How to Improve your Commercial Property’s Energy Efficiency
As you will have seen from our recent blog post, changes are being made to energy efficiency regulations from April 2018. From this date, all non-domestic properties will have to score a minimum EPC rating of ‘E’. So how can properties make their properties more energy efficient?
Three quarters of a property’s energy usage is down to heating, ventilation, air conditioning systems and lighting, so in order to improve your energy efficiency based on these factors you can:
Reduce Energy Wastage
On average, 30% of energy in commercial properties is wasted. So, in order to improve a property’s energy efficiency score, the amount of energy that is being wasted needs to be reduced. This could be as simple as turning the lights off when there’s no one there or closing office doors to keep the heat from escaping, which means that you may not need the heating on for as long.
Go Smart
Many property owners are installing a building management system (BMS), which is a computer-based control system that controls and monitors the building’s mechanical and electrical equipment, such as lighting and heating. So in order to improve energy efficiency, the building management system could be set to automatically open windows on a hot day to avoid using air conditioning, or turn the lights off if no movement is being detected, just in case you forgot to turn the lights off when you left for the evening.
Smart meters can also be installed in properties in order to monitor energy usage. So, if you see you are using a lot of energy, you can make a more conscious effort to reduce your energy usage.
Improve Insulation
Some properties may benefit from increasing the amount of insulation they have. Insulating more will mean that less heat will escape, so you can turn the thermostat down, or even off. This therefore means you will no longer be wasting energy and you are more likely to meet the minimum energy efficiency rating.
Though these changes will come at a cost, not meeting the minimum energy efficiency rating will also come at a cost because your property will not be able to be let out. And the monthly energy bills are likely to go down.
Do you have any other tips for improving energy efficiency? Let us know in the comments!
