Power Down: 7 Ways to Lower Energy Costs - Martin Supply

Power Down: 7 Ways to Lower Energy Costs

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Power Down: 7 Ways to Lower Energy Costs

With energy and gas prices at an all-time high, you may be seeing your operational costs shooting through the roof. Spending some additional dollars on the front end with energy-saving technologies can make a difference for your operation in the long run. Below are a few energy saving tips that can help cut your facility’s energy costs year-round. 

  1. Conduct an Energy Audit – The first step is knowing where your facility is wasting energy. Today, you can invest in energy enterprise management systems to monitor your facility’s electrical load. This type of software can track your power consumption patterns. Once you understand where the electrical demand is coming from, you’ll be able to identify areas for improvement.  
  2. Schedule Energy Downtimes – Don’t pay to light unstaffed sections of your facility or run the heat or air conditioner when the facility is empty at night. Investing in smart thermostats and motion sensor lights can make energy savings automatic. 
  3. Upgrade Your Lighting – LED lights are 90% more efficient than incandescent bulbs, and, unlike compact fluorescent bulbs, they produce virtually no wasted heat. HID metal-arc lighting fixtures are also highly efficient, but their long warmup time make them unsuitable for use with motion sensors.
  4. Go Natural – Put sunlight to use. Skylights allow natural sunlight to supplement indoor lighting, and installing solar panels can turn sunlight directly to electricity. If skylights and solar panels aren’t an option, installing cool roofing material may be the way to go. Reflective roofing reflects solar heat back to the sun and can lower the roof temperature by as much as 50 degrees during intense sunlight, cutting down on cooling costs.
  5. Insulate – Fiberglass insulation is a reliable way to cut heating and cooling costs. Lining the walls and ceiling of a metal building with fiberglass insulation reduces heating and cooling costs and can also prevent unwanted condensation.
  6. Rethink Your Temperature Strategy – Do you need to maintain a constant temperature throughout every area of the warehouse? Probably not. By installing radiant heaters in heavily staffed areas like offices and the loading dock, you can keep workers comfortably warm without unnecessarily heating the vacant areas of the distribution center.
  7. Look to Landscaping – By planting shade trees around your facility, you can reduce sun exposure and generate cost savings. Using reflective pavement aggregates and sealers can cut down on the “heat island” effect, lowering the air temperature around your warehouse by as much as 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer.  

Cost savings can be achieved in other ways like vendor consolidation and vending. Contact your Martin Sales Rep or call 800.828.8116 for your custom-tailored solution.

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