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ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY: STABILISING BUSINESSES’ ENERGY COSTS AMIDST UNSTABLE TIMES

Energy efficiency is the key to sustainability, both for a business’ long-term economic viability and the longevity of the planet. In these challenging economic times, however, efforts towards sustainability and net zero have taken a back seat 1 as businesses contend with record-high gas and power prices. Firms across the country face closure as they struggle to keep up with continually rising energy costs.

Data shows that UK firms 2 have experienced a 424 percent rise in gas costs and a 349 percent increase in electricity costs since February 2021. The energy crisis is straining business’ budgets and forcing them to drastically reduce their services, products, and workforce. The problem is most acute for small businesses, who are not protected by energy price caps and face the possibility of folding this winter. The most immediate way for businesses to cut energy costs is to identify efficiency improvements and eliminate excessive energy use. There are a host of measures that businesses can use to improve their efficiency, and it does not require tremendous investments into energy efficiency technology. Instead, adopting simple energy management practices and behavioural changes and implementing solutions to track and report these changes will save businesses tons on energy costs. This all has an impact on the bottom lines for businesses since companies would be able to save money and build resiliency against future economic and market hardships.

RETHINKING ENERGY EFFICIENCY INVESTMENT

Energy efficiency investment has been defined by the International Energy Agency (IEA) as “the incremental spending on new energy-efficient equipment or the full cost of refurbishments that reduce energy use. The intention is to capture spending that leads to reduced energy consumption.”

1 https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www. independent.co.uk/independentpremium/ uk-news/energy-bills-net-zero-climatecbi-b2152013.html&sa=D&source=d ocs&ust=1663060274818694&usg=A OvVaw2KdmCYSx4F_lGbNzGb4J0X

2 https://www.theguardian.com/ business/2022/aug/25/sleepless-nightsbusiness-owners-energy-bills-quadruple

Global energy efficiency investment, under this definition, reached record levels in 2021 3 . The report admits that this trend will slow significantly given the spikes in fuel and energy prices and inflation, amongst other supply chain and labour factors.

This means, given the current instability and crippling nature of energy prices, businesses that are struggling to pay monthly energy bills will hesitate to invest in renewable technologies, electric vehicles, or building renovations to reduce their current energy spend.

The energy crisis of today requires businesses to rethink their investments in energy efficiency. Significant returns can come from improved energy management measures.

FUTURE PROOFING YOUR BUSINESS WITH DATA-DRIVEN ENERGY ANALYTICS

There are many ways to make your business more energy efficient. It all starts with understanding how energy efficiency works.

When we use less energy to do the same amount of work – or produce the same output – we save money. This is because energy efficiency measures typically result in lower electricity demand, which in turn reduces costs and reduces strain on the grid. In fact, businesses that adopt energy efficient practices often enjoy increased productivity, competitiveness, and profitability.

3 https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/ b0beda65-8a1d-46ae-87a2-f95947ec2714/ WorldEnergyInvestment2022.pdf

Making improvements to energy efficiency comes through operational and behavioural changes within a business. Many of these quick-win strategies are born out of having an energy audit of your business. From there, an energy plan – supported by energy management technology – will guide your business the rest of the way.

The economic benefits of energy efficiency are many. That saved money leads to the creation of jobs, reinvestments into your products and services, and stabilises electricity prices in the market.

Efficiency is a key component of sustainability because it helps us reduce our electricity demands over time. This means less investment needed in new infrastructure for generation and transmission, which are costly endeavours. Efficiency also diversifies utility resource portfolios – which traditionally have relied heavily on fossil fuels like coal or petroleum products – by incorporating clean energy sources.

INVESTING IN ENERGY MANAGEMENT

Energy today is a far more measurable and manageable commodity than it has ever been before, meaning that businesses can more easily monitor how much energy they are using, where they are wasting it, how they can use it better, and how they can cut costs. Energy management is the process of monitoring, controlling, and optimising energy in a building, site, or organisation to satisfy both economic and environmental requirements.

Energy management technologies provide businesses with the opportunity to maximise energy efficiency, monitor and target energy waste. They enable businesses to view energy consumption, measure energy performance, and manage energy-related costs – all in real time.

Businesses can respond to the information provided by energy management systems and act on them, changing their behaviours and processes and tweaking their operations to have an impact on their energy consumption.

CUT ENERGY COSTS TODAY WITH ENERGY MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY

Implementing energy management measures is the first important step towards energy efficiency. Your efforts ought to be tracked and reported so your business can monitor progress and adjust as required. Data-centric energy management solutions are making it far easier for businesses to do just that. Through energy management software like ClearVUE.Zero, businesses can show their progress towards energy conservation goals and the cost reductions achieved. Our software is designed to deliver real-time energy data across a business’ entire operation – down to circuit level – through an interface that is easy to use.

Businesses that use our energy management software can quickly identify inefficiencies, including unnecessary start-ups, high base loads and standby consumption, poor import capacity, poor insulation, air leaks, unbalanced electrical loads, and more.

Using energy more efficiently across your business and its operations is the fastest and most cost-effective way to save money. It also helps elongate the lifespan of your assets and machinery and reduce your greenhouse gas emissions.

Any business that wants to stay competitive in today’s marketplace must make energy efficiency and sustainability a priority. With energy costs on the rise and environmental regulations becoming increasingly stricter, businesses that don’t make investments in energy efficiency will be at a serious disadvantage. The good news is that investing in energy efficiency doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, it can save your business money both in the long run and day to day. A ClearVUE.Zero customer discovered this first-hand.

A large UK bakery installed our energy and carbon management platform at seven of their business sites. The system identified that one of three compressors at one site had abnormally high power consumption. This was amounting to over 980,631 kWh per year – nearly 2,700 kWh daily – totalling the company nearly £400,000 per year in energy costs. Upon having these consumption and costs data revealed to them through ClearVUE.Zero, the bakery moved to switch the highest consuming compressor from a primary function to a back-up only. This intervention netted the bakery massive results across key fronts.

• 396,677 kWh reduced per year (annualised) after their daily consumption dropped to 1,086 kWh per day.

• £73,578 reduction in their annual energy bill costs; £137 daily

• Additionally, 124 tonnes of CO 2 e emissions were eliminated per year. Keep in mind that these savings were achieved through an operational adjustment in just one machine. By making energy efficiency and sustainability a priority, your business too can position itself for success now and into the future.

Find out how you can cut down on energy costs by visiting www.clearvue.business.