Reduce Waste, Reduce Energy Bills

Following UK energy regulator, OfGem’s announcement of significant increases in energy bills from April, Kas Mohammed, VP Digital Energy at Schneider Electric UK&I, explains why reducing waste presents an obvious route for businesses seeking to reduce their energy burden.

Schneider Electric research shows  there are significant open goals for energy cost saving, which businesses are still missing:

• More than a third (30%) of energy consumption in buildings is wasted
• 20% of businesses have only just started measuring energy consumption and aren’t even aware of what is being wasted
• Only a small proportion (17.4%) have installed building management systems
• Meanwhile, Schneider Electric typically sees a 30% reduction in energy usage and a similar reduction in operational costs as a result of smart building technologies

The priority for any business is keeping costs to a minimum while driving growth and productivity. In our current climate, reducing energy waste, and in turn energy costs, is central to this.

Buildings – including offices, hospitals, and universities – consume half of the world’s electricity and a third of all energy, representing a huge potential cost saving. To drive this number down in commercial environments, we first need to measure current energy use. At Schneider Electric, we now have sight of 95% of our buildings’ energy use in the UK and are using this information to identify where energy is being wasted, therefore eliminating unnecessary costs. We have targets to reduce energy usage by 5% each year, benefitting both the environment and our overall expenditure.

However, not all businesses are operating at the same efficiency – 20% of UK&I businesses have only just started measuring energy consumption and aren’t even aware of what is being wasted. Easy to introduce features, like lighting and window-side sensors, can lower energy bills and reduce maintenance costs – directly improving a business’ bottom line.

These basic upgrades are some of the biggest open goals for those concerned with the surge in energy bills illustrated in today’s report.