With winter just around the corner here for the Northeastern United States, most people know that it’s important to get their home ready for the colder season—but businesses can also benefit from pre-winter adjustments as the seasons change.
Winterizing your business is much like winterizing a home. The difference is that energy efficiency can make an even bigger impact for businesses, since the volume of customers, size of the properties, and amount of energy used occurs on a much larger scale.
If you’re a local small business owner, check out the helpful tips below for some tweaks to help your business thrive during this northeastern winter.
A yearly tune-up for your heating system is extremely important when getting your business ready for the winter. Your customers don’t want to be cold and uncomfortable—and neither do your employees. Few things can grind business to a halt like an unexpected heater breakdown during the dead of winter.
Having an energy expert look at your heating system and make sure everything is in good working order for the coming season can prevent any small issues from becoming a big problem that can slow—or even fully halt—operations for elongated periods of time.
Lighting is one component that can affect businesses more than homes when it comes to energy efficiency. Businesses pay a lot for lighting, especially if they have after-hours operations, large warehouses or showcase areas. Whatever type of business you have, lighting is probably a large expense.
By switching to energy-efficient lighting, you can save big, even though winter days are shorter and require more lighting.
Your programmable thermostat is a big money saver—with “smart” options helping to save you even more. By simply getting your thermostat on a schedule, you can set it to adjust temperatures to coincide with your busiest hours, while taking it easy when things are slow.
Today’s smart thermostats can even go a step further—you can go as far as to setting preferred temperatures for different managers during their shifts or using location data to warm up the office as you get closer to work. No more keeping your coat on until the building gets comfortable!
Holiday lighting and signage can be set to turn off by a certain time of night—or day if you have a nighttime operation. Most potential customers won’t be enjoying your holiday display at 3 AM or need to know the cocktail specials at breakfast time. Don’t let your off-hours go to waste, with lighting no one will see. Likewise, there’s no point in illuminating the bathrooms when no one’s occupying the stalls.
There are several steps you can take to better utilize the warmth you already have indoors:
Making sure your heating system and business practices are all set to get the biggest bang for your buck can help keep your customers warm and save your business money. Plus, increasing your energy efficiency is also better for the environment.
When you switch to one of our Green Plans, 100% of your electric usage will be offset by carbon-neutral, wind or hydroelectric sources. We can even help you lock-in today’s lowest electricity rates to control your costs throughout the winter season and well beyond! Get in touch with us today and we’ll provide you a FREE quote for a new commercial energy plan!