For all of the benefits of doing business in Ireland, the country does still possess some flaws that can lessen its attractiveness as an enterprising image. Recently, for instance, the Irish Independent revealed that Ireland (specifically through the ESB) has some of the highest electricity costs in Europe. With this and other overheads mounting up, reducing your electricity bill should be of premium importance to every franchisee seeking to minimise waste and maximise intake. To help you along the way, Franchise Direct has compiled a list of tips (some simple, some less so) to help you reduce your business’ energy bill.
One of the best places to start is the bill itself; if you can acquire a load-down of your energy consumption over a certain time period, this can help you diagnose the areas that waste the most electricity and plot an appropriate course of action, which may or may not (depending on the needs of your franchise) involve replacing equipment with more energy-efficient models. When it comes to lighting your workspace, for instance, replace incandescent bulbs with LED ones, which as well as requiring fewer watts to fuel also last several times longer. Low-energy alternatives are available for many other electronic products and can reduce your electricity consumption by up to 20%. Also, be sure to shop around between the various different electricity suppliers available in order to find the best possible deal for your business.
Basic steps for saving electricity in the home can also be applied to the business environment; turn off lights when they are not needed (switching lights on and off incurs no increase in electricity usage, in stark contrast to leaving lights on unnecessarily). If applicable, switch your thermostats to a lower temperature. Turn off and unplug computers, chargers, photocopiers and other equipment that you don’t need to leave plugged in 24/7, as all of these will serve to rack up your energy spending. Installing timers and motion detectors can also be extremely useful in this regard, switching lights and other electricity-consuming appliances on and off as required.
Some steps will be more dependent upon the industry in which your franchise operates. For a food or beverage franchise, for instance, incremental energy savings can be made through regular maintenance of your fridge, by checking the refrigerant charge and cleaning the evaporator and condenser coils. Every little bit counts for such franchises, with restaurants typically guzzling over five times more energy per square foot than other workplaces. Because of this, steps such as optimum cooking techniques, running dishwashers only when full, regular maintenance of equipment and switching off cookers and fryers to preclude idle time become all the more crucial.