1. Shop around
If you’ve been with your utility company for more than two years, chances are you’re getting shafted. For gas, electricity and water, it’s imperative to search the market annually for the best deal. With 11,000 different tariffs and tricky termination rules, this could be a chore, so use a comparison service such as MakeItCheaper.com. Guy Tudge, the farmer behind Tudge Meats, used the site when his annual bills doubled. By searching for the best deal, he halved his renewal quote. What to do in a power cut
2. Hire an expert
If your energy needs are complex, consider delegating negotiations to a third party. Orchard Energy is a West Yorkshire-based broker specialising in managing the utility needs of small firms. Orchard will find you the cheapest deal and provide you with expert information on long-term energy trends so you can take action to hedge against price spikes. Premier Waste delegates its electricity and gas account management to Orchard. Spokesman Michael Curry says Orchard saved the firm 23 per cent on its annual gas spend and 20 per cent on electricity, adding up to a £10,000 saving over two years.
3. Power down
When you leave the office at the end of the day, is there an audible hum of hard-drives and fans in your office PCs consume up to 250W of power, so leaving them on overnight is profligate. Solution” You could alter the power settings in Windows to force machines to stand by if left untouched for half an hour. Or you could install a more comprehensive package, such as Certero’s PowerStudio software, which allows your IT manager to control the power settings on all machines simultaneously. A 100-machine licence costs £1,700, which you should recoup in six months.
4. Measure your usage
Peter Drucker said: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. But it’s a bit boring watching your electricity meter slowly turning. So why not install a digital electricity usage meter that displays to the nearest watt how much energy your firm is consuming” Meters aren?t expensive. You can pick up a Current Cost Envi digital display (made by British entrepreneur Martin Dix) for under £40 on eBay. Installation is non-technical and takes 30 seconds. If you input your price per kilowatt hour, it will translate the energy statistics into pound signs. The display is wireless, so you can keep it on your desk.
5. Lower your voltage
Europeans run their devices at 220V, which is 22V lower than us. Your devices will all run more efficiently at this lower voltage, so get yourself a voltage adjuster. A powerPerfector unit will lower your voltage, saving you up to 20 per cent on your electricity bills. And it smooths out the power supply, protecting your kit from surges. ASDA and HM Prison Service have installed powerPerfectors, and Down Hall Hotel in Hertfordshire has saved £12,000 a year thanks to this nifty device.
6. Gather from gutters
We all need to conserve water. If taking fewer showers isn’t your style, consider getting a rain harvester. These tanks store water from your guttering for non-potable usage. Small tanks, such as those made by Stormsaver, retail at £1,700, giving a payback time of five to six years. Larger tanks, suitable for firms with 250 employees, cost between ?8,000 and £15,000 and have a payback time of six to ten years.
7. Pimp your boiler
Next time you service your combi-boiler, get it upgraded with a Zenex Gas Saver. These widgets re-use waste heat from the flue to maximise efficiency. Founded by Plymouth entrepreneur Chris Farrell, Zenex received start-up capital from the Carbon Trust and has products to help both residential and commercial customers. Leisure centre Plymouth Pavilions halved its gas bill from £140,000 to less than ?70,000 in the first year after installing a Zenex Gas Saver.
8. Burn less petrol
Keith Johnston, the entrepreneur behind GoinGreen electric cars, decided to spend less time on the road. Forgoing the video-conferencing route, Johnston uses his humble Blackberry to dial into meetings. And despite his peripatetic lifestyle, he says he has cut down on petrol consumption by 50 per cent simply by organising his schedule using the phone.
9. Fiat lux!
Lighting is the biggest energy overhead in many businesses. But the cost of it can be slashed by installing motion-sensing lights for meeting rooms and cupboards. Gloomy wallpaper can be whitewashed to reduce dependence on artificial light. And solar-tube lighting uses mirrored pipes and lenses to transport daylight through ceilings and walls.
10. Ask your supplier for help
Energy companies are surprisingly active at helping customers cut energy usage. British Gas runs Energy360, providing businesses with advanced monitoring and metering, a Building Management System healthcheck, carbon reduction advice and a dedicated energy manager.
11. Eco PCs
Lower power PCs are more than an eco-fad. Apple launched the Mac Mini with the claim it was the world’s most energy-efficient desktop computer?, and now other names are going green. Advent has launched an Eco PC which runs on 25w a tenth of a normal machine. British-brand Aleutia sells the U6, which connects six users to one box, so it can boast a per-user consumption of a mere 12W.
12. Circulate air
Hot air rises, so it makes sense to push that air back down to ground level. Tesco, which knows a thing or two about keeping overheads down, recently started installing high-volume, low-speed fans in its distribution centre to keep the air moving. Its supplier, MegaFan, founded by entrepreneur Garry Stiven, claims a reduction in gas consumption of 70 per cent, a saving of £25,000 for the supermarket. Running costs are as low as six pence an hour per fan.
