Corporate Energy Awareness

Many of the ways homeowners can reduce their energy costs apply to businesses as well. Depending on the size of the company, the importance of smart energy practices increases significantly.

Consider the recent finding that US companies could save $2.8 Billion a year just by turning off unused PCs overnight. Workers may not feel as inclined to save their company money on electricity as they would within their own homes. In other cases, employers mandate that computers be left on so that patches and updates can be applied without hindering productivity. Perhaps a middle ground could be reached where computers were shut down most nights and over weekends, but were left on by request for specific actions to be taken.

Since overall energy use tends to scale with size, it’s also likely that energy waste does as well. The effect of a huge energy consumer reducing its use by 5% is clearly much more significant than the same reduction by a smaller consumer. Still, good habits from all users, both in corporations and homes, large and small, are worth the effort.

IBM has a great commercial in which an executive is dismissing an energy-saving proposal. He says that he’s no tree hugger and doesn’t eat granola for breakfast, so he questions why he should even consider such an idea. The light bulb (hopefully a CFL) goes on in the executive’s head when the subordinate translates the energy savings into the effect on the company’s bottom line.

Most businesses are profit-driven, meaning that they aren’t likely to take action unless it has profitable consequences. Fortunately, energy savings, with all of its many other benefits, has the ability to do just that.

Have you taken steps at work, whether as an employee or owner, to increase energy awareness?