H&H Reeds mark Big Energy Saving Week with top tips on cutting down on energy consumption in the workplace
Big Energy Saving Week (17th – 23rd January) helps us all focus our minds on how we can cut energy consumption, which in the current market has become even more important, both from a cost cutting and environmental perspective.
There are some surprising and often hidden areas of energy consumption. Perhaps one of the most important, but often overlooked, are computer servers. Research estimates that by 2025, the IT industry could use 20% of all electricity produced and emit up to 5.5% of the world’s carbon emissions. That’s more than most countries’ total emissions, bar China, India and the US.
Here Jonathan Nagle, Head of Sales and Marketing at H&H Reeds , the Carlisle based integrated marketing agency, gives us some advice on how to save energy in the office.
“We take our green credentials very seriously and have taken many measures to ensure that our carbon footprint is minimal. Not only does going green make sense for the environment, but it also can help with your energy bills. The most important thing is to look at the problem as a whole, as small incremental changes in each area can add up to a big saving. So, the first thing to do is to conduct an energy audit. You can’t make meaningful changes if you don’t know where you’re currently losing money.
Data centres almost always plug directly into the local electricity grid. In most countries that means they mostly use non-renewable sources of energy. Here at H&H Reeds we believe that hosting a website should not contribute to your carbon footprint. However, not all hosting companies are equal, so we made an ethical choice to partner with a UK based hosting company, powered with renewable energy that is now a carbon neutral business.
Website performance and environmental impact are not often associated together, however slow websites take longer to load and therefore use far more energy. H&H Reeds develop websites that consistently achieve exceptional load speeds, and therefore use significantly less energy. According to Website Carbon Calculator our website is 90% cleaner than most websites and emits such a small amount of carbon each year that it could be absorbed by one tree! Continually striving to improve page load speed and mobile friendliness will also help save energy.
Switching off computers and other electrical equipment overnight can also make a real difference to your energy bill. Over the course of a year, a single desktop computer and PC monitor will burn nearly £10 from being left on standby alone. Multiply that by 50 members of staff and suddenly, there’s a £500 annual saving to be made.
Another fact many people are unaware of, is that laptop computers use up to 90% less energy than a standard desktop computer, so it might be worth investing in new laptops when your desktops need replacing.
Switching your office to LED lights or fluorescent bulbs could be cost effective as they are cheaper to run and last much longer than incandescent bulbs, and of course, ensure the last one out switches off all the lights at the end of the day!
Obviously, you want your workforce to be warm and cosy, but even one degree centigrade of overheating can increase the cost of energy by 8%. Using a programmable thermostat makes it easy to regulate the temperature and timing. There is no point in fully heating an empty office overnight. Both advanced and smart meters can also help business owners to better understand their energy usage and make adjustments accordingly, even remotely.
So there is a lot one can do to help cut energy costs and carbon emissions. Here at H&H Reeds it is our mission to keep ahead in all that we do and helping to save the environment is extremely important to us and our customers. Helping them become more environmentally aware has so many benefits for them, their brand, their bottom line and most importantly - the planet.”