You’ll find tips across the internet on how you can lower your personal carbon footprint. Citizens across the globe are making the change to go green and play their part in not only relieving climate change, but also lowering their energy consumption.

Many businesses have been inspired by this grassroots level of change to meet their own net-zero targets. The manufacturing industry alone accounts for 18% of Australia’s energy consumption, and therefore has the most to gain from implementing energy-saving improvements.

Energy costs are unavoidable, and are increasingly becoming a reality of commercial and industrial facilities. While some facilities mitigate their energy costs by installing on-site renewable generation, there are some more basic and cost-effective energy-saving steps that can be introduced first.

Energy upgrades can reduce electricity bills and improve the overall efficiency of your facility, with businesses ultimately using less energy to achieve the same performance outcomes with minimal interruptions. Here are our top energy-saving tips to help businesses reduce energy usage and save on power bills.

One of the simplest energy-saving tips for businesses is to switch off all electronics and machinery that is not in use. Most modern electronics and equipment draw standby or ‘phantom’ electricity. This means that they still use energy if they stay plugged in, even if they are not in use.

Our most imperative energy-saving tip for businesses is to consider lighting. There is so much more to lighting than just taking advantage of natural light and switching off lights where possible. Energy-efficient light bulbs, such as LEDs are the smartest investment in reducing energy consumption and utility bills.

With little to no warm-up time needed, these lights have the power to make a space brighter and more comfortable at a fraction of the time and energy needed for traditional systems. LED lights “use up to 75% less energy and emit 90% less CO2 than the old halogens. They also last up to 25 times as long, which greatly reduces the need for changing or maintenance.”

LEDs can assist businesses, not only with the financial and environmental benefits, by providing staff with a safe environment to conduct work. This makes them the logical lighting choice for energy savings, particularly when manufacturing workspaces need adequate and plentiful lighting.

In addition to the numerous benefits provided by LEDs, these efficient lights can be incorporated into automated lighting systems. These systems in place can make adjustments based on the room’s occupancy or daylight availability, helping businesses reduce their energy consumption further.

There is a long-standing misconception that energy audits are time-consuming, costly and fruitless. In practice, these effective audits can unlock valuable opportunities that provide your business with financial and environmental benefits. An audit involves collecting and analysing data for all energy sources being drawn by your business. An audit can

Audits have an array of benefits and are one of the most underutilised and effective tools at businesses’ disposal to help save energy and money while keeping the same rate of productivity.

Electrical systems are intricate and often interconnected. Something that appears small, such as using a powerboard incorrectly, can lead to an overloaded switchboard.

Regular cleaning and planned maintenance of your electrical and mechanical equipment will go a long way towards optimising its performance and lifespan.

Working with a regular electrician means that after an initial assessment, followed by a speedy response, plans will help in alleviating the problem before it becomes more complex and complicated.

Electrical problems that are ignored can have detrimental effects on the systems in place. So preventative maintenance translates into carefree energy efficiency savings.

Significant proportions of industrial energy consumption go towards powering electric motors. Power consumption of motor peaks during start-up or heavy load. One way to reduce this load is by using variable speed drives.

Variable speed drives allow you to control the speed of a motor by automatically adjusting the frequency and voltage to achieve maximum efficiency at any speed. This constant adjustment and optimisation have numerous benefits for the entire facility. VSD’s results in

Considered everyday essentials, HVAC units derive some of the highest sources of energy in facilities, often left unmaintained and overlooked unless issues present. Working at sup optimal conditions these units underperform while drawing high amounts of energy and sending bills skyrocketing.

Modern-day machines and appliances use significantly less power compared to their predecessors. Replacing energy-hungry technology with energy star rated ones will improve your overall facilities’ energy efficiency and help save money in the long term.

Government initiatives like Sustainability Victoria are regularly announcing funding assistance support programs to improve sustainability in manufacturing and industry.

This provides businesses with a great opportunity to update the technology in their facility, and save money in the future without large out of pocket costs.

EXPERT TIP: For offices in particular that have a high staff usage of desktops computers, we recommend upgrading to laptops as they store energy in their internal battery. They require little energy to charge and do not need to be constantly plugged into a power source to remain functional.

These services can therefore save you money when it comes to insurance cover for electrical fire damage or personal injury related to electrical faults. In addition to meeting compliance obligations, working with a regular maintenance electrician, can ensure assistance with:

Heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) can contribute up to 50% of facilities’ energy bills, with a staggering 30% of water use likewise being dictated to running these powerful units.

With such significant usage across the board for commercial and industrial properties, it’s only natural to want to keep energy consumption to a minimum.

Engaging a maintenance electrician is the most efficient way to ensure all HVAC equipment is performing at the most optimum capacity and energy consumption low.

Conducting regular servicing on the equipment, investing in energy star rated appliances, and programming units to optimum temperatures only when staff are working on site are the most efficient ways to keep energy consumption low.

Insulation acts as a barrier against temperature shifts, making it much easier to keep the workplace warmer in winter and cooler in summer. Insulating and draught-proofing your building can lower your heating and cooling bills by up to 40%.

Window glazing and external window shades act as an additional layer installation, ensuring your building remains at the set temperature. This means your HVAC system isn’t working overtime to meet a set temperature and can keep energy costs low.

By installing insulation in the roof and walls, you can reduce the amount of energy needed to maintain room temperature during heat loss and heat gain.

This is one of the most practical and cost-effective ways to make your facility more energy efficient while reducing the impact of the extreme Australian climate.

One of the easiest, cost-effective and often overlooked ways to reduce consumption is through education. Educating and encouraging employees to be energy-conscious while providing ideas on how energy can be saved is a great way to maximise efforts to conserve.

As mentioned, on a regular basis we can see small changes in society to improve on energy usage at home. Many employees are happy to proactively promote smart energy consumption in the workplace too.

There are numerous energy-saving ideas for businesses that can help in the optimisation of facilities’ overall energy consumption.

Energy optimisation can be very tedious, but by implementing the above tips, businesses will be able to cut down on energy consumption and electricity spending drastically.

They also make a considerable step towards environmental conservation and help play their part in reducing the effects of global warming.

Our team of highly skilled electricians at Teoma have over 30 years of experience regularly completing routine services and energy upgrades for commercial properties, manufacturers’ education facilities at a large scale.

Their reactive nature and extensive knowledge are used to prevent faults and prolong electrical systems in place.

By engaging our team of experienced and well-supported electricians you can be confident that you will have a complete solution, with minimal interruption to the operation of your site. Call us today to speak directly with our Service and Maintenance Manager.