Your energy bill can sometimes feel overwhelming. For your business, it’s an expense that puts a major dent in your bottom line, as it forces you to be as budget conscious as possible at any given time. Still, that bill grows and there’s nothing you can really do about it. After all, it’s not like you can turn the lights out on your business.

However, there are things that you can do to lower your business’ energy bill, without actually using less energy in the process. Rather, through different repairs and improvements, you can use energy more efficiently. This will mean that you need to use less energy for the same amount of production. In turn, this will lower your energy bill and make your business more profitable.

So, what exactly are your options for keeping down your energy bill?

Have Your AC Unit Serviced

Air conditioners are one of the biggest expenses on your energy bill. They run constantly, and often have to work very hard to keep temperatures cool during the long summer months. So, when they’re not running properly, they have to work harder than normal to operate at the level you need them to run. This means that if the AC unit isn’t operating properly, it will be using more energy than it should be and will cost you more each month on your energy bill.

That’s why it’s important to bring in an AC repair technician to check and see if the unit may need any repairs. Preferably, you’d be able to do this at the start of Summer, or sometime during the Spring. This way, right before you need your AC unit the most, you can have any necessary AC repairs done.

There are several different things that can be wrong with your AC unit that might affect its performance. Drainage pipes can back up, causing potential leaks and water damage. Other times, the air conditioner could potentially not be blowing cold air. This may be due to an issue with the filter. Sometimes, an AC repair contractor will even find a leak, which leads to uneven cooling.

There are a ton of other issues that could be making your AC unit run improperly, which is why an HVAC company is your best bet for any issues that may be occurring. However, in some extreme cases, it may even be a good idea to invest in a brand new air conditioner installation to make sure that your energy bill is as low as possible.

Inspect Your Windows

If you have ever been at an inspection for the sale of a home, then you know that one of the things that they check is the windows in the home. They’re not measuring the windows, either. They’re checking to see how well the windows are working. That’s because, depending on the time of year and where your windows are located, they are where a lot of your heat and air conditioning are going to escape. In particular, if a window is not sealed properly, then you may be wasting your energy throughout the day, as it escapes. This will make your AC or heating unit work much higher to get your business comfortable to be in.

Windows can also help to heat a room, depending on where they’re placed. So, if your windows face the sun, then you can harness the sun for both lighting and heat for the room.

Consider the Type of Lights That You Use

It’s easy to think very little about the lightbulbs that you use at your business. After all, whatever is cheapest seems like the best option to go with, especially if you’re looking to save money. The issue with that is that the cheapest to buy is only the cheapest up front. They, however, will burn out much quicker, which means you have to replace those cheap bulbs more often than you’d replace a better lightbulb. Furthermore, they use much more energy than an energy efficient light bulb, which means they will also cost you more on your electric bill.

However, by spending more money for an LED lightbulb, you will be able to shave money off your energy bills. That’s because LED bulbs are known to burn brighter, for longer periods of time than those cheaper lightbulbs. This means you’ll actually save money by needing to change them less than you would other bulbs. Furthermore, to burn brighter and longer, they actually use less energy than those traditional bulbs. This means that they will cost you less than regular bulbs in terms of the cost of energy that they use.

So, by choosing LED lightbulbs, you will be paying more up front. However, you will be paying less later down the line for better production. This makes them the better long-term option. Just make sure that you’re choosing LED bulbs, and not other types of bulbs, like fluorescent bulbs, which don’t offer the same benefits. For more information, you can contact an electrical contractor.

Make Sure Your Business is Properly Insulated

Older buildings often offer a lack of proper insulation. This should be no surprise, as over time construction continues to improve. However, it can be a major issue for you if there is a lack of insulation in your business, or the quality of the insulation that you do have has completely deteriorated over time. That’s because the purpose of insulation is to keep a building cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It does this by keeping the outside temperature out, and the inside temperature from escaping.

This means that inspecting your insulation is a great way to make sure that you’re not potentially losing your air conditioning or heat through the walls and ceiling of your place of business. Think about it like this, if the heat that you use is escaping through walls that don’t have proper insulation, then you’re going to need to use a significantly larger amount of heat to keep the building at the temperature that you and your customers will find comfortable. In turn, this will mean that you’re paying more on your energy bills to keep the building properly heated. The same can be said for air conditioning, which means that your bills will be higher year round due to a lack of insulation.

It is particularly important to make sure that your insulation is done properly and is up to date. Believe it or not, things like asbestos and horsehair used to be commonly used in insulation. So, fixing that will do wonders for your building and your energy bill alike.

Check For Leaks in the Roof

One of the worst things that can happen to a home structurally is to have a bad roof, full of holes or leaks. There are a couple of different reasons for this. The first is the obvious, that leaks in your roof will let rainwater get into the building, causing water damage as it does so. The other reason has to do with retaining heat in a building.

It’s a commonly known fact that heat rises. This includes the heat in your business. That’s why rooms with taller ceilings tend to be colder than rooms with lower ceilings. As this heat rises, it will eventually hit the ceiling or roof. If there are leaks, though, the heat will then go through those leaks and escape outside. This will keep your place of business colder than it otherwise should be, forcing you to turn up the temperature inside to get the space to be comfortable for you. This means that you’re using more energy to heat the space, which will cost you more every month when your energy bill comes around.

Repairing a roof can help prevent leaks, be better aesthetically to people passing by your business, and it will save you money every month on your energy bills. It’s not a small undertaking though, and it’s certainly not a job that you’ll be able to quickly do yourself. You’ll need to bring in professional roofers if you’re going to properly repair the roof. That way you won’t experience any unexpected issues from the repair.

In a lot of ways, you repair a roof for the same reasons why you need to check insulation or the windows, at least as they relate to shaving money off your energy bill every month. This trend is important to notice too. Any way that the energy you use escapes your building, the more it’s going to cost to keep that building the temperature that you want it to be. So, be careful of these things when you’re running a business.

Consider Your Business’ Water Usage

A lot of people don’t think about how much water they use, or how it might be affecting the total utilities bills for the month. However, there are a couple key ways that your water usage could be costing you money. For one, when you use hot water, it requires energy to heat that water, and tank cleaning can only help with that so much.

Heating water is actually where a lot of your gas or electric bill may be going to. After all, think about your home and how long people shower, or use hot water to wash clothes and do the dishes. There may not be as much call at your place of work to hot water like this, but there are still going to be some occasions, such as in a break room. By checking on your hot water tank, and inspecting it, you can make sure that there are no major issues with it that could add to the cost of your hot water. If there are, it will give you a chance to correct those issues.

Of course, the water itself is going to cost money too. So, by making sure to conserve as much as possible, you can make your water bill drop much further than you’d expect it would ever be able to. This is also great for the environment, as water conservation and droughts have become a major issue around the world. One great way to do this in your place of business is by installing low flow toilets, instead of traditional toilets. This way you will use less water and help to save money everywhere you can.

The little things, like water, might seem small and relatively insignificant. However, they add up to a high value over the course of time.

These are just a few of the many ways that you can use less energy, to keep your bill down and be more environmentally friendly. They can save you massive amounts of monthly for years to come. Just think about what you’d be able to do with that money for your business. It can be reinvested and help you to earn more money through your business. You could also save it for a rainy day to keep you going personally, or for your business if times become bad.

Whatever you choose, you’ll be better off by saving money on your bills because you called in heating and cooling services or a local plumber than you ever would be without.