Are you looking to make your business more sustainable? This is something that every business owner should be looking to do even during the discovery phase of project and it can bring a multitude of benefits in addition to the ethical reasons, so here are 10 of the best ways that you can go about doing this.
1. Eco-Friendly Products
First, you need to make sure that you are both producing and sourcing eco-friendly products and trying to reduce plastic use as much as possible.
2. Green Energy
Switching to a green energy provider is one of the most effective ways that you can reduce your impact, plus you can make huge energy savings over the long-term on your energy bills, so it is a smart financial move to make.
3. Encourage Cycling
It is important to encourage staff to use green forms of transport as opposed to driving. One way to do this is with bike parking outside of the office and to start a cycle to work scheme.
4. Reduce Food Waste
You should try to reduce food waste as much as possible and the best way to do this is to educate your staff on the importance of only bringing in what they need and using up spare food.
5. Watch Water Usage
Water usage is another area to address and you will want to try to cut down on if possible, particularly when it comes to washing and cleaning.
6. Increase Recycling
Recycling is one of the best ways to be more sustainable but often an area where businesses could improve on. You can do this by educating staff on what they can and cannot recycle and making it easier for them to recycle items, such as placing recycling bins in the office.
7. Reduce Paper Usage
You should also try to minimize paper usage throughout the business. Where this is not possible, you should instead look to eco-friendly alternatives. As an example, you could have loyalty and business cards from eco-friendly supplier.
8. Use Energy-Efficient Equipment
Switching to energy-efficient equipment is smart as it will reduce your energy consumption, which will also help to reduce your utility bills too.
9. Green Shipping and Delivery
Opting for green shipping and delivery can greatly reduce your impact and costs, which can be achieved through green packing materials, minimizing packing materials, and using compact packaging. Also, using a routing app will make delivery more efficient and fast, encouraging the use of bicycles, and reducing air pollution from cars and motorcycles.
10. Charitable Contributions
Business can also be more environmentally sustainable through charitable contributions, such as starting a promotion, donating a percentage of profits to charity or starting a fundraiser.
Hopefully, this post will inspire you to make positive changes to your business and play your role in preventing environmental damage.
Utilities like water and power can end up costing nearly as much as your rent or house payment in a bad month. Unfortunately, you can’t cut off your water service to save money the way you could cut the cable. Here are a few tips to tame your utility bills and make it easier to pay your electricity bill with ease.
1. Clean Up
Cleaning the coils on your refrigerator helps it work more efficiently. Cleaning the coils on your air conditioner can do the same, but your AC uses far more power than your fridge. Remove any debris from the air intakes, whether it is leaving piles up by the AC or the air vent to your furnace. Rinse the air filters for your room air filters, the air conditioner, and your dehumidifier.
2. Turn It Off
While the appliances that are sleeping may use less energy than when on, the reality is that they use almost as much power in standby as they do when active. The solution is to turn things off. Unless your game station is downloading updates, unplug it to save power. Turn off the TV instead of letting it sit in standby, or worse, use it as background noise.
When gadgets are fully charged, disconnect them from the charging station and turn off the charging station. If you can’t stand to turn off your computer, turn off the monitor instead. Turn off lights when they aren’t in use, and consider when you can utilize natural light instead. Don’t let appliances idly run while you’re busy. Get the clothes out of the dryer instead of letting it run every five minutes to prevent clothes from wrinkling.
Turn off the oven when you’re done with it. The same might be said for your pool pump or air filters. Does it need to be running? If not, consider turning it off for a while. Always aim to improve your habits and to acquire energy-saver appliances. Also, consider that you are still allowed to hire a better energy provider in case the current one is not the best fit regarding your lifestyle. For instance, there are plenty of options when it comes to the most suitable electric companies in dallas.
3. Track Energy Usage
You can get apps that report energy usage in your home. These apps can tap into your smart meter and tell you which appliances are consuming the most energy. If you can’t cut back on energy usage, you could get advice on how to shift energy usage in order to reduce your electric bill.
For example, running the clothes dryer at night may allow you to get utility discounts. One of the advantages of hydroelectric energy is that despite facing daily and seasonal variations, utility companies will still provide discounts when the demand for power is lower.
Set up the dishwasher to run a heavy load when you go to bed, and the cost per kilowatt maybe a third of what you’d pay if it ran during the day. You may also find that the AC is running heavily during the hottest part of the day.
Could you alter the thermal profile of your home so that it uses less energy while keeping you comfortable, such as not trying to keep the house at 65 when you’re at work? If you cannot get the house comfortable without the AC running full blast all the time, you may need to have the air conditioner repaired or replaced with a more powerful unit.
4. Check for Leaks
If you’ve ever heard the joke that you’re not heating the neighborhood, recognize that there is an element of truth to that joke. When you leave the door open while you’re bringing in groceries or getting the mail, you’re wasting the energy used to heat or cool that air. Gaps in your window frame and window stripping cost you the same way.
