We are all responsible in some way for wasting energy which someone else is paying for; in fact we are all paying for all the energy consumed in the way of higher prices. More importantly, what happens when there is none left? What price then?

There are a few simple things which can be done by any organisation to make a start on cutting their energy bill:

1.    Make someone in the Company responsible for investigating all aspects of your energy consumption, including monitoring and occupancy patterns. i.e. Appoint an Energy Manager.

2.    Good Housekeeping is the starting point:

a) Check start & stop times of heating and cooling plant.
b) Educate staff to dress according to the seasons in order to minimise complaints about the space conditions
c) Check “out of normal hours” use of buildings when there is minimal staff occupancy; do not heat or cool the whole of a building if there are only a handful of people working.
d) Keep sensible levels of heating in winter and cooling in summer; say 20/21^oC for winter and 23/24^oC in summer for cooling.
e) Switch off lighting when possible.
f) Close blinds and keep out the sun to save cooling load during the summer.

When all this has been addressed take advice from a Control Systems Expert. You will need to allocate a budget for repairs, replacements and improvements for which the expense will be recouped in a cost effective timescale.

Regular inspection and testing of the Control System will alleviate staff complaints as well as save energy.

Be aware: just servicing your boilers is NOT a service on the whole of your Control System, the part which saves the money!