(Courtesy: Mervin Lei at flickr.com)
How green is your warehouse? Of course, I am not talking about painting the exterior or interior walls, floor or other sections of your warehouse
(Courtesy: Mark Owen at flickr.com)
green. What I am referring to is energy savings.
Many new warehouses have been built with a variety of features that offer energy savings that can result in cost savings. If you work at a warehouse that was built too long ago to have such features, then there still is something you can do to become green.
Federal government departments including the Small Business Administration and the Department of Energy are offering a variety of tax credits or other incentives to encourage businesses to make energy savings enhancements to buildings. Some improvements can be costly and will take time and heavy-duty work to achieve. But there are a number of initiatives you can take that are simple to execute.
Here is a list of actions you can take that could save your business a decent amount of coin and could provide you with a tax credit or other tax incentive.
· Use LED lighting. Although it is true that the initial cost of this type of lighting is more than other lighting solutions you may be using, LED lights offer less power usage of as much as 80 percent and could last 10 years longer than conventional lighting solutions. This could add up to substantial savings in energy costs.
· Sky lights. Light coming from the sun is free, you know and using the proper type of thermal glass to serve as sky lights can also help in maintaining climate control, which can also providing savings. Skylights will provide you with better lighting than conventional bulbs and, again, the light is free.
· Roof enhancements. There are a variety of new technologies that can be used on the roof of your warehouse that assists in keeping the interior cool. Called cool roof technology, these improvements reflect heat rather than absorb it and reduce the overall interior temperature of the building.
· Power shutdown switches. These gadgets will shut power off to offices and warehouse storage areas while equipment such as refrigerators and other items continue to get power.
· Solar panels. Panels can be placed on the roof or ground beside the warehouse and can provide all the electricity the warehouse would need.
· Solar water heaters. This uses the sun to heat water. Types of solar water heaters include ICS or batch collectors, flat plat collectors, unglazed or formed collectors and evacuated tube collectors.
· Clean air filters. Replacing air filters every four months in vehicles can improve fuel consumption by as much as 7 percent.
· Add a sleep mode to equipment. Using sleep modes on conveyors or other power equipment reduces power consumption during down times and helps to slow down the wear and tear of power equipment over time.
· Thermal heat storage. Using thermal heat storage can is a cost effective way to maintain constant temperature inside the warehouse.
· Use cartridge refill service. These services replace the ink in used cartridges so that you don’t have to buy new ones. This saves money and reduces waste.
· Double glazed windows. This can help maintain a cool temperature inside the warehouse and results in lower heating bills.
· Motion sensor lights. Using these sensors on lights used to illuminate seldom-used rooms means that the lights are on only when there is someone in the room.