Finding Low Hanging Fruit to Make Energy Savings

This article was inspired by Katie Patrick from her comments to a post I put up last week.

When organisations consider making utility savings, their immediate approach addresses spending money and reviewing their opportunities. However, nine times out of ten they stall and the initiative ends up stopping and organisations begin to put their focus on trying to make money rather than saving.

For me this is a crazy step, but a step I see many times over. Just lately, energy costs have become the main subject within the board room. With energy rising 250% since January 2021, and since 2020 we have seen a massive 450% increase. Organisations need to focus on their utility costs as they will all be impacted. This is also including water because water has to be treated and it has to be pumped. The problem now is all costs with the business are now going to start increasing and organisations will need to respond. If they do not respond, I can see there could be more casualties coming regarding the crisis. We will also all be impacted by the cost to live our own lives.

These phenomenal increases now require drastic measures, or do they? Unless you can honestly say that your cost management is 100% and you have done absolutely everything, then there is a case for drastic measures.

Last week I posted a LinkedIn Post about how our parents would always be policing the heating system in our house. The lights were often referred to as 'Blackpool illuminations' see the picture and see the meaning. My dad would point out that every light was turned on when I was just in one room: the landing, washroom, toilet, my bedroom, while I was just in the lounge. During this post, Katie Patrick commented referring to ‘low hanging fruit’. I have used this many times in my reports and this is translated into technical wording as no costs saving opportunities.?

...Often referred to as ‘Blackpool illuminations'

You may say at this stage that there is no such thing as no cost, but I can assure you that with further reading of this article you will see that there are some key points here that will not cost the organisation any additional costs.

Recent studies have shown that 50% of energy savings that can be achieved within an organisation, is due to people. I witness this every day in my role as an energy manager and I know that changes can be made.

I was once working for an organisation where I was asked how we can save energy and could I help them. I was deployed in their business 3 days a week and every day I would meet with staff and just focus on the need to reduce energy. I would spend 50% of my time walking a route and shutting lights off or air conditioning systems down. Each day we reviewed the energy and each day the energy started to reduce. We managed to achieve a 16% saving. I say ‘We’ achieved because it is a team effort.

I have also done the same thing with hotel groups where each visit starts the ball rolling and you see the impact of this after each visit.

What are the secrets? There are no secrets but remember when our parents policed the lighting and heating. Just ask the question why were they so keen and if not challenged, why did I not really care? It is simple, I was not paying the bill. I had no incentive, not until my dad requested contribution to the bill. This is the same with organisations staff and employees do not pay the bill.

There needs to be an incentive and one incentive is the sustainability of the organisation in these times. The real incentive on all of this is that saving energy reduces emissions and makes a difference to the environment. It also creates a good working environment because cost savings means increased profit and opportunities to grow the company and employee life’s improve.

Here are my quick low hanging fruits to focus on…

1.?????Check all energy bills and make sure they are not estimated (A=Actual E=Estimated)

2.?????Start work 1 to 2 Hours early this week and see what lights are on and question when do people start.

3.?????End your day 1 to 2 Hours later and see what lights are on and question when do people finish.

4.?????Meet with the cleaners and put in place a turn off when finished process.

5.?????Take 2 years’ worth of bills and graph out the consumptions to see what trends you have.

6.?????Meet with your maintenance team and walk the plant rooms to see what plant is on a timer and when it comes on and off.

These six points are a great starting point to look for ‘Low Hanging Fruit’ and it does not matter if you are a corner shop, office block or everything in between, because these are all relevant. You will likely find more because there are more.

Please if you know of any further ideas, share them with me on our website or on my post...www.b2benergy.co.uk

If you enjoyed reading this article or want to provide feedback, please contact Paul Webb at www.b2benergy.co.uk or send him a direct message. He will respond within 24 Hours

Thank you for following my posts every day and please note I am available to take questions on many social media platforms where you will be speaking to me directly.

?

More links to my content:

?

YouTube:

?https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsvKZH3fHvjhsLe8dRrV-3Q?view_as=subscriber

?

My Podcast “Energy Speaks Back” :

https://www.b2benergy.co.uk/b2b-podcasts/

?

Author of many energy management books –

https://www.b2benergy.co.uk/b2b-energy-books/

? Paul Webb,?2021