There’s no doubt that running a business costs a lot of money. There’s rent, salary, payroll expenses, taxes, utilities, property maintenance, the cost of goods, training, hiring, and more. When money gets tight, many businesses tend to look at the big expenses first as a way to cut costs and tighten the purse strings. However, this can have a detrimental effect on the business.
Often, the first expense to go is the human capital expense: people lose their jobs. But there are plenty of other ways to cut costs without having to let people go when things slow down or seem to be coming to an end for your company. Here are some energy consumption tips to help you make the most of your hard-earned dollar in your company.
One of the easiest ways to save yourself money is to check to see where money is literally going out the door, outlets, windows, and cracks in the building. Utilities account for a large percentage of operating costs for any business, and if you crack down on some of those costs, you could save significant amounts of money. For example, did you know that it can cost you up to $45 a year to run a single computer system 24 hours a day! So, if you had 100 computers in your office running all day, every day, because you heard from someone somewhere that turning a computer on and off is bad for it, think again. For the record, 100 computers operating 24 hours a day could cost you up to $4,500 a year. The more computers you have, the more it would cost you.
Consider if you turned your computer monitors off at the end of every workday. Let’s say your employees work 8 hours a day. That means that the other 16 hours a day are wasted energy and money. You could slash your energy consumption costs by ⅔ immediately this year if you stop running your computers all day and night. What about those big tech companies that run all day and all night? Surely, they don’t have people stationed at those computers 24 hours a day? They might. But turning the computers off for even one hour during lunch breaks can save your company money on your utility bills.
Even if you are running your computers on battery power, as you might with a laptop, you are still consuming energy to power that battery over and over again. While charging time is significantly less than powering a desktop model of a computer, you could still cut costs by investing in energy-efficient computers, better batteries, and following proper use and charging protocols. For example, many laptop computers say to not charge the battery until it is nearly discharged, but many Officeworks keep their laptops plugged into power sources all day, every day. So, what is the point of having a laptop except for when you are on the road?
Be sure to trade up whenever you can to a new, more efficient model of computer. While it is a bit of an expense initially, the better battery and efficiency can save you money in the long run. And if you have a laptop, use the battery power before you plug it in. Not only will that extend the life of your battery, but it will also ensure that you are not drawing on a power source that is not necessary. Imagine running your computer on a battery and power source - it’s not only redundant, but it’s also expensive.
So whether you have 10 employees or 10,000 employees, ensuring that you equipment is up-to-date, in good working order, and is only on when it needs to be on, is a great way to help you save money over the life of your computer. Don’t be surprised if you get pushback from employees about turning off their computers at the end of the day. If you do get some resistance, ask them if they are willing to pay nearly $50 a year to keep their computers running? They probably won’t go for that. Being lazy is costly to both your business, and the environment.
Author: Switchboard In A Box
To find out how much you could save on your energy bill, please call us on 1300 957 721
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