Looking for ways to improve your bottom line, without much capital investment? Then the first place you should look at carefully is your business' energy usage. Replace incandescent lights with fluorescent fixtures and your lighting energy operating and maintenance costs can decrease up to 75%, if you are mostly on incandescents now. Less than 5% of energy used by incandescent lamps generates useful light, so the rest is merely waste heat, which also increases summer air conditioning costs (if you are lucky enough to have this). Larger lighting upgrade projects may be eligible for Efficiency Vermont incentives.

There are now many choices of fluorescent fixtures. Just because you already have fluorescents doesn't necessarily mean you have the most energy efficient ones. The larger diameter, old style T-12 tubes have inefficient magnetic ballasts, while the newer (smaller diameter) T-8 tubes have energy efficient electronic ballasts, which have a longer life and are 30+% more efficient than the old ones. Also, many spaces are overlighted and you may be able to reduce the number of tubes per fixture by 50%, with equivalent savings. Some new T-8 tubes (those with green end caps) also have a lower mercury content, which is clearly good for the environment we all live in. In those areas with screw in incandescent bulbs, compact fluorescents are now available in a variety of wattage choices, warmer lighting color, and some can be used with dimmers. Compacts last 8-10 times longer than incandescent lamps and use approximately 1/3 of the energy, and though they do cost significantly more initially, they pay off in the long run. Many hardware and lighting stores sell these at greatly reduced prices because of incentives.

Exit signs now come in LED versions, which can be retrofitted for about $30 per fixture. Since LED exit signs are estimated to last 220,000 hours, this pays back in only 3 months over an incandescent fixture, and still makes sense to use in replacing burnt compact fluorescent fixtures. If you still have any incandescent exit signs, this choice is a "no-brainer"! The same goes for motion sensors in little used areas and photo cells on security lights, which can also be compact fluorescents for greater energy savings.

For businesses with refrigeration equipment, frequent cleaning of condenser coils (a very thin layer of dust reduces efficiency dramatically) and proper ventilation of compressor areas can save considerable money over time. For businesses with industrial equipment, Peak Shaving can really save big bucks! Many businesses are hit with an additional monthly demand charge, which represents the highest 15 minute period of peak usage. One way to reduce your demand charge is to look into replacing larger electrical users like electric hot water heaters and clothes dryers with gas ones. This can pay back in as little as three months. Also, see if your utility bill has off peak hours that some use could be shifted to, perhaps by using timers. For manufacturers, Peak Shaving, or reducing this peak demand charge, can be accomplished by simply not turning on every piece of heavy electrical using equipment at once (usually first thing in the morning), and staggering this process. If you have high amperage equipment, and a demand charge, you should be doing Peak Shaving.

This brings us to the electric bill. Don't just pay it without examining it and better yet, 4-6 months of bills or more, for patterns of heavy usage that could possibly be adjusted. There may be lots of energy saving dollars overlooked at nearly every business, so why not take advantage of this at your business? If your electric utility does not offer a free demand side management assessment, we can provide this overview assessment for you. Programmable, digital, set back thermostats can do the same for your heating and cooling bills. Why keep your business at 68 degrees when its empty?

For more information contact:
Peter Crawford at the Vermont Small Business Development Center (VTSBDC)
1-800-464-7232