Energy Saving News
Seeing Is Believing With Real-Time Energy Monitors
Small and medium sized business just in the United Kingdom could be losing as much as £3 billion in 2010 as a result of inefficient equipment and energy wastage. The same pattern applies to most industrialised countries around the globe.
The UK’s Carbon Trust reckons out-of-date equipment is wasting small businesses’ cash, but much of the problem is that business owners simply can’t see the wastage and are losing money without knowing it.
Many small businesses aren’t able to get an immediate view of the energy they’re using and what it’s costing them and many SMEs don’t have the time or the money to invest in energy efficiency actions, further adding to the problem.
What businesses need is a real time view of their energy use so they can see the instant effect of turning equipment on and off. Allan Robinson, of energy company npower agrees:
“For many small enterprises the priority has to be running the business, particularly during these tough economic times, meaning there is little time to dedicate to saving energy. Even though small measures like switching off equipment can make a big difference to energy costs, there’s no obvious impact of flicking a light switch. You can’t see your energy use drop instantly and bills won’t always register a change immediately so there’s often little incentive to keep on saving energy, particularly when you’re busy,”
“Just seeing your miles per gallon can make you drive more economically, so actually seeing the energy you’re using can encourage people to stop wasting energy,” Robinson adds.
Real-time energy monitors make a huge difference enabling people to be able to see what is being used and wasted, npower are offering a basic meter to some of their business customers and Enigin PLC have an advanced real-time monitor, the Eniscope, which also provides historical data that can lead to longer term planning of energy use.
Energy monitoring on this scale seems to be the way ahead.
Tuesday 9th February 2010
