By making a few simple changes your business can save energy which means reducing your energy bills and your impact on the environment. 

What you can do

• Switch off appliances like hairdryers straighteners etc at the wall when not in use – appliances left on standby equate to 10% of Australia’s total household energy consumption
• Change your incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) – they produce the same amount of light use one third of the electricity and last up to ten times as long
• When replacing equipment purchase energy efficient appliances and maintain your equipment to ensure it works efficiently. This reduces energy consumption which saves you money and cuts greenhouse gas emissions
• Set the thermostat to around 18-20°C in winter and 25°C in summer – for every degree you decrease the thermostat; you can save up to 15% off your heating bill
• Remove screen savers from your computer – set your computer to ‘sleep’ or ‘power save’ mode so that it powers down when you’re not using it
• Turn your monitor off when you go home – leaving your computer and monitor on out of business hours can produce as much greenhouse pollution annually as driving your car from Melbourne to Perth
• Switch lights off when not needed – lighting accounts for up to 60 per cent of energy use in an premises
• Improve insulation and draft proofing - seal off draughts and cracks around doors windows and other vents which are responsible for 15-20 percwent of heat loss in winter and loss of cool air on extreme heat days
• Use a water efficient washing machine – by installing a water efficient washing machine you may use only one third of the water of other machines. Front loaders usually have lower water usage
• Do not leave taps dripping – Always close them tightly after each use. One drop wasted per second wastes 10 000 litres per year.

By implementing all or some of these ideas you will be helping to preserve our environment for the future and save your business hard earned money.