Leaks in your hot water heater waste both water and the energy used to heat it. Look for water leaks when you suspect them, too. Not only does this damage the structure of your home and wastewater, but damp insulation has a fraction of the thermal value of dry insulation. This is how a water leak could be contributing to your higher energy bills.
There are a number of things you can do to reduce your energy bills and water bills without radically changing your lifestyle. Then you’ll be able to save the Earth’s resources and money at the same time. It is truly a win-win for everyone.
If you already have an air compressor, you will be aware of how they are an incredibly valuable tool for industries and DIY enthusiasts. Commonly used to power pneumatic tools but can be used for a variety of applications. Air compressors provide you with complete power over spraying, nailing, sanding and hammering at a fraction of the time it would take with manual tools.
You can also find these smaller sized air compressors everywhere that are very portable and best at doing small work. Bob Robinson of BestOfMachinery swears by these portable tools. “Small air compressors essentially push air from the tank in the unit, into the tools that you want to use for either DIY, hobbies or work purposes without the need to lug heavy stuff.”, he commented.
These machines can also be used for inflating tyres, auto repairs and even creating home-made snow machines. Sandblasters, impact wrenches, grease guns, die grinders and angle disc grindles can also be attached.
We all love our power tools and would be lost without them; however, we are becoming more aware regarding the issue of carbon emissions. Reducing our carbon footprint is one of the most important things companies and individuals can do in their lifetime. Small changes within your business and homes can be a great start to decrease our carbon emissions and help save the planet.
If you are looking to purchase your first air compressor or to update an existing model, Direct Air has created a guide on why an oil-free air compressor is a great choice, not just for the environment, but to help you save on energy bills. You can see their full range of oil-free air compressors at https://www.directair.co.uk/products/oil-free-air-compressors/.
Every air compressor requires lubrication in order to efficiently and safely draw in air to its cylinder, commonly using a piston movement. The traditional method to achieve this is using oil, while oil-based air compressors do have their benefits as they are more robust and can handle large-scale applications, they are higher in initial cost, harder to maintain and far heavier than their oil-free counterparts.
Oil-free air compressors gain lubrication through a non-stick coating, generally Teflon. As extra elements to hold oil are eradicated from these machines, they are far lighter and smaller than oil-based air compressors which make them ideal for applications that are not static. Due to less components, oil-free air compressors are often cheaper to purchase.
Oil-based air compressors must remain static and upright when in use, oil-free are far more versatile. As you do not need to consider the oil flow, they can be positioned wherever you see fit. They are also operatable at any temperature, oil can become viscous in cooler climates and can cause problems when attempted to start the motor, oil-free erases this issue.
With these benefits in mind, you can achieve even more with your oil-free air compressor by helping to reduce the use of fossil fuels maintain the planet’s natural resources. You can also make a direct impact on your running costs, saving you and your business money on your energy bills.
With an oil-free air compressor, all costs to collect and dispose of oil-laden condensate will be removed, not to mention the initial cost of the oil itself. These compressors are less wasteful as they do not require the replacement of the air/oil separator and filtration elements which are required to get rid of oil aerosols, these parts are notorious for wearing down quickly. You will not needlessly be sending these parts to landfill and be bearing the cost of new ones on a regular basis.
If you are worried about direct harmful emissions from your air compressor, oil-free air compressors produce the purest form of air which will reduce any negative impact into the atmosphere, great for the planet and for those working around it. You will also not have the trouble of potentially contaminated products from oil spills during projects.
A big bonus of oil-free air compressors is that they are safer than their counterparts, as there is no oil, you eliminate the risk of compressed air pipeline fires. An incredibly important factor to consider for the safety of you, your staff and your premises.
Oil-free air compressors can dramatically reduce your energy bills compared to the oil-based counterpart as they require less energy to run which will cut down your environmental impact. Oil-free air compressors do not need increased forces of power when the unit has a drop in the filtration in the downstream pressure, unlike oil-based. Oil-free units can, on average, unload in 2 seconds of your command which only uses around 18% of its full load horsepower.
Of course, all machines come with their downsides and oil-free air compressors are no exception. Oil-free air compressors are known to generate more noise which can be an annoyance and hazard to those using it and those around them.
There is a solution, you can invest in a low-noise air compressor. These reduce noise levels to around 40dB. The lowest safe level is considered 60 dB and anything over 80dB can cause long-term problems with hearing.
With the addition of an acoustic cylinder to contain this noise, opting for a low-noise air compressor is an investment worth making. It is recommended when using any power tool that protective gear is worn to eliminate lasting damage and long-term effects, even with a low-noise machine.
If you were considering purchasing a new air compressor or have simply been doing research on them, you should now have a comprehensive understanding of the benefits an oil-free air compressor possesses.