13. Next-gen bulbs
Low-power lightbulbs are not popular. They flicker, take time to heat up and lack the full colour spectrum. So say hello to the likely replacement of these unlovable bulbs: LEDs. Light-emitting diodes are phenomenally cheap to run, don’t flicker and last for years. UK supplier Greenled, founded by eco-entrepreneur James Millar, kitted out the Crown Hotel in Woodbridge, Suffolk, with LEDs for £13,343, plus ?9,000 in fittings. Expensive At first. But the project was part funded by an interest-free loan from the Carbon Trust of £11,200. Lighting costs are now £494 a year, down 90 per cent.
14. Be wary of fixing your prices?
The current price of oil reflects an equilibrium between traders who think the price will rise and those who think the price will fall. Why might it fall” For starters, new liquid, natural-gas pipelines are coming online, plus oil shale extraction technologies are being developed, both of which could more than offset rising demand and the depletion of existing wells. Just something to bear in mind if you are offered fixed kWh prices for the next two years.
15. Zap the Xerox
Big, power-hungry kit like photocopiers gets left on all year round. If you aren?t in the habit of making copies at 3am on Sunday morning, then buy a digital timer to turn the beast off after hours. Maplin sells digital plug-socket timers for a tenner.
16. Contact the Carbon Trust
It costs nothing to ask the experts. If your energy bill is more than £50,000 a year, ring the Carbon Trust and they?ll send round an energy guru to give your business an energy audit. If these guys can’t lower your bills, no-one can.
17. Zero margin electricity
Tip for the future: At Cost Energy. Philanthropist Matt Stockdale made his fortune with Oven Pride, which he sold last year. His new venture will sell energy to business consumers at cost price (hence the firm’s name). Stockdale believes he can reduce the UK’s fuel-poverty problem and give the energy majors a long-overdue poke in the eye. Can he do it” Well, At Cost Energy hasn’t got an Ofgem licence yet, but Stockdale has generated a lot of buzz, appearing on GMTV and ITV News.
18. Keep in heat
Insulate. Double glaze. Exclude draughts. Fit automatic door closers. Management consultants call these tips ?low hanging fruit?. We call them the bleedin” obvious though it’s disturbing just how many firms refuse to investigate even the most obvious energy savers.
19. Avoid micro-generation
Tiny windmills on your roof and photovoltaic solar panels might look like great investments, but there’s a reason why they aren?t more popular. At current energy prices, they just don’t pay. Windmills in particular need to be huge before economies of scale kick in. And you?ll need a prominent spot, 100m away from housing, to erect one. Solar PV is another red herring. In cloudy Britain, the pay-back time could be as long as 100 years, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
20. Use nature’s free heat source
Solar thermal is different to solar PV. Thermal heats water directly using the sun’s energy. Because the water sits in clear vacuum pipes, solar thermal works even on freezing cold and cloudy days. Heat exchangers are proven cost reducers too. This low-tech method involves piping water underground so it can absorb heat trapped under soil. Like solar thermal, it reduces heating costs even in winter.
21. Get your geeks on board
Computer servers devour electricity. But IT administrators don’t care about the cost: it’s not in their job description. So make it their duty to monitor and lower the energy costs. A software package such as Sentilla Energy Manager will provide real-time data on energy consumption and server usage, allowing administrators to either switch off redundant machines or use low-power modes.
22. Set a target
You?ve got KPIs across your business. Why not energy” Stephen Bentley, CEO of Granby Marketing Services, says goals are essential: “In 2008, we decided to work towards the ISO 14001 accreditation, to demonstrate our commitment to effective environmental policy. This involved setting ourselves the target of reducing waste by ten per cent, lowering energy usage by five per cent and increasing recyclable materials by one per cent. We have new, increased efficiency targets in place this year.
23. Drop a degree
Instant winner. Turn your thermostat down by a degree and your heating bill will fall by around ten per cent, according to the Energy Savings Trust.
24. Auto-off
Power down peripherals without lifting a finger by using an Intellipanel power lead. Plug in up to eight devices, then, when the ?master” device is turned off, all the other devices have their power cut, too.
25. Restrict water use
Californians say: “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down. Fortunately, there are more hygienic ways to cut down on water usage. Dual flush toilets and spray taps use less water. Restrictor valves lower your water pressure. A tap dripping once a second wastes 33 litres a day the equivalent of 446 showers a year. Dumfries House in Scotland asked its utility provider, Business Stream, to look for ways to cut its bills. Business Stream plugged leaking pipes and installed efficient water systems to cut usage from 64 cubic metres a day to three cubic metres, saving £11,000 a year.
26. Free money
The Carbon Trust is offering zero-interest loans for firms to invest in energy-efficient projects. Borrow up to £500,000, payable back over four years. The Carbon Trust will give your application a ?yes” or ?no” within 24 hours. What are you waiting for?
27. Boast about it!
Low overheads impress clients. Just ask Dougal Paver, MD of PR agency Paver Smith, which recently secured its ISO 14001 environmental standard accreditation: “I?m no tree-hugger I shoot my supper most weekends so we got our accreditation purely for business reasons. Certain clients take it very seriously. It’s a great differentiator and adds valuable points to public-sector tender scores. I’ve just won a £52,000 contract as a direct result.