your old boiler
Replacing an old outdated boiler can make a huge change to your heating bill at the end of the month, with a potential saving of up to £350 a year (depending on your old boilers efficiency rating). There are a number of factors that matter when it comes to changing your old boiler such as:
- Boiler brand
- Boiler type
I’ll go over a little bit of information about each of these factors below to give you a little bit more of an idea about how they will affect the cost of a new boiler.
- Boiler Types
Finding the type of boiler that you need, or even the type that you can accommodate in your business is very important. There are three main types of boilers:
- Combi boiler
- Regular boiler (also known as a conventional boiler)
- System boiler
These are the three types of boilers that your old boiler will usually be replaced. However, each of these types of boilers has its pros and cons, so doing some research into each of them before you decide which to buy is recommended.
- Boiler Brands
You’ll find that while browsing for a new boiler, there are several different brands. Each different brand varies from each other and may offer different features as well as being a different price. Below I’ve listed three companies that you will most likely find when searching for a new boiler:
- Worcester Bosch
- Ideal Boilers
- Vaillant Boilers
Just like with boiler types, each brand can offer something different, so it’s recommended that you do some research.
Following this brief guide can be a great way to begin saving some extra money on those heating bills at the end of the month.
