5 Steps to Achieving Industrial Energy Savings
Industry uses about one third of all the energy consumed in this country, but most companies don’t have a comprehensive policy for saving energy. It takes a combination of the best technology upgrades and best practice efficiency for your company to show its best reduction in use, but with careful strategy and implementation you can find ways to achieve positive results.
#1: Look for Financial Incentives
Doing an energy upgrade to your business may be a daunting proposition, but there are many financial incentives that can take the sting out of an otherwise pricey project. Commercial and governmental agencies have all given great weight to industrial energy savings, and are rewarding business owners who comply with new standards. Depending on your industry, you may find:
- Loans, rebates, or grants to help cover the cost of any retrofitting or installation of new equipment or supplies
- Income tax deductions for business owners or businesses for following stricter energy use standards
- Reduced sales tax or tax exemptions on certain energy-efficient products
- State government or utility company financial incentives
#2: Review Your Energy Plan
The first step in reducing your industry’s energy use is to develop a comprehensive reduction plan. Get a professional electrical contractor to inspect your physical plant as well as observing your day-to-day operations. New habits and best practices can result in significant savings, just like more efficient equipment can, and an expert will be able to advise you on all aspects of this. Retain a professional commercial designer to develop and lay out a comprehensive plan that show you, step-by-step, just how it will save energy for your business.
#3: Upgrade Your Equipment
The largest investment in your business is doubtless the equipment, and you need to be sure that you have the best, most efficient models of each type in use. Assess each item of equipment to determine whether it’s efficient enough, or if it’s using more energy than a newer model would. The larger the piece of equipment, the more energy savings you can find in most cases. If necessary, obtain expert advice on equipment such as boilers, wiring and circuit breakers, coolers and chillers, internal emergency power sources, and lighting fixtures. Investigate whether it’s possible to renovate your existing equipment for better energy efficiency, and find out what’s involved in specialized installations of any new items.
#4: Change Up the Lighting
Lighting is one of the simplest changes a business can make, and yet it can make a significant difference in industrial energy savings. In some companies electrical lighting accounts for up to 40 percent of the total electrical usage. Change out all your fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs and replace them with more energy efficient LED bulbs. They’re brighter, they use a fraction of the energy as traditional bulbs, and they last years or decades instead of just months.
#5: Invest in Energy Star Certified Equipment
More and more, companies and individuals are making business decisions based on environmental factors as well as economical ones. The Environmental Protection Agency has an Energy Starcertification program for industrial plants. If your company falls within their performance levels, you’ll be eligible to display the Energy Star logo and advertise as a certified green industry. With all the interest in green living and the environment, this certification can be a large factor in business decisions, and an edge you’ll have over your competitors.
Contact us for help developing a comprehensive industrial energy savings program from strategy through to final inspection.
Read MoreLED Lighting Benefits
Traditional incandescent and halogen bulbs are fading away, and being replaced by LED lights. Business owners may balk at replacing all their bulbs with the new style, because they originally cost many times what the older bulbs did. Such a large outlay will be worth it, in the long run. LED lighting has a number of benefits over the old traditional bulbs, and your business can profit from all of them.
Savings
LED bulbs can save your business hundreds of dollars a year in a surprising number of ways. Most obviously, they use significantly less power, so your energy usage will go down immediately. They’re much more robust, so if they’re dropped they’re more likely to bounce than break, saving wastage and breakage costs. They give off a much cooler light, not heating up the immediate area like incandescent and halogen bulbs do. In steamy South Florida, that means lower stress on the air conditioning unit. LED lights last up to 40 times as long as a traditional bulb, or longer, meaning you may not have to replace any of the original bulbs we install for many years.
During Operations
Unlike traditional bulbs, manufacturers can produce LED bulbs in a rainbow of colors very easily, making signage and emergency lighting economical and bright. They will instantly turn on and off, and when hooked to a dimmer switch they can be dimmed to a wide variety of levels. Unlike ordinary fluorescent and halogen lights, LED bulbs have no problem working in the cold. The three weeks out of the year that combine to serve as winter here in South Florida will have absolutely no effect on any of your bright business signage.
Make it Green With LED Bulbs
Environmentally aware business owners will love LED lights for their tiny impact on the environment. Unlike halogen bulbs, LEDs contain absolutely no dangerous mercury. They reduce energy usage, lowering your business’ carbon footprint immediately. LEDs don’t give off any UV radiation. Every little bit helps when it comes to global warning, and LEDs reduce the amount of CO2 given off from your lighting by up to 90 percent. The long life of these bulbs, combined with the low breakage figures, means that there will be much fewer bulbs filling up local landfills.
Aesthetics
The way your business looks is important if you deal with the public, and LED lighting can give your business a clean and modern look that clients will notice. The availability of multiple colors of lights gives you the option of building signage in a rainbow of hues, as well as installing task lighting in attractive pink or soothing blue shades. Their small size means they can be embedded into sidewalks for unobtrusive lighting at night, while their relative brightness means you can replace older general room lighting with cheaper but better looking task lighting. LED is colorful, versatile, and simple to adapt to any lighting situation. As a business owner, it’s worth spending a little more now to reap the benefits for years to come.
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