Festive Energy Savings: How to cuts costs over the holidays

Energy consumption within businesses over the festive period can often be wasteful due to no to low occupancy during the Christmas break.

There are a number of ways to improve your energy efficiency and save on your overall energy costs, from managing empty buildings to taking up system maintenance during quiet times.

Here is a practical, festive-friendly guide to help you trim energy costs without dimming the joy.

· The key to managing your business’ energy consumption comes from planning ahead. Whether your office is a smaller building or a larger site, being organised in the lead up to the holiday season goes a long way.

· The Christmas period tends to see buildings with irregular occupancy as people take more frequent leave. Reducing your HVAC system by 2-3C during closed hours will reduce your overall heating and cooling consumption.

· Additionally, align your Building Management System (BMS) settings with actual occupancy, there is no need to heat and light empty floors.

· Ensure you have your insulation managed well, close curtains and blinds to keep the warmth in at night.

· Switch common areas to sensor-based lighting to avoid lights not being turned off when people leave the room.

· Do you have any festive displays? Use timers for any Christmas decors to ensure everything gets switched off at the end of the day.

· When managing IT equipment, create a pre-holiday shutdown checklist for all staff.

o Remember to turn off: PCs, printers, AV kits, kitchen appliances, water coolers, and vending machines.

o For fridges or chillers in offices, consolidate and turn off extras if safe to do so.

· Did you know equipment shutdown in offices often saves 2–10% of total consumption during idle days? Communicate a “Switch Off” Culture: Send a friendly, festive energy note before last working day. Perhaps even gamify it for some healthy competition amongst employees and so the responsibility is shared.

· Use low occupation periods as a chance to maintain your building’s critical systems. Make filter changes, boiler checks, and calibrate systems to suit your requirements, this will improve energy efficiency when everyone returns.

· Estimate the savings your business could make by embracing a more energy efficient Christmas shutdown. Reducing your thermostat by 1C can yield 5% heating savings over the Christmas period.

Make it stick in January.

• Keep successful settings as your new normal, leave timers in place.

• Review your energy bills or smart meter data across December–January to quantify improvements.

• Invest in an energy audit for your building to understand areas for cost and energy bill savings, how you can become energy efficient and improve your overall operational performance.