In recent years, there has been a push to encourage businesses to become more energy efficient and embrace the green movement. One of the best ways to do this is reported to be the monitoring of power usage to ensure that companies, tenants and buildings are not over-using electricity. Not only can industrial power monitoring be beneficial to the environment but it can also save you a significant amount of money too. However, there are still many myths and misconceptions floating around about power usage monitoring, so let’s take a look at these and examine whether there is any truth to them.
Only tenants benefit from energy-efficient buildings
Some industrial and commercial property owners believe that there is no benefit in investing in any kind of power monitoring or energy-efficiency upgrades because it is only the tenants of the building who will see the benefit in reduced energy bills. However, this is not the case.
Firstly, many buildings have tenant agreements that mean they are responsible for the energy bills. But even if that’s not the case, it’s also true that lower energy costs make for a more attractive proposition for customers and gives them more satisfaction with the building, making them more likely to lease long term.
All power is the same quality
One very common misconception surrounding power is that it is all the same quality. In fact it could be the case that your building has a problem with power quality. The best way to establish this is to hire a power quality monitor. Using this equipment, you can tell whether you are getting good quality power. If not, this can cause you to use more power than is necessary which can significantly run up your energy bills. The small cost of hiring an analyser will be hugely offset by the savings that can be made.
Energy savings plans take a long time implement
Another worry for building owners is trying to implement an energy saving plan may simply take too long, and by the time any upgrades have been made, they will already been behind the times. But once again this is not necessarily the case. Yes, there are some energy efficiency products that take a long time to install and see benefits from, but there are others – like replacing light bulbs with efficient models – that will see almost immediate benefits. Monitor your power usage before and after these changes to understand the difference.
Only new buildings can be energy efficient
It a common thought that energy efficiency is something that only new buildings can achieve. This can make it seem pointless for owners of older properties to make any changes. In reality, no matter how old a building is, it can be made more efficient. Aside from physical changes such as the addition of insulation in the walls, it is also possible to make procedural alterations such as prescribing the use of heating and air conditioning only at specific times in order to see a difference.
Only certain businesses benefit from power monitoring
You might assume that only larger businesses will see a benefit from using power monitoring equipment, but this isn’t true. Any business, regardless of its size or the industry that it operates within, can invest in power monitoring and see big changes. Reducing consumption can decrease bills and in some cases ensure that equipment has an extended lifespan. Even if you don’t want to invest long-term in power usage monitoring, it is possible to hire systems to give you an overview of your usage over a defined period.
Monitoring your power is not profitable
Finally, many building and business owners believe that there is no need to monitor usage because it won’t be profitable. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Usage monitoring is both profitable and directly measurable as you can reduce your consumption and lower your operating costs. This allows you to increase your profit margin.