Using energy monitoring systems is an effective way to keep your energy consumption down. If you want to reduce your energy costs, you must understand that you can manage your energy usage after you monitor and understand your energy usage. If you are looking for tips on how to reduce your energy bill, the tips illustrated in this guide will be useful.
Get buy-in from the top
You can easily switch to LED bulbs or raise your AC temperature but real energy management will need support from the top. You should know how you sell energy monitoring at the highest level. It is important to think about your office supplies such as staplers and pens. Good purchasing managers keep track of how much is being used. This means that if you are a manufacturer, you should know if you spend on solder, plastic aluminum or other raw materials required for production. You should seek out the best pricing and avoid wastage.
Energy should be accounted for in the same way. Power bills go straight to personnel in the account payable, who do not ask questions but just cut checks. Even if company managers look at a power bill and the bill shows no detail on where or when the energy is used.
Utility companies price their energy based on the time it is used or penalize users who exceed the maximum threshold during the billing period. Energy costs are rising to meet demand. Energy companies offer incentives to customers who use energy management systems to reduce usage under certain conditions. These new developments in demand-response and pricing offer savvy companies ways to improve their bottom line.
Some larger businesses create new positions in their companies with different titles like vice president of sustainability and energy manager. Individuals in these positions view energy not just as a fixed cost but as one that can be easily managed to the benefit of the company.
Start by gathering before managing
Once you have sold energy monitoring to your company, it is time to gather data. You need to gather real-time and detailed data that you can analyze. The data should be detailed enough and timely to make it possible for you to see the spike in energy usage when a compressor or air handling unit cycles on. It should also be visible to key people in your company who use energy. This gives them the information and motivation to reduce energy costs.
A lot of energy monitoring applications evolve into management applications. It is only logical that after understanding your usage pattern, which the machines in your business are the biggest consumers and how your consumption fluctuates, you will want to automate these things and control them to make your business efficient. The key is to start by understanding what is taking place first. You would not adjust your manufacturing process until you have compiled information that gave you a reason to do so. After aggregating and evaluating energy-related data through your energy monitoring systems, you can now start managing it.
