For many businesses, the cost of eco-consultation outweighs the benefits of shrinking the company’s carbon footprint.  But taking a good look at your energy consumption can be the right first step toward shrinking your energy bills and encouraging green awareness in your employees and customers.

You likely know the obvious points: turn off the lights, recycle, consider alternate transportation. Highlight behavioral changes like flipping the light switch every time you leave a room. Encourage carpooling among your employees.  Basic energy-saving techniques can encourage ongoing change. What do you do when you’re ready to see that change on the bottom line? Do an eco-survey.
Doing an eco-survey of your business is a do-it-yourself approach to energy savings. By doing a walk-through checklist (like those on Carbon Trust) you can pinpoint areas of unnecessary energy usage, cut energy use effectively, save money, and decrease your carbon footprint.

A quick primer on a DIY eco-survey:

• The tried-and-true standards? Turn out the lights, avoid keeping outside doors open, change your fan circulation to increase heat, etc.
• Install energy monitors (like the Efergy) that chart energy usage through regular meter reading.
• Ask your energy supplier for a detailed bill showing regular energy consumption.
• Plot your energy consumption (from the bill or meter) on a chart that compares energy usage with regular business hours and activities.
• Look at unnecessarily high energy usage. Does the graph show spikes during quiet periods? This is a good time to check for vampire power.
• Monitor real-time electricity readings. The Energy Saving Trust claims this can save you between 5 and 15% of energy consumption.
• Take a look at the people involved. How do your employees contribute to your company’s carbon footprint? Encourage them to find do eco-surveys of themselves.

Now, a simple walkaround can miss major factors like transport emissions, but an eco-survey can take some of the guesswork out of going green. Once you’ve taken an effective look at your business and established your carbon footprint, you may find that a few targeted changes can make a big impact. You’ll save money by keeping close attention to what you’re paying for, since seeing stark figures can encourage you to keep improving things. And maintaining a record of your eco-survey will help–keeping tabs on progress can motivate you to carry out and continue changes!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 4:51 pm and is filed under Features & News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.