Shedding light on a powerful savings plan
4 Aug 08
Scottish businesses are wasting around £660,000 a day because of energy inefficiency, according to the Carbon Trust
That’s £165m a year if you calculate at a well rounded down 250 working days a year.
The trust, an independent company set up by the Government to encourage energy saving, says encouragingly that businesses in Scotland are placing greater importance than ever on reducing carbon emissions, and it offers a list of “could do better” tips. Switching unnecessary lights off can cut costs by as much as 15 per cent, it says.
Keep ’em cool, keep ’em keen: heating costs go up by 8 per cent each time you increase the temperature by one degree, it suggests.
Failing to check equipment regularly could add 10 per cent to your heating bill.
It is cheaper to give staff who work outside normal business hours a kettle than to continue to run a drinks vending machine, the trust says.
A computer and monitor left on 24 hours a day will cost more than £50 a year. Switching off out of hours and enabling standby could cut this to £15 a year each and prolong the life of equipment.
Replacing high wattage filament lamps or tungsten halogen lamps with compact fluorescent lamps or metal halide lamps will give energy savings of 65-75 per cent.