Turning your business a little greener is good for the environment, but it has the added bonus of giving your business hundreds of dollars in electricity savings. Decreasing your power usage gives you a lower bill, and one of the simplest ways to do this is to adjust your business’ lighting. Make a few simple changes and you’ll save on lighting, enough to pay for the changes themselves in just a few months. In the meantime your customers and clients can feel good, knowing they’re frequenting an environmentally aware business. These handy tips will help you learn how to save electricity.
Lighting After Hours
There’s a fine line between security and wastage when it comes to keeping the lights on after your business is closed. If you don’t feel comfortable leaving the building completely dark, install strategic LED lights to lighten crucial areas, and make sure employees turn out all other lights when the business is closed. Consider installing a timer to turn out all the lights after a certain time of the day.
Save on lighting the outside of your building by replacing your old floodlights and security lights with motion sensor or infrared lighting. The lights will only be used when needed, as well as alerting people around the building that something is wrong.
It’s the Simple Things
Often small actions can make big changes. This is true for ways to save on lighting as for anything else.
- Clean your signage. Dusty and dirty signs look dimmer, plus they cause excess heat to build up, using extra power.
- Change your décor. Paint the interior of rooms lighter so they look brighter inside. Make it a policy to open blinds or drapes during the day to let in sunlight and reduce the need for interior lighting.
- Change your bulbs. Incandescent and halogen bulbs use much more electricity than newer fluorescent and LED bulbs. Change out all the bulbs in your business and you can see significant savings.
During Working Hours
Of course you have to keep the lights on during working hours, but you can still find significant savings by making a few simple changes and enforcing good habits with your employees. Consider installing a skylight to let in more natural light, as well as lighter blinds instead of darker curtains. Allow as much natural sunlight as possible to flow into the building. Install a dimmer switch in the main work area to reduce the amount of electricity used without completely turning out the lights.
If you have work areas that are not in constant use, install a motion detector on the lights to make sure no one leaves them on all day. Encourage your employees to turn off all lights that aren’t in use, from outdoor landscape spotlights to the lights in the bathroom when they aren’t being used. Timers and motion sensors can give you big savings on lighting in every part of the building that isn’t in constant use.
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