Just over a month ago we publicly launched our sustainability programme 2015-2017 and we can now update you on several changes made in the space of a month this year that have had an extremely positive impact on the way we work and - naturally - on our energy costs.
We changed all the luminaires to LED
Yes, I know it's not a genius idea and it obviously had to be the first point. But it has to be here and I'm going to go into it a bit more because not only did we change several fluorescent lamps that we had, but we also changed other lamps that were LEDs to LEDs with less consumption.
The "normal" thought is: ok, if it's LED it will consume less. BUY IT! Mark as done.
WRONG! What we've discovered is that we need to adjust the luminaires (lamps) to the needs of each space. Which means that the fact that it's LED isn't the only thing to look out for. We need to realise whether the luminosity of the lamp is excessive for the space in question. In the company we have rooms with 5w LED luminaires and other rooms with 150w luminaires, depending on the space and the work carried out. This makes all the difference to the brightness of a space and to energy consumption. It's essential to adapt the right bulbs to the right places.
Some spaces will need T8 tubes, such as production spaces, others will need small lamps, such as table lamps, or large ones, such as in offices.
Example: In one of our production spaces we had six 22w light bulbs with 1800lm each, totalling 132 watt hours. We replaced them with three 1.5 metre LED tubes with 20.6 watts each with 3100lm for a total of 61.8 watt hours and we had a room with more light and energy savings (around 43 euros + VAT per year). This means keeping the existing technology, just sizing the existing luminaires differently.
Overall, since the start of the programme, we have reduced electricity consumption in luminaires from 2058w to 659w per hour. Our goals are set at 500w and we plan to achieve this in 2019 when the technology matures a little more. This is, of course, assuming that all the bulbs are switched on at the same time and at their maximum power, which they aren't, since we've taken other precautions to ensure that this doesn't happen, such as motion sensors and photoelectric sensors (they adjust the brightness depending on the light the room already has, saving a little more by not having the bulb on full blast all the time). Technically, we're almost within the 3/4 saving we wanted.
We've put an end to standby equipment
About two months ago we became the standby police trying to eliminate phantom power. For those who don't know, even when we switch off certain equipment, there is energy leakage. For example, in phone chargers, which are plugged in all night and always require energy.
In our case, we used a piece of equipment that we've had for a few years to measure the energy used by each piece of equipment and we put it in EVERY socket after closing time.
We detected less wasted energy than we expected BUT we still detected some. According to our calculations, if we did nothing, we would pay around €122 + VAT per year (for almost 500kW (half a megawatt) of energy wasted between nights and weekends on equipment that is forgotten (a simple electronic scale, for example).
The solution was to buy equipment that allows you to regulate the use of sockets, being able to programme when the equipment switches on and off.
For example: The sales representative leaves at 6pm; it doesn't make sense to have several pieces of equipment on standby or charging (monitors, phones, external discs, etc) all night. The socket to which this equipment is connected switches off at 6.30pm (to prevent a few more minutes of work) and switches back on at 8.45am, before the person goes back to work. This way, there is no inconvenience to the person and the company saves "a few bob" at the end of the year in energy consumption.
It's also a good way of preventing someone from forgetting to switch on equipment such as shirt embroidery machines, although these are switched off religiously.
We installed photovoltaic panels
Naturally, we had to install photovoltaic panels to harness solar energy.
We live in a country and a city full of sunshine and we had to do it. As a company, this is one of the best investments you can make, with a very low ROI for the useful life of this equipment.
Unlike photovoltaics for homes, which produce during the day when no one is around and there is little energy use, in a company energy is generated when it is being used, i.e. between 8am and 7pm. It's the time (depending on the time of year) when we have sun and it's the time when companies work. In other words, with a well-dimensioned system we can use 100 per cent of the energy we produce, or very close to it.
We can't say enough good things about this investment. The cost/benefit ratio is undoubtedly the best we've done to date and panel prices continue to fall every year.
We reduce water consumption
Although it's not energy consumption, it is the consumption of something vital to our existence and it has a very important corner to play in this article and in our endeavours.
Since we don't have as many water points as we do electricity, it's much easier to reduce water consumption using good practices.
- We replaced the single flush system with a double flush. Our toilets used 10 litres of water for every flush. At the moment we have dual flush cisterns with 3-litre and 6-litre flushes, depending on which flush you use
- We replaced the emulsifiers with intelligent click emulsifiers. This was a rather large investment for something so simple. For those of you who don't know what an emulsifier is, it's a cover that you put on the sink and which reduces the flow of water. The ones we bought save up to 80 per cent of water by mixing it with air. Miraculously, you hardly notice any difference when using the sinks.
- We've reduced the water flow to the sinks. Okay, that was the last thing we did because it didn't even cross our minds. Sinks are usually used for washing hands and we've always felt that they have too high a water flow. We considered spending money on flow reducers and messing around with pipework and plumbing, but we discovered something much simpler. All you have to do is partially turn off the tap that feeds the washbasin to reduce the flow rate in 1 second and without spending any money. Miraculous, free and we have total control over the strength of the water we want.
These are three extremely simple points that - in our case - cost 30 euros per bathroom, which should pay for itself in about a year. More than the financial saving is the important saving for the environment when we stop using and wasting so much water. In the manufacture of T-shirts, since it uses too much water, we don't need to continue the cycle.
Here it is. 4 ways that a company can and MUST use to reduce its energy costs. Naturally, these points can be used in the home (I raise my hand as a culprit, I've put LEDs throughout my house), but in a company you immediately feel their effect due to the number of hours each piece of equipment is switched on.
Although this isn't a sponsored post, I couldn't help but "thank" Leroy Merlin for the many tips they have on their website for saving a little more energy and being a little more eco-friendly. Several of the pieces of equipment we installed were purchased there and we couldn't recommend it more highly 😉
All companies are different and everything must be adapted to each one. We've made a few more changes and adaptations to our space, such as in the screen printing plant, where we've exchanged a high-consumption piece of equipment for one that uses a different type of energy, for example.
