Energy Efficiency Tips For Small Business
December 5, 2018
A Penny Saved...
Tips for Energy Efficiency
Whether you own or lease your building, you typically need lighting, heating, air conditioning, power for office equipment, and other services to stay in business. This guide will help you to maximize energy efficiency, which will save you money while helping the environment.
- "Tune-up" your heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) system with an annual maintenance contract. Even a new ENERGY STAR qualified HVAC system, like a new car, will decline in performance without regular maintenance. A contract automatically ensures that your HVAC contractor will provide "pre-season" tune-ups before each cooling and heating season. You save energy and money, and your system may last years longer with minimal costs for yearly maintenance fees.
- Regularly change (or clean if reusable) HVAC filters every month during peak cooling or heating seasons. New filters usually only cost a few dollars. Dirty filters cost more to use, overwork the equipment and result in lower indoor air quality.
- Control direct sun through windows, depending on the season and local climate. During cooling season, block direct heat gain from the sun shining through glass on the East and especially West sides of the facility. Depending on your facility, options such as "solar screens," "solar films," awnings, and vegetation can help keep facilities more cool. Over time, trees can attractively shade the facility, and help clean the air. Interior curtains or drapes can help, but it's best to prevent the summer heat from getting past the glass and inside. During heating season, with the sun low in the South, unobstructed southern windows can contribute solar heat gained during the day.
- Use fans to maintain comfortable temperature, humidity and air movement, and save energy year round. Moving air can make a somewhat higher temperature and/or humidity feel comfortable. Fans can help delay or reduce the need for air conditioning, and a temperature setting of only three to five degrees higher can feel as comfortable with fans. Each degree of higher temperature can save about 3 percent on cooling costs. When the temperature outside is more comfortable than inside, a "box fan" in the window, or large "whole facility" fan in the attic can push air out and pull in comfortable air from the outside.
- Plug leaks with weather stripping and caulking. Caulking and weather stripping let you manage your ventilation, which is the deliberate controlled exchange of stuffy inside air for fresher outdoor air. To learn more about indoor air quality in your facility visit the Environmental Protection Agency's EPA Indoor Air Quality.
Energy Saving Tips: Lighting
- Turn off lights (and other equipment) when not in use. High utility costs often include paying for energy that is completely wasted.
- Replace incandescent light bulbs with ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), wherever appropriate. CFLs cost about 75 percent less to operate, and last about 10 times longer.
- Install switch plate occupancy sensors in proper locations to automatically turn off lighting when no one is present and back on when people return. Even good equipment can be installed wrong, so don't install the sensor behind a coat rack, door, bookcase, etc. It must be able to "see" an approaching person's motion to turn on the light before or as they enter an unlit area.
- Adjust lighting to your actual needs; use free "daylight" during the day.
- To prevent glare, eyestrain and headaches, do not "over-light." Too much light can be as bad for visual quality as too little light - and it costs a lot more.
- Install ENERGY STAR qualified exit signs. These exit signs can dramatically reduce maintenance by eliminating lamp replacement, and can save up to $10 dollars per sign annually in electricity costs while preventing up to 500 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Consider upgrading to T8 (1" diameter) fluorescent lamp tubes with solid-state electronic ballasts that are more efficient than older T12 (1.5" diameter) tubes with magnetic ballasts.
Energy Saving Tips: Office Equipment
- Always buy ENERGY STAR qualified products for your small business. The ENERGY STAR mark indicates the most efficient computers, printers, copiers, refrigerators, televisions, windows, thermostats, ceiling fans, and other appliances and equipment.
- Turning off machines when they are not in use can result in enormous energy savings. There is a common misconception that screen savers reduce energy use by monitors; they do not. Automatic switching to sleep mode or manually turning monitors off is always the better energy-saving strategy.
- To maximize savings with a laptop, put the AC adapter on a power strip that can be turned off (or will turn off automatically); the transformer in the AC adapter draws power continuously, even when the laptop is not plugged into the adapter.
