5 Ways to Create Energy Efficient Buildings and How They Benefit Your Business
There’s a difference between working hard and working smart. Having an energy-efficient building allows you to work smart by giving you maximum energy benefits with less overall financial output.
Not only do energy-efficient buildings save you money on utility costs in the long-run, but they bring other serious perks to your business as well.
Still not sure whether they’re worth the investment for you? Let us convince you with these 5 ways energy-efficient buildings benefit your business.
1. Install Solar Panels
While you can install solar panels on a pitched roof, buildings with flat roofs are ideal candidates for solar panels. Solar panels are one of the biggest ways to make a major dent in the energy efficiency of your building.
Solar panels on a flat roof will easily cut costs for heating and powering your building. They maximize the sunlight captured, and while they may be a bit more costly to install upfront, they will leave you with more money in your wallet for years to come as you watch your utility bills drop.
Most roofs are compatible for solar panels, but flat roofs are also effective at drawing all the sunlight available from sunrise to sunset.
Not only do they cut costs, but solar panels on your roof are highly visible to clients and your community. If energy efficiency is important to those you serve and live near, solar panels make an obvious statement about where your priorities lie.
Showing your clients and neighbors that energy efficiency is important to your business makes you more relatable and trustworthy.
It shows mindfulness and modern-thinking on the part of your company. It’s hard to go wrong with this great, green addition to your building.
2. Ditch the Desktops
Modern offices are making a massive move from desktops to laptops. This exodus to a more convenient way of working is also a good way to save on energy costs.
Think about it—laptops are most often used with stored battery power. You plug them in to charge and then they work with an average of 20 to 50 watts of electricity to get you through until the next charge.
Desktops, on the other hand, stay plugged in all day and often all night (if you forget to turn them off at the end of the workday). This equates to a whopping 60 to 200 watts of electricity to power desktops.
This one simple and inexpensive office switch is both energy efficient and convenient.
3. Insulate Your Windows
The unfortunate fact is that glass is a poor insulator. Most heat and cool air inside your building will be escaping through the windows if they are not properly insulated.
With the right window coatings, you can lock in cool or warm air depending on the season. This allows you to enjoy all the natural sunlight you need while still locking in the comfortable temperature and preventing your AC bill from skyrocketing.
Having plenty of windows in your office space can go either way with saving you on energy bills. Either you have insufficiently insulated windows that cost an arm and a leg, or you have well-insulated windows that let in enough natural light to prevent the over-use of electric lighting. With enough properly installed windows, you can light an entire office floor without ever flipping a switch.
Natural light is both good for your budget as well as the morale of your employees. It’s yet another double-hitter in the business perks arena for giving you energy-efficiency and improved work environment.
4. Look for the “Energy Star”
Hopefully, you’ve seen the logo around your workplace or home already. If not, finding office utilities and products that carry the Energy Star symbol are an important way to make sure you’re saving energy.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has specifically created this logo to indicate products that are proven to support energy efficiency.
Energy Star products are both environmentally responsible as well as less expensive for their owners to purchase and run.
One of the great aspects of these office products is their ability to enter “sleep mode” when not in use. Most products, like projectors, screens, printers, fax machines, and other office utilities, can go to sleep and conserve energy.
Even large materials, like your building’s roof, should be certified with the Energy Star symbol.
Energy-efficient roofs, such as the Duro-Last, can be installed to make your entire building Energy Star approved.
Duro-Last Cool Zone roofs are the only single-ply, white, roofs that have a reflectivity of over 85% after at least 3 years of weathering. Needless to say, such a roof will save you plenty of dough long-term.
5. Install Tap Aerators
Water usage is a major energy concern for businesses large and small. One quick and costless way to cut back on your environmental footprint is to encourage employees to bring their own water bottles.
Provide drinking fountains for refilling so employees aren’t visiting a water cooler regularly and discarding multiple paper cups in a day.
Installing tap aerators will cost very, very, little. If you have them included in your piping during building, they can reduce water pressure significantly.
This simply means you’ll end up with less water loss when employees run the tap in bathrooms or kitchens. Less water pressure means less water running down the drain, unused.
Many cities now require water metering systems. Tap aerators are a great solution to preventing unnecessary water usage and waste.
Creating Energy-Efficient Buildings
At the end of the day, there are numerous ways to create energy-efficient buildings. You can do much with little money to help protect the environment.
Building energy-efficient buildings or installing additions to existing buildings is the best way to make the biggest difference, fast. Installing energy-efficient windows, roofs, and walls may seem to cost more upfront, but in the long-run, they prove to be worth the investment as they save you every month on utility costs.
For questions about how to improve the energy-efficiency of your building, contact us today.