2-3 min reading
When it comes to business expenses, the importance of energy efficiency in the workplace is often overlooked. Businesses stand to gain significant savings just from enhancing energy efficiency. All businesses need to do is to start investing in energy efficiency, whether it is through energy audits and retrofitting solutions.
The Business Case for Improving Building Energy-Efficiency
Saving Money: Energy-efficient buildings naturally consume less energy, which directly translates to lower energy bills. While many businesses are put off by a high initial investment when it comes to retrofitting and renovation, this can often be recouped over time through the cost savings from reduced energy bills.
Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Buildings are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, with the building sector being responsible for close to 40% of global energy-related carbon emissions. Improving energy efficiency can help companies substantially lower their carbon footprint, contributing to global efforts to combat climate change. This should not only be a moral imperative for businesses, but also help align with corporate social responsibility goals.
Creating Jobs: As a rapidly growing and developing sector, the energy efficiency sector is also generating many employment opportunities. In fact, the International Energy Agency (IEA), predicts that there could be 12 million new jobs created by the end of the decade. From auditors and engineers to construction workers and technicians, energy efficiency projects have the potential to create jobs across various skill levels and professions.
Maintaining and Winning Customers: Today’s consumers are increasingly environmentally conscious; a McKinsey study found that consumers are shifting their spending habits towards companies and products with ESG-related claims. Companies that invest in some form of sustainability efforts, such as energy efficiency, demonstrate a commitment to environmentally friendliness, which can enhance their brand reputation, attract new customers, and retain existing ones.
Taking the First Step
Many companies and businesses often want to be more sustainable, but may not know where to even begin. This is where an energy audit can be a crucial first step in first helping a businesses understand where they can reduce energy waste and what they can do toward making their building more energy-efficient.
Here at Vivid Edge, we offer commercial energy audits on all types of businesses in Ireland that are looking to reduce energy waste and seek opportunities to improve energy efficiency.
This starts by involving a comprehensive assessment of the building’s energy consumption patterns, identifying areas where energy is wasted and opportunities for improvement. Next, we look at not just cutting immediate costs, but at investing in the future. Our team can recommend carbon reduction opportunities and build a retrofitting implementation roadmap to improve energy efficiency, including cost-benefit analysis and potential savings.
Looking Under the ‘Bonnet’ and Identifying Energy Efficiency Measures
There are usually a few different effective energy efficiency measures that businesses could implement.
Lighting: Upgrading your commercial lighting to LED lighting can significantly reduce energy consumption and lead to 76% of energy savings.
HVAC Systems: Another way is by ensuring heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems are modern and well-maintained and can enhance energy efficiency.
Renewable Energy Integration: Incorporating renewable energy sources, such as solar panels, can further reduce reliance on non-renewable energy and lower utility costs. Solar panels are not only easy to install on the roof of buildings, but they are also a low risk and reliable energy asset that can provide high value returns.
Vivid Edge’s Energy Conservation Projects
Vivid Edge’s turnkey solutions can help businesses fund and implement their energy-efficiency upgrades from start to finish. Our small improvements, such as solar, lighting, mechanical, and equipment upgrades play a key role in minimising waste in commercial buildings. All businesses need to do is undergo an audit, select the energy efficiency projects, and sit back while Vivid Edge works hard to deliver the solutions.
The journey doesn’t end with implementation. Vivid Edge also helps with the continuous maintenance, monitoring, and reporting needed to ensure sustained energy efficiency. With regular reports on energy performance that demonstrate the benefits and savings achieved, your business’s energy efficiency journey has never been more effective.
All in all, getting energy audits and investing in retrofitting solutions can be powerful tools for enhancing the energy efficiency of your business. By taking the first step towards energy efficiency, businesses can achieve substantial savings and reduce their environmental impact.
