Energy is a big deal, as it makes things happen. Defined as – the capacity of a body to do work, it’s because of this energy that you’re lighting your home, running your car, and even read this blog. 

You’d definitely have learned in your school days that as per the First Law of Thermodynamics, energy can never be created nor be destroyed but it’s just transformed from one form to another. Now, as you have recalled this law, this might make you wonder then why need to worry about saving energy? After all, its presence is abundant so it’s everlasting. 

The answer to your curiosity is there occurs a substantial cost while transforming the energy from one form to another. So, this cost has to be managed to prevent the overshoot of the prices of energy and energy-consuming devices. But saving energy to save costs is just one aspect of saving energy.

Related: Read our blog on Energy Management and Its Importance that lays detailed reasons to save and use energy efficiently.

Having said this all, let’s look at 8 ways by which we can save energy in our office.

1. Energy Efficient Lighting

Use energy-efficient bulbs like LED, in case you’re using those old lightings in some way around the corner of your office. LEDs are eco-friendly and are 80% more efficient than incandescent or fluorescent bulbs. Although you are required to shed some cost from your side but note that in the longer run – four to five years down the line – you’ll end up saving more than 50% on your lighting costs.

And what’s more? LEDs are bright and beautiful. So they also provide a warm touch to your working environment. They are also very long-lasting. The traditional incandescent bulbs have just an average lifespan of 1500 hours, which is a fraction life of what the LEDs carry.

Plus LEDs can also save your AC/HVAC bills. ACs are one of the most power-hungry but essential machines in any building. The LED lights help in saving your AC bills as they are cooler than incandescent or CFL bulbs. So, they don’t emit heat into their surroundings that your AC needs to take out to keep your room cooler. Hence, your AC/HVAC machine will work less which will provide you power savings.

2. Take use of natural lightings

Better to make use of natural lights coming to your office. LEDs will save you costs as we have mentioned above, but why use artificial lighting conditions if in areas where natural lights are willing to enter your office premises. Using bright natural lights will not only reduce your e-bills and decrease your eye strain, but they are also found to improve mood, work productivity, and overall happiness.

So, make sure you move the curtains from your window if till now you were not noticing that it’s blocking the way of the outside light.

3. Use other energy-efficient appliances

It’s better to invest in energy-efficient appliances first hand. This will cost you initially, but you’ll save over a long period of usage that will compensate for your investment. 

So, go with appliances that have “Energy Star” ratings on them. The good thing is almost all high energy-consuming devices used in an office like printers, TV monitors, coffee vending machines, ceiling fans, etc come with Energy Stars.

If there are computers inside your office, then think of replacing them with laptops. This is because laptops are not only handy, but they also consume less energy than computers. Desktop PCs also have UPS that further adds energy consumption costs while laptops use 50% less energy than desktops.

4. Use electronics only when required

Behavioral changes, meaning adopting energy-saving practices in your day-to-day activities are the most important aspect of saving energy in this world. This is because the change happens from within one’s self first. 

So, adopt and also make others aware of the energy-saving practices like switching off lights and all apparatus when not in use.

5. Go with an Energy Management System(EMS)

An Energy Management System(EMS) is an IoT system that allows you to monitor your energy consumption that’ll help you to manage its usage resulting in cost savings. 

So, unlike the manual way of always running and collecting energy data to fetch out energy-saving opportunities, the automation system will provide all the required data. And then, you’re just required to take the action.  

6. Insulate

If your walls and roofs aren’t insulated yet, then you’re losing a great energy-saving opportunity from your side. And not only will insulation save energy, but it will also reduce noise inside your office. So, it’s high time that you insulate and seal your office properly.

Insulation works to save energy as it reduced the transfer of heat from one wall to another. So, the temperature inside a room will be maintained as desired. In summer, your office will remain cool for a longer time as heat from the outside environment won’t enter inside. So, this will save your AC/HVAC costs as your cooling system now has to work less to reduce your office temperature. And in winter, this will keep your office warmer as the warm air inside will not escape outside the office.

7. Go Solar

It’s high time to go solar, as solar energy is one of the best and freely available, clean, and renewable sources of energy. Generally, the governments in various countries also promote going solar to homes and enterprises under their schemes, where they aid the process of procuring and installing solar panels under subsidized rates. So, ask your building contractor to enquire initiate the process for his building.  

If we talk about the efficiency of building powered by solar panels, then around (30-40)% of the total energy consumption costs can be saved using the tech. That also means now you’ll be producing 40% of your total energy using a non-carbon source which is a further step towards the universal goal of NetZero.

Final Words

Saving energy is important – not just from the cost point of view but also from the environmental point of view. And you now know some 8 ways by which you can save energy in your workplace.

Some of them are very easy to follow – the behavioral changes – that you can adopt immediately without any further delay. While with some, your company has to bear some cost – like using energy-efficient lights. But most importantly, all measures if undertaken will provide you with substantial saving over a long period of time. 

LogicLadder Inc. – Who are we?

We, at LogicLadder, provide Energy and Environmental Monitoring solutions like Energy Monitoring System(EMS), Stack Monitoring System, and Groundwater Monitoring System. We allow all the environmental parameters viz energy, water, and air, either separately or all together in our SaaS cloud platform – The Sustainability Cloud, which also makes our platform an all-in-one solution aiming to achieve NetZero Emissions.