A UK report says that nearly half of the electricity consumed by British businesses is wasted when employees are not at work.
In an analysis of more than 6,000 smart meters, British Gas found that 46 percent of electricity use occurs from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., when most businesses are typically closed. Common examples of unnecessary electricity use include the lighting of parking areas during weekends, keeping the lights on at retail stores even after shopping centers are closed, and running vending machines around the clock.
The UK utility also released a series of thermal images illustrating how much energy is lost from energy-inefficient buildings in London, Manchester, and Liverpool during the evening hours. According to British Gas, the average business could save £1,200 ($1,900) on its annual electricity bill by simply switching off the lights at parking lots during weekends.
A recent report by Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute suggested that reducing energy waste will be a critical component of UK efforts to achieve its climate change targets.
Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.
2 comments
I couldn’t agree more that businesses waste energy, it causes problems with the environment as well as long energy bills. But actualy everyone can get educated in the sphere of business energy saving. I myself have recently become interested in this and actually got some good results.
British Gas’s ‘Business Energy Insight’ is a good first step and will hopefully be an eye opener for those companies who adopt this. Over the years we’ve steadily become a wasteful society and need to kick this trend to the curb.
Unfortunately it’s still financial benefits/incentives rather than social responsibility that are influencing peoples decisions – it’s a start at least
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