According to the Guide to Energy Saving and Efficiency in Offices, buildings account for almost half of the world's energy consumption, specifically 40%. Therefore, improving energy efficiency in offices becomes a priority, as it would make that important piece of the pie becomes smaller, resulting in a lower emission of polluting gases into the atmosphere, and in turn reducing costs to save energy in companies.
Those organizations that promote energy efficiency internally usually comply with regulations and legal requirements such as Royal Decree 56/2016, also achieving the objectives of their Corporate Social Responsibility, improving their profitability, as well as the working environment, and in turn favoring the productivity of their employees. Although for all this, it is necessary to be attentive, and comply with a series of guidelines.
Where to start to save energy in offices?
The first thing to do is to know and study the consumption and current energy efficiency in the office, identifying the different areas according to their energy consumption, locating in them the potential energy improvements, and in the case that previous measures have been taken, verifying the effects they have had and if they coincide with the objectives initially set.
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On this point, for example, many companies have seen that between 40 and 50% of the organizations' emissions are related to employees' commuting to work. For this reason, some companies have decided to implement economic incentives for employees who ride their bicycles to work, achieving a significant reduction in emissions.
Once the potential improvements have been identified, a plan must be drawn up to implement measures to reduce consumption and improve energy efficiency in offices. The main areas to be taken care of to manage energy consumption are:
Manage lighting to improve energy efficiency in your office.
Obviously at this point we all immediately think of the use of energy-saving light bulbs. However, this is not the only thing we can do. Making the most of natural light or installing presence detectors are complementary measures that will significantly help to improve the energy efficiency of an office.
It should be noted that we initially identified different zones, which may have different lighting needs, and this should be taken into account in order to apply dimmers for each zone. Equally, not all workstations require the same light intensity, so this should be investigated primarily by the workers.
2. Study well the air conditioning of the building.
Here we will differentiate between heating and air conditioning consumption.
For the former, a temperature between 20 and 22 degrees Celsius is recommended, while for the latter, it is advisable to have the office at 24-25 degrees Celsius.
To obtain the best performance and improve energy efficiency in offices, it is advisable to use thermostats with which the temperature can be programmed and regulated according to the hours of the day or work areas.
This can also be supported with measures that allow, during the coldest months, direct access to the sun's rays, without hindering the work performance of employees, such as having blinds and curtains drawn. Or in the case of the hottest months, the use of awnings, blinds and curtains that prevent the access of natural heat, as well as the use of fans, which with a lower consumption than air conditioning usually reduce the thermal sensation between 3 and 5 degrees.
3. Pay attention to the particularities of the infrastructure.
The characteristics of the construction, its design, insulation, the condition and maintenance of elements such as windows and doors, and its general condition, will have a significant influence on the energy consumption of the building. The higher the level of insulation, and the better condition it is kept in, the lower the energy consumption and therefore the greater the energy efficiency of the office.
Within the design and distribution, it will always add the possibility of regulating the temperature according to the zones and schedules or taking advantage of natural ventilation to cool the environment in the hottest seasons.
4. Get energy-efficient office equipment
It is usually the largest energy consumption in organizations after lighting. We must try to find energy-efficient equipment, since, in addition to its electrical consumption, during its operation, part of this energy is transformed into heat, raising the ambient temperature. In addition, disconnecting equipment when not in use, instead of leaving it in standby position, will make certain phantom consumption disappear.
These and other measures will make the organization more environmentally friendly and significantly reduce its energy consumption, with the corresponding economic savings and energy efficiency in offices.
All this can try to be carried out within the organization by controlling the consumption reflected in the invoices, or an energy management software can be installed, such as Smarkia Monitor, which allows us to monitor the consumption, to know in which points the set objectives are being achieved, which can be improved and this observation will provide us with new ways to improve the energy efficiency of the company, without having to wait for the energy bill to arrive to observe the results.
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5. Use energy management and efficiency software
In addition, to comply with Royal Decree 56/2016, there is the option of Smarkia 50001, which allows us to control consumption and make a company meet the conditions of the. ISO 50001. In this way it is possible to carry out a real-time and constant management of the organization's consumption, achieving a significant improvement in the energy efficiency of an office, and avoiding having to carry out periodic Energy Audits.
Audits only show the energy consumption of the organization at the time they are carried out, limiting their effectiveness only to compliance with the Royal Decree that requires them and not to a real utility for the company in terms of efficiency. With Smarkia solutions, every day you can solve errors in the energy bill and save on consumption and costs for the company.
