Reducing commercial carbon output can be important for many different reasons. Whether you want to be better to the environment, better to your wallet, or less reliant on foreign energy products, there is always a good reason to become more energy efficient. Technology is constantly improving and becoming more efficient when it comes to energy usage, which allows room for ingrained habits while still lowering energy output. More than half of U.S. commercial buildings were built before the year 2000 and aren’t up to the most recent energy efficiency codes, so many buildings are due for some upgrades regardless of the carbon output issue. Over 68% of energy produced in the United States is wasted by inefficiency. Both commercial and residential buildings can use these efficient upgrades to lower their utility costs.
Three primary ways to reduce your business’s net carbon emissions are utilizing carbon offsets, using less energy, and becoming more energy efficient. The first option is costly. The second option requires changing ingrained human behavior. And the third option requires an ESG (environmental, social, and governance) plan. Which one of these plans is most efficient for you? Professionals in energy efficiency like BigFoot Reduction, Inc., know how to find funding for projects like this. Once a complete energy retrofit is performed, the need for carbon offsets or supplementary renewable energy drastically decreases because energy usage can be cut by up to half. For building owners, 40% of operational expense budgets are allocated to utility spend. Implementing energy-efficient retrofits to buildings can reduce the utility spend by $63,000 to $73,500 per year on average for a 100,000 sq ft building.
As with any venture, the best place to start is with a plan. In the energy efficiency space, this is called an ESG plan. This should be done before performing an energy audit. The plan will set goals and possible solution strategies. The subsequent audit will determine the best ways to move forward with making relevant energy-efficient retrofits to your current systems. These can include LED lights, smart outlets and thermostats, building automation systems, efficient HVAC systems, and better building insulation. Even just switching to LED lights can make a big change as lighting is the largest use of electricity in any building. Upgraded LED lights last 25 times longer and use up to 90% less energy than most traditional lighting. Although impactful, energy efficiency isn’t just changing lightbulbs. Successful, cost-saving energy efficiency often requires a multi-pronged approach.
BigFoot Reduction, Inc. can help with creating an ESG plan for you and designing the right energy efficiency approach for your business but also help you to get funding for your project. It’s time to stop deferring maintenance and upgrades. Contact us at (813) 433-0588 to get your energy audit started.
1. Srivastava, R. (2022, June 3). Here's how to scale energy-saving commercial building retrofits. Greenbiz. https://www.greenbiz.com/article/heres-how-scale-energy-saving-commercial-building-retrofits
2. Desjardins, J. (2018, May 25). This chart shows just how much energy the US is wasting. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/05/visualizing-u-s-energy-consumption-in-one-chart
3. Marohl, Z. (2021, October 4). By 2018, leds had become the second-most common lighting in U.S. commercial buildings. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/