Power Solutions to Safeguard Your Business from Power Outage and Cut Back on Consumption
Is your business prepared for a power outage? How much are you spending on electricity each month? The availability of electricity is a point of concern for all business owners. Many business owners considering power solutions only think about backup power. While backup power is important for any business in South Africa, it is not the only thing that forms part of a company’s power solution. While you are considering which generator to invest in, you might also want to think about how your business can reduce its power consumption. Considering Eskom’s frequent rate increases, your company’s electricity consumption directly affects its bottom line.
Being conscious of how much electricity your business consumes is about more than being prepared in the event of an energy crisis and cutting back on costs. It is also about being environmentally aware and reducing the business’s carbon footprint. A company that takes the time to implement greener processes and systems will be favourably viewed by the public and will also be fulfilling their environmental responsibility while they are saving power and money. While we have lighting solutions, power generators, and solar systems designed to help your business establish a greener and more cost-effective energy strategy, we would also like to provide a few tips and advice on how you can go green and cut back on energy consumption in the workplace:
- Establish energy-saving best practice for your business. Check Eskom’s on- and off-peak rates on their website and see if you can schedule some of your power-hungry business functions to run in the green off-peak periods and not in the red peak periods. On weekdays, off-peak is from 22:00 to 06:00; on Saturdays, from 12:00 to 18:00 and from 20:00 to 07:00; and on Sundays, the whole day. Also, make sure that you assign responsibility to certain staff members to ensure that lights and air conditioners are turned off each day, air conditioners are turned off, and all computers and equipment are powered down each day. If you need lights on at night for security, consider day/night sensor lights.
- Replace all of your existing light bulbs with energy-saver or LED lights. You can reduce the electricity used for lighting in your business to one fifth or less of the original consumption by doing this – and reduce your lighting bill by the same amount.
- Have an energy audit carried out so that you can be advised on certain areas that need attention. An audit will uncover areas of the business where energy is being wasted and will highlight areas where energy consumption can be reduced.
- Set your laptop and desktop computers to go into hibernation mode when not in use for a certain period so that they are not running at full power throughout the day and/or night.
- Upgrade old equipment to Energy Star-rated equipment. Older equipment tends to be more wasteful.
- Convert to solar energy. Installing solar panels presents an initial expense, but the cost savings you will experience will recover these costs over the medium term, and reduce your dependability on the grid.
- Make use of the virtual office space. The more your printers and equipment work, the more energy they use. If you distribute business information and data via the cloud, you can cut back on the cost of printing and the energy that is used to complete printing tasks.
- Take advantage of natural lighting. It might be common to enter the office and turn on the lights, but you should discourage this. Encourage staff members to open blinds and curtains in order to make use of natural lighting as much as possible.
- Make sure that your air conditioners are regularly serviced and maintained to ensure that they operate efficiently at all times. A well-maintained air conditioner will use less energy to run than one that is old, outdated, and struggling through the day.
At Raydian, we can assist you with putting energy saving systems, lighting, and backup power in place that helps you to cut back on costs from day one. All our systems and products are geared to help your business become greener. If you would like to learn about professional power solutions that are designed to boost your business’s bottom line, take the time to get in touch with us at Raydian. Simply give us a call or send us an email for more information and advice today.