This guest post discusses three ways in which your warehouse is throwing away potential profits, and what you can do to reduce this while doing your bit for the environment
We're just weeks into the new year, but being green has not slipped off the agenda; the UK's Green Building Council recently urged construction firms and building managers to make energy efficiency a ‘national infrastructure priority', putting it at the top of the list with homeowners and commercial properties alike.
With many people trying to be more energy efficient and reduce their carbon footprint, it is no wonder that many businesses and companies are also trying to jump on the bandwagon and also go green. Here are some top tips to help your warehouse cut costs and become more energy efficient.
Lighting
Warehouses are large buildings with lots of space, and it's vital that it needs to be adequately lit, however, ensuring that the whole space is sufficiently lit means that you will need a lot of lights. By switching from florescent lights to LED lights, you could save a lot of money by drastically decreasing your energy bill and, as they can last up to 50 times longer than traditional bulbs, there's a large potential for significant savings on outgoings for replacement bulbs. Not only can they save you money, they are also much more environmentally friendly being 100 per cent recyclable, having no mercury or tri-phosphor gases and reducing your CO2 emissions by up 60 per cent.
As LED lights give off very little heat, the need for air conditioning can be reduced, meaning your costs may again be cut - and just going even further to prove their efficiency, and that little to no energy is wasted.
Doors
You may not think that your warehouse doors have much to do with the energy efficiency, however there are a wide variety of ways in which they can contribute to your running costs and carbon footprint. With older warehouse doors being much more unreliable and extremely slow to open and close, it's not uncommon for them to be left open so they don't reduce productivity. However, this means that heat or cold air - depending on your type of warehouse and what it contains - is quickly released and your warm air heaters, air conditioners or cooling systems have to work even harder to keep the area at the optimum temperature.
High speed doors can reduce this waste of energy as the speed in which they open and close means that there is no impact on productivity and efficiency in the workplace, so they can stay closed until needed. More door providers are starting to stock and push these door types, such as UK-based Enerco, who provide high quality high speed doors for a range of different industries.
Work Vertically
With the help of new and improved handling equipment, many warehouses are starting to understand the benefits of working vertically and building upwards rather than spreading out. Extending upwards and making use of high ceilings means that many business owners are managing to save more money than they would have previously on land prices.
This efficient use of space reduces the need for onsite expansion or the need to relocate to a potentially larger premises, both of which could drastically increase your running costs. Relocation could also potentially mean sacrificing a great location, increasing the distance delivery vehicles need to travel, with all of these leading to an increase in carbon footpring.
Now that you know how your warehouse could be more energy efficient and reduce your carbon footprint, you can start putting these practices in place, helping you as a business to be greener and in turn do your bit for the environment. This could also increase your customer standing as consumers like to be associated with businesses that are greener.
This article has been provided by Enerco
