Energy Saving Advice for Warehouses & Distribution Centres
Dedicated tips and advice on saving energy and money on your energy bills within warehouse buildings and distribution centres, all whilst helping to keep your staff happy…
Business energy contract due to renew? Call us on 0800 9777 000 or fill in our energy quote form to see how much you could save…
How to save money on warehouse’s energy bills
Effective warehouse and distribution centre energy management is often an underestimated money-saving tool in any senior warehouse manager’s itinerary.
Here at Exchange Utility, our mission is to bring the importance of cost and environment-saving measures to light to promote sustainable business practices and save business owners money.
Tackling warehouse and distribution centre energy management
Image Source: Carbontrust.com
Energy bills are typically responsible for a substantial 15% of all operating costs within a warehouse facility or distribution centre. To take control of these costs and begin work on reducing them warehouse facility managers and business owners need to understand the energy consumption distribution of their premises.
The diagram on the right illustrates the typical energy usage of a warehouse.
How to reduce warehouse and distribution centre energy bills
First and foremost, it is important to understand that your warehouse or distribution centre could be on the completely wrong tariff type to suit your hours of operation.
There are a lot of different tariff options that have been created to cater to buildings such as warehouses and distribution centres, with their unconventional opening times. However, as suppliers can earn more from keeping this little secret to themselves, they are often overlooked by the buyer.
For example, if your warehouse or distribution centre is fully operational 24/7, you could benefit from a tariff that offers lower prices for energy that is used at night as opposed to a conventional tariff such as an Economy 7 tariff.
According to Bloomberg, ‘because of the growing use of renewable energy sources, power prices in the UK are set to fall below zero during off-peak hours before the end of the decade.’
The unfortunate thing is, that even if your business is benefitting from a tariff such as this, you could still be overpaying your energy suppliers. So what can you do to ensure that your business energy contracts are the best they can be?
Exchange Utility is an energy management consultancy. Our experts are highly trained in identifying the best possible energy management progression routes for businesses such as yours. We can review your current energy tariffs to secure contracts that are more suited to your business needs.
After speaking to a representative and securing a better business energy deal, you will never have to worry about going out of contract or enduring a badly priced contract again. We will be on hand to answer any further questions that you may have and remind you about when you need to take action regarding your contracts. So all that’s left for you to do is concentrate on running your business.
3 Steps to reduce energy consumption in a warehouse or distribution centre
Alongside inspecting your current business energy contracts and tariffs, you can continue to make savings by defining consumption reduction measures for your warehouse or distribution centre.
Did you know that approximately 30% of the energy used in buildings is used inefficiently or unnecessarily? That equates to a potential 30% cost reduction on your business energy bills from implementing some clever warehouse and distribution centre energy management measures.
Below is a list of warehouse and distribution centre energy management options that are perfect for your warehouse.
1. Motion sensors
Motion sensors have the potential to cost as little as £20 and save your business as much as 10% on lighting costs as energy is not being used on lighting when it is not necessary.
This is an especially effective measure for warehouse and distribution centre energy management as these types of premises often consist of vast spaces that a member of staff does not always occupy.
Work it out for yourself using your current annual energy bill spend:
Annual energy bill spend ÷ 10 – Cost of motion sensors = Money saved from motion sensors
2. HVAC Controls
Being mindful of your heating, ventilation and air conditioning usage is also an effective way to achieve better warehouse and distribution centre energy management. Here’s a couple of facts to show you why!
✔ Reducing the temperature of your thermostat by just one degree can save approximately £90 for a three-bedroom semi, according to the Energy Saving Trust – So, imagine the difference that it could make to the costs of heating for a warehouse or distribution centre! The potential savings for this is many thousands of pounds, for a very little temperature alteration.
✔ Lowering air conditioning by just 1C could reduce your business energy bills by up to 8%.
✔ By replacing electric heaters with a central heating system, you could reduce the carbon emissions that your business generates from heating by 50% and the running cost by 2/3.
3. Insulation
Although insulation isn’t responsible for heating your business, it is useful in the way that it slows down heat movement throughout your premises. If it is hot outside, insulation slows down the transfer of heat into your building and if it is cold, it prevents heat from exiting the building.
This reduces the need to spend money on running air conditioning and heating.
It is estimated that ¼ of the heat within your business could be lost through the lack of or non-existence of insulation in your cavities and roof. Preventing this could save your business more than £135 per year on heating and cooling costs!
Warehouse and distribution centre energy management
U
sing a combination of clever energy contract procurement and consumption reduction measures can work wonders for your business, as you can continue to make savings year on year if you manage to reduce your usage and prevent your business from rolling onto standard or higher-priced tariffs.
This is money that you are then free to re-invest back into your business!
At Exchange Utility, we’re working to combat unnecessarily high energy costs for businesses in every sector, including warehouses and distribution centres, by providing a business energy comparison service.
No matter whether your business operates in multiple different industries or you’re just interested to see what other helpful energy savings tips our team have been able to come up with. Take a look at our other business energy-saving advice for more tips and inspiration to use within your business.
Why use Exchange Utility to compare business gas and electricity for your warehouse?
✔ Our customer support team is one of the best in the industry
✔ Contact Exchange Utility to switch your energy tariff in as little as 5 days
✔ We have years of experience comparing business gas and electricity
✔ We have built a solid reputation for being a reliable, independent and trustworthy comparison company
✔ We can compare gas prices from industry leaders to find you competitive rates
✔ Whenever a business gets in touch with us, we always work hard to get them the right rates for their business
✔ Don’t just take our word for it see what our customers are saying about us on Trustpilot
Business energy contract due to renew? Call us on 0800 9777 000 or fill in our energy quote form to see how much you could save…
