We already know about the popularity of green building and sustainable practices, but have you considered that you might be actually overspending on unnecessary improvements?
On average, energy costs account for 30 per cent of a facility’s operating budget – meaning almost a third of all the money funnelled into a plant can be used up on energy costs alone.
So is it possible to achieve the perfect balance when it comes to energy efficiency? Let’s look at five ways you can optimise you facility’s energy consumption.
Assess The Thermal Envelope
Year-round analysis of your utility use can provide you an overview of how your plant uses energy and water and where you might be able to make a realistic saving.
The best way to assess your efficiency is to review your bills over a period of 12 months, so that you may discover trends and monitor the operations of your plant over the four seasons.
Taking advantage of reduced electricity tariffs for energy intensive processes can be extremely beneficial.
By doing it this way, if you have software for facility management, you can then quickly log in and check the date – making changes where need-be.
Optimise Your Lighting
When it comes to lighting, some fittings suit certain regions of your facility when it comes to achieving the ideal optimisation.
For example, LED lighting can be appropriate for storage and processing areas while less expensive fluorescent solutions are often the best solution for employees’ areas and offices.
Manual controls can also be used in addition to automatic controls to save additional energy in smaller areas as well as flood lighting areas such as High Bay lighting– all of which can combine to generate huge savings over the year.
Minimise Your Heating and Refrigeration
Industrial heating & cooling systems can account for up to 60% of the overall energy expenditure of a manufacturing facility – a huge amount when you think about it.
So have a think about whether your heating and refrigeration systems are working at maximum capacity unnecessarily and whether you could reduce the amount of time they are being used and ultimately the amount of energy you are using.
All aspects of heating and refrigeration equipment may affect a system and by improving lighting, installing appropriate doors, and simplifying minimum foot transport, you can decrease the temperature of your cooling room or the requirement of heating –therefore saving energy.
Reduce Electricity Use After Hours
Tracking how people are using buildings after work hours can reveal areas where organizations can become more energy efficient.
For instance, turning off the vending machines, printers and lights on floors that are not used after a certain time may seem miniscule, but over time, it can have a big impact on energy use.
Screen savers and sleep modes on plant HMI’s can be utilised when not required.
You can also maximize energy efficiency by automating equipment use with a building automation system.
Introduce Energy Efficient Practices
Getting employees to participate in energy-saving habits is an effective way to help reduce energy costs within your facility.
This could include staged start ups to processes to avoid unnecessary surge of wasted energy.
Anything from offering incentives or competitions to see how low an office can get their average kWh spend per month is an effective way to encourage employees when it comes to saving energy and reducing consumption within the business.
Also, thinking about sharing utility bills among staff members each month to give the employees a clear picture of just how much energy is actually being consumed will help to get your message across.
Talk To Us
HTS Engineering solutions specialise in a complete Electrical design and Instrumentation systems, taking customers through their journey from conception to a fully engineered package utilising our mechanical engineering and design team as required.
If you want sound advice on plant optimisation, whatever its size, contact us today on 01928 238 360 or email info@htsgrp.com and one of our team will be happy to help.