Environmentalism and energy conservation are now at the forefront of the public consciousness. Many politicians and celebrities have spoken out on these subjects in an attempt to get people interested in doing their part to save the planet. Their efforts have paid off. Donations made to environmental charities are now many times greater than they were 10 years ago. The focus of the media has been on trying to make the average person change his or her daily habits to become more environmentally friendly. However, it is equally important that major corporations join the crusade to protect Mother Earth. You do not need to be an energy expert to figure out that many of these companies are responsible for enormous amounts of pollution and waste. Here are some things that companies can do to conserve energy.
1. Light bulbs
Large office spaces need an enormous amount of light bulbs to illuminate them. Therefore, they can change all of their bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs. These bulbs are not very expensive and energy costs will begin to be cut immediately. The truth is that these bulbs use 70 percent less power than traditional incandescent bulbs. This equals a savings of $175 for every six bulbs that are changed. This is according to data provided by the Environmental Protection Agency. Roughly half of the money that a company spends on energy comes from lighting. Therefore, fluorescent bulbs can amount to a massive savings. Making sure lights are turned off when people leave a room is also important.
2. Avoid wasted machine power
Companies can conserve a great deal of energy if they make sure their employees have all of their computers set to sleep mode. This means the computer will shut down when the computer has not been used for at least 30 minutes. However, when a computer is in sleep mode, it will not require a full restart when the person wants to start using it again. Also, all copiers, printers and computers should be completely turned off at the end of each business day. Doing these simple things can result in saving anywhere from $40 to $140 per device every year. The amount of money that is saved will depend on the amount of power that each specific device uses. It should be noted that the majority of screen savers do not lessen the amount of power the computer is using.
3. Climate control
Heating and cooling large offices can really put a major dent in a company’s bottom line. Therefore, it would be wise to plant a large amount of trees around an office. The trees will provide a way to cool the office naturally by blocking the sun’s rays. Trees have the ability to lower the speed of wind by as much as half. In areas that have a large amount of warm weather, trees can help to lower air conditioning expenses by causing the temperature to drop by as much as six degrees.
4. Cooling and heating efficiency
One of the easiest ways that companies can conserve energy is to simply make sure the air conditioning and heat are turned down at night when only the maintenance people are in the office. The installation of a thermostat that can be programmed will allow the temperature of the entire building to be regulated.