Five changes to cut your energy costs

You might think manufacturing and high energy bills go hand in hand. But cutting energy, carbon and cost from your business is possible.

1. Change lighting

It’s not easy to generalise, but in 2019 Talk Business reported that switching to LEDs can reduce business energy costs by 20 per cent, the equivalent of increasing sales by five per cent. Whatever your saving, it will be significant.

2. Change to renewable

Solar panels could transform your energy costs, but other technology such as biomass boilers and heat pumps may also be worth investigating. Look for matched grant funding to help increase affordability.

3. Change equipment

If your chillers, conveyors, mixers or ovens are older than some of your members of staff, they’ll be driving up your energy costs. Look to replace them with more efficient alternatives.

4. Change heating and ventilation

An old boiler is no match for the efficiency of a modern HVAC system. It’s a costly installation but funding is available to help.

5. Change behaviour

Implementing energy saving working practices can help cut costs for free. Look at your working processes, staff behaviour, heating settings, start up procedures and more.

Where to start?

Change starts by knowing the current state of play. That means measuring your current carbon footprint, so you know what improvement looks like and which changes to make.

MaCaW, the University of Central Lancashire’s Making Carbon Work project, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and supported by Boost, Lancashire’s business growth hub.

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