Friday 20 April 2018

‘UK businesses could slash energy spend with small efficiency measures’

The UK's 5.7 million businesses could significantly slash their yearly energy spend of £29.1 billion by implementing a number of easy and cost-effective efficiency measures.

That's according to hardware firm Printerland.co.uk, which says typical small and medium-sized businesses use around 30,000kWh of power, costing approximately £5,250 - enough for 1.8 million kettle boils.

The average UK office has 16 employees, so each desktop computer running for eight-hour days, 260 days per year, uses 3,328kWh of energy, worth £582 in working hours.

The company suggests leaving a computer and monitor in sleep mode while not at work  can waste as much as 9,955kWh over a year, costing £1,742.

Similarly, a photocopier left on standby all-day costs £459.90 over a year - turning the device off completely out of office hours could see savings of around £323.40.

It says switching to clean fluorescent bulbs would see a massive 75% decrease in energy used for lighting over the year.

Chris Ralph, IT manager at Printerland.co.uk, said: "Our research has been a bit of an eye-opener for us and we’ve already started to make changes in order to bring our own energy consumption down.

“Some of the things we can do to save energy require so little effort - such as putting appliances on standby - yet make such a big positive impact on the environment.”