As soon as the chill begins to set in with fall, the need for indoor heating starts to push electricity bills up significantly with each passing month. This continues until winter finally arrives and skyrockets electricity bills to ridiculous amounts. This is pretty much what happens in summer too if you happen to live in Texas, Florida or any of the other hot states.
In both situations though, it’s the HVAC system that consumes all the energy, which is not exactly unexpected. What most of us don’t realize is that it’s most likely those clogged air filters that are making the HVAC waste more energy than it should need. Let’s talk about the impact of clogged air filters on HVAC energy consumption
How Do Clogged Filters Affect Your HVAC System?
Before we can discuss how clogged filters affect electricity bills, it is important to understand how clogged filters affect HVAC units in the first place.
The role of an air filter is simple enough; it stops as much of the air impurities as possible from entering and circulating in the indoor environment. After a while, all that dirt, dust, debris, etc., that the filter prevented from getting in begins to congeal together, slowly closing off the airways.
Once the accumulated gunk becomes heavy enough, the HVAC system has to work extra hard to push air past these narrow airways. This is where the problem lies, as a number of negative effects from the increased exertion and dirty filters are seen.
The Effects of Extra Load on HVAC Units
Given that an HVAC system isn’t equipped to handle all that extra load on a regular basis, a number of negative impacts are seen as a result of clogged air filters.
The unit begins to consume more power, to be able to push air past the dirty air filters
The increased power consumption becomes evident, as energy bills surge in direct proportion
Excess load decreases the potential lifetime of an HVAC unit
The heat exchange mechanism can overheat and short-circuit
The cooling coil may freeze in absence of sufficient airflow for dissipating condensation during summer
Breakdowns become more common, further adding to the maintenance expenses
Both the heating and cooling capacities of the unit suffers; slower and less effective heating/cooling
Since the air is pushed through the gunk with force, it circulates all the dispersed pollutants throughout the house
How to Know When Your HVAC System Needs a Filter Change?
Some of the signs are pretty obvious, but you should act before they become too obvious and your unit breaks down in the middle of January! It can get a little costly to change air filters on a regular basis for sure, so try to get them from discountfilterstore.com.
Go through the following and it should provide a decent guide towards detecting the need for a HVAC filter change before the problems get too serious.
It has been more than three months since your last filter change
The filters are starting to look grey or develop spots
Increase in indoor dust accumulation
Increase in allergic reactions such as sneezing, skin rashes, etc.
Heating/cooling seems to be taking a lot longer than expected
Heating/cooling isn’t as effective as before
Air filters serve the vital function of keeping the indoor environment fresh and healthy for everyone, but those same filters can also become the cause for health and financial problems unless they are changed in time. As long as you keep track of the change cycle though, none of what we discussed should be a cause for concern.
Many people are now realizing the importance of using solar energy. Remember that solar energy has now become more common in renewable energy. Most homeowners are installing solar panels on their roofs so that they can benefit from solar energy. Both business owners and homeowners can take advantage of solar energy. Besides the obvious financial benefits, there are also various good reasons why it makes sense to use solar energy rather than fossil fuels. This post explains why you should install solar panels on your property.
Reduce energy bills
Regardless of where you live, there is always enough amount of sun that can power your home at net zero energy consumption. You can generate a lot more solar energy on warm spring days. Even better, on hot summer days, you can generate solar energy that can be enough to run your air conditioning system.
Even if you live in an area that is usually cloudy, you can still receive a couple of hours of sunlight each day. On the other hand, sunny areas can get at least 5.5 hours of sunlight each day. While sunny days can help to generate more solar energy, solar panels can keep on getting energy from the sun when it’s cloudy. Diffused or indirect sunlight can still assist to power your building. It’s worth mentioning that cloudy days can generate between 10 and 20 percent of the energy produced on sunny days. If you decide to install solar panels, you can visit 4 Solar Estimates for help.
You can start saving right away
You can spend a lot of money on your energy bills. Solar energy can lower or even eliminate these energy costs once you install the solar panels. Besides, they also give you long-term savings because it’s free to get power from the sun.
Also, solar panels can significantly increase the resale value of your property. Most home buyers understand the importance of having solar panels, especially when they don’t need to make any investment and installation. Solar panels can also extend the lifespan of your roof because they tend to protect it from the elements like snow, debris, and rain. Above all, they can make your home more energy-efficient during the summer since the sun doesn’t hit directly on your roof. Instead, the solar panels absorb the sun to keep your home’s temperature lower.
Help the environment
Solar panels can get pure and clean energy from the sum. Therefore, you need to install panels so that your home can help fight greenhouse gas emissions and lower your dependence on fossil fuels. Electricity is usually produced from fossil fuels like natural gas and coal. When they burn fossil fuels to generate electricity, they produce harmful gasses that are the leading cause of air pollution.
Fossil fuels are not good for the environment, and they are also finite resources. Renewable energy can improve your health. On the other hand, natural gas and coal plants lead to water and air pollution that can harm you. Hence, you need to replace fossil fuels with solar energy.
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