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Reduce your Utility Costs

Utilities can account for a sizeable chunk of your firm's costs, but you might find that you can make considerable savings in this area. Here are some cost-cutting ideas:

Reduce your utility costs

	Offer bonuses and other incentives for noteworthy conservation, and circulate copies of your firm's energy bills to remind employees of your commitment to reducing costs in this area
	Ask employees to turn off and cover up all equipment at the end of every day where appropriate - this not only saves power but also extends the life of your equipment
	Install time clocks to control heating, air conditioning, and lighting
	Turn the temperature setting on your thermostats down during the winter and, if you have air conditioning, up during the summer
	Your offices could be over-lit in areas such as storage rooms, south-facing offices, or the staff room. Remove bulbs or fluorescent tubes to bring lighting down to an appropriate level
	Encourage employees to turn off fluorescent lights when they leave a room for more than fifteen minutes, and incandescent lights if they leave for three minutes or more
	Reduce bulb wattage wherever possible
	Replace standard fluorescent and incandescent lights with high-efficiency fluorescent light, which gives the same light output for roughly a third to half the energy
	Install 5-minute shut-off switches in stock rooms or other little-used areas
	Appoint a specialist to review your utility bills in case you are overlooking something

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