The Big Energy Savings Week occurs every year in the third week of January. It is a national campaign to raise awareness of global warming and show how people can do more to save energy as well as other resources.

Energy is of course a topic we’ve all been hearing about recently, and the work of this week is needed now more than ever as people and businesses struggle to keep costs down. The current crisis is the worst many of us have experienced in living memory, but it doesn’t mean that there aren’t any steps that we can take to help ourselves and the world around us.

Your business’ technological processes can allow you to save more energy. Let’s look at how streamlining your workflow and taking practical action can help your business both increase security and efficiency, ultimately lowering your energy costs.

How Can Your Business Save Energy and Reduce Costs?

Switch to the Cloud

The amount of energy required to power on-premises datacentres is a sizeable overhead. One way of reducing your costs therefore is by moving from an on-premises IT infrastructure to a cloud solution, which could decrease your energy consumption significantly and could save you money. The cloud is up to 93% more energy efficient than on-premises datacentres, and it also generates up to 98% less carbon emissions. Plus, there are many more benefits to switching to the cloud; it makes your data more secure and saves you time when retrieving files. At 848, we can maintain your cloud-based solution, so the day-to-day running is off your hands.

Go Paperless

Going paperless reduces your impact on forests, decreases waste that is dumped into landfills, cuts energy use and helps combat climate change. Switch off printers and utilise online signature software such as Docusign to digitise contracts. You can also store and share documents with cloud services like SharePoint or Google Drive.

Benefit from Hybrid/Remote Working

Despite a small upsurge in workers returning to the office, many employees across the UK are still working from home full-time. And this employee preference can also benefit your energy consumption. Reducing the number of staff in the office will naturally keep energy consumption down. Working from home also keeps more cars off the road, reducing carbon emissions.

Utilise Energy-Efficient Office Equipment

Electrical essentials with poor energy ratings will cost your business a small fortune over time. While you don’t need to immediately replace all of these, once each device comes to the end of its life it will be worth prioritising energy efficiency when replacing them.

In Europe, all electrical appliances are graded based on their efficiency, which is determined by the amount of energy the device uses each hour. The lower its consumption, the better the grade, with A+++ being the best and G the worst. Highly efficient appliances generally cost more upfront, but the additional energy savings mean you should soon see a return on the investment.

Encourage Green Transport

Electric cars are an eco-friendlier alternative to petrol or diesel vehicles, however, they often come at a higher cost. Encourage your employees to make the switch by offering to offset some of this cost, so that commuting emissions are reduced. At 848 we are doing just that.

Cycle-to-work schemes are also a popular way to reduce transport emissions, however, it may not be feasible for all office locations.

Working Together to Make a Difference

We all have a collective responsibility to help reduce our energy consumption and protect the environment, and here we have highlighted a few of the many ways that your business can do this and contribute.

If you’re ready to make a positive step in reducing your energy consumption by switching to the cloud or more energy-efficient products, get in touch with a member of the 848 team today, and we’ll help you achieve your digital and energy-saving goals. As a cloud-first IT partner, we help organisations migrate from carbon-intense datacentres to clean green cloud environments.

Whether you’re a small business looking to improve your digital capabilities, or a large corporation seeking support with your cloud technology, the 848 Group can help you find the most cost-effective and energy-efficient solution to your problems.