As Halloween rolls around the corner it’s the season of spooky nights and scary looking costs; from costumes to your energy bills. Although the ghouls in the night are fictional, energy vampires at work are VERY real.
From laptops left on standby to lights left on, businesses could and are using more energy than necessary. These consumption vampires are not a Halloween trick, they are a sneaky way to increase bills, contribute to carbon emissions and undermines all the efforts you have put in place to improve energy efficiency.
So, this Halloween, Boxfish are challenging you to hunt down the energy vampires that are lurking around every corner of your workplace.
An energy vampire takes many forms but can mainly be seen as equipment or a system that continues to consume electricity when it isn’t needed. Individually it may seem like they have no impact but cumulatively the impact can become more substantial.
The good news: they are easier to get rid of than a stake to the heart.
Equipment left on standby
Computers, monitors, printers, chargers, the list is endless of electric devices that are common culprits of draining energy when being kept on but not used. It’s important to note that standby consumption does vary between devices and varies between seasons of the year, however as mentioned previously it will build up and will continue to use more energy than necessary.
Encourage staff to switch off equipment rather than leaving everything on standby, many devices have power-saving settings which can also add to limiting consumption. Even switching to smart plugs has an impact on consumption.
Lights
Another culprit for this type of overconsumption is inefficient lighting and leaving lighting on while everyone has already rushed home to pick-up last-minute sweeties for trick-or-treaters.
Luckily for you, lighting can be a simple fix. Switching to LED’s is one permeant solution, they use 80% less energy than regular lightbulbs and can be used as censored lighting. If this might be too quick a change, a simple lighting check at the end of the day can also have a greater impact over the longterm.
Heating and cooling with nobody around
Having a look at your temperature settings and heating and cooling systems is another often overlooked aspect. Nobody wants to keep the office warm for the vampires overnight.
Reviewing heating schedules and matching the occupancy of your building is a quick fix especially as the colder seasons come round the corner. For larger buildings, a professional energy assessment is another avenue which can efficiently help identify opportunities for improvement.
The Building Itself
Sometimes the scariest energy vampires aren’t individual devices but the buildings themselves. The energy intensity (the average kilowatt hour consumed per square metre of floor area) and the energy consumption for non-domestic buildings vary by building use and it’s an important first step to know how this effects your specific office or workplace. From poor insulation, drafts, and unsealed windows your building could be draining not just energy but money too!
With 20% of existing buildings needing to be renovated for net zero by 2030 a more permanent and long-term solution may be looking into cost-effective renovation solutions which encompasses a range of activities from improving insulation, sealing gaps around windows and upgrading heating controls.
Although you could give holy-water a go, a more efficient way to banish the energy vampires is an energy assessment. It can uncover inefficiencies and identify worthwhile improvements. Boxfish has over 30 years of experience working with companies from all types of sectors, helping them to banish the energy vampires, improve their efficiency and increase their sustainable practices.
Boxfish are passionate about getting businesses in the right shape to achieve a net-zero carbon future. Sound interesting? Get in touch via our contact form