Benefits of Energy Efficiency
Are you interested in lowering your energy consumption? Reducing the amount of energy your property uses is a great way to lower your environmental impact and save money.
Both commercial and residential buildings can benefit from energy efficiency. You can also benefit from using energy efficiency practices in combination with green energy systems like solar or wind energy.
From switching from artificial lighting to natural light to changing the way you use electrical appliances, there are numerous ways to reduce the amount of electricity your property uses over the course of each month.
Below, we’ve listed some of the benefits of becoming more energy efficient, from reducing your bills to helping the environment. Read on to learn more about why you should make energy efficiency a top priority for your property.
Reduce your environmental impact
Do you depend on the national grid for electricity? When your property draws its electricity from the national grid, it relies on environmentally unfriendly sources such as coal and oil.
These fossil fuels aren’t renewable, and they have an immense negative impact on the environment. The process of burning fossil fuels for energy creates a significant amount of carbon dioxide, affecting climate change.
There are also more direct negative effects of using fossil fuels for energy, such as a reduction in air quality. Overall, depending on fossil fuels are a source of energy isn’t an environmentally sustainable way to run your home or commercial property.
Since becoming more energy efficient reduces the amount of energy your property uses from non-renewable sources, it improves your environmental impact and has significant benefits for air quality and preventing climate change.
Energy efficiency in combination with renewable energy, such as solar panels or a residential wind turbine, can improve your environmental impact even further by allowing you to export clean, renewable energy back onto the national grid.
Lower your property’s energy bills
The less energy your property uses, the lower its energy bills. If your property still uses electricity from the national grid, becoming more energy efficient is a simple, effective way to lower the amount your home or business spends every month.
Energy is a significant expense for most homes and businesses. An average medium-sized home in the UK spends approximately £1,153 per year on energy – an amount that can be reduced significantly using energy efficiency techniques.
This can be lowered by 10% or more using simple energy efficiency practices, and by an even greater amount through the use of energy efficient appliances, lighting, heating and other technologies.
In colder parts of the country, insulation alone can result in a significant reduction in energy consumption during winter, resulting in lower bills throughout the whole year.
Like renewable energy systems, energy efficiency is an investment. Although there are costs associated with becoming more energy efficient, over the long term it can save your home or commercial property thousands of pounds.
Make 100% renewable energy easier
Does your home use 100% renewable energy? Switching to green energy systems like solar photovoltaic panels or residential hydropower can give your building an eco-friendly source of energy.
However, many buildings use such a significant amount of energy that changing to 100% renewable energy isn’t possible. Reducing your building’s energy usage can make switching completely to renewable energy far easier.
Solutions such as residential and commercial daylighting can result in a significant reduction in your building’s electricity usage, replacing conventional lighting with an energy efficient, natural alternative.
Likewise, efficient insulation can prevent heat loss from affecting your building in winter, resulting in lower energy consumption for heating and the ability to power your entire property using renewable energy.
Not only does becoming 100% renewable help the environment – it can also help your budget, through the Feed-in Tariff scheme. Energy efficiency is a key part of becoming 100% renewable that no homeowner or business can afford to ignore.
Become a more competitive business
Since energy efficiency reduces your business’s costs, it’s a great way to make your business more competitive. Energy efficiency practices can reduce the amount that your business spends on energy by 20 to 30 per cent on a monthly basis.
This means that your business can spend its budget on what matters – growing its sales, hiring new people, investing in equipment and research and achieving other goals – instead of spending a large percentage of its cash on energy.
Becoming more energy efficient through the use of renewable heat also gives your home or business the potential to earn a tariff using the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme, further increasing competitiveness.
Improve your home/work environment
Reducing your energy consumption has a range of benefits, the biggest of which are environmental and financial. However, becoming more energy efficient can also lead to improvements in workplace productivity and health.
Many energy inefficient buildings are affected by Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) – a situation in which a building’s poor lighting, air quality and design can result in low productivity and health issues for its inhabitants.
Since becoming more energy efficient means improving your building’s air flow and access to natural light, doing so can often result in significant improvements in your building’s overall health and desirability.
Research shows that natural light improves workplace productivity. Natural light is also linked to improve health and wellness, which can result in fewer sick days from employees and building inhabitants.
Whether at home or in the workplace, the principles involved in energy efficiency – namely the use of natural light over artificial – have a measurable positive effect on the health, wellbeing and mood of your building’s inhabitants.
Are you interested in renewable energy?
Would you like to switch from fossil fuels to green, renewable energy? We specialise in renewable energy systems and can help you convert your home or building from a user of fossil fuels into a clean, green renewable energy building.
From renewable heat to residential and commercial solar, wind and hydro energy systems, our experienced team can plan, supply and install the systems you need to make your property clean and energy efficient.
Contact us to speak to our renewable energy experts and learn more about the benefits of switching to renewable energy.