- Common misconceptions sometimes account for the failure to turn off equipment. Many people believe that equipment lasts longer if it is never turned off. This incorrect perception carries over from the days of older mainframe computers.
- Consider buying a laptop for your next computer upgrade; they use much less energy than desktop computers, resulting in long-term savings.
- Many appliances continue to draw a small amount of power when they are switched off. These "phantom" loads occur in most appliances that use electricity, such as VCRs, televisions, stereos, computers, and kitchen appliances. In the average home, 75 percent of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. This can be avoided by unplugging the appliance, or using a power strip and the strip's on/off switch to cut all power to the appliance.
- Unplug battery chargers when the batteries are fully charged or the chargers are not in use.
- Studies have shown that using rechargeable batteries for products like cordless phones and PDAs is more cost effective than throwaway batteries. If you must use throwaways, check with your trash removal company about safe disposal options.
Energy Saving Tips: Food Service Equipment
- Purchase ENERGY STAR qualified commercial food service equipment. For example, qualified refrigerators and freezers can save over 45% of the energy used by conventional models, which equals as much as $140 annually for refrigerators and $100 for freezers; deep fryers can save between $60 and $180 per year; hot food holding cabinets can save up to $280 per year; and steam cookers can save between $450 and $820 per year depending on fuel.
- For existing refrigerators, clean refrigerator coils twice a year and replace door gaskets if a dollar bill easily slips out when closed between the door's seals.
- Have large and walk-in refrigeration systems serviced at least annually. This includes cleaning, refrigerant top off, lubrication of moving parts, and adjustment of belts. This will help ensure efficient operation and longer equipment life.
- Consider retrofitting existing refrigerators and display cases with anti-sweat door heater controls, and variable speed evaporator fan motors and controls.
For most business owners in Washington, D.C. and Maryland, June 1st marks the unofficial start of summer: the return of rooftop happy hours, tourists swarming the National Mall, and the inevitable cranking of the HVAC system. But in the world of energy management, June 1st is something much more significant. It is the "Energy New Year." If you manage a commercial property, a non-profit, or a restaurant, this date represents the reset button for how your utility costs are calculated for the next twelve months. While many decision-makers focus solely on the "supply rate" on their bill, there is a hidden mechanism called the Peak Load Contribution (PLC) that could be quietly inflating your costs by thousands of dollars The good news? You aren’t powerless. By understanding how the grid works and taking a few strategic steps this spring, you can "beat the surge" and secure better financial predictability for your organization. The June 1st Milestone: Why It’s the "Energy New Year" In the Mid-Atlantic region: specifically within the territories served by utilities like Pepco and BGE: we operate under the PJM Interconnection . PJM is the regional transmission organization that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity across 13 states and D.C. Every year on June 1st, PJM begins a new "delivery year." This is the date when the "Capacity Tags" (or PLC) assigned to every commercial building are updated based on the previous summer’s usage. Why does this matter to you? Because the capacity charge often makes up 25% to 40% of a commercial electricity bill. If your building was inefficient during the hottest days of last summer, you are about to pay the price for it starting this June. Conversely, what you do this summer will dictate your fixed costs for June 2027 through May 2028. The Hidden Problem: Understanding Capacity Charges and Your PLC Most business owners look at their bill and see "Kilowatt-hours (kWh)": that’s how much energy you used. But the Capacity Charge is based on your "Peak Load Contribution." Think of it like a "reservation fee" for the grid. PJM needs to ensure there is enough power available if every single building turned on every single light and AC unit at the exact same moment. To fund this readiness, they charge businesses based on their highest usage during the grid's "Five Peak Hours" of the previous summer. The Problem: If your restaurant, condo building, or school had a massive spike in usage on a Tuesday afternoon in July when the grid was stressed, your PLC (or Capacity Tag) will be high. You will then be billed at that "peak" rate every single month for the following year, regardless of how little energy you use in the winter. For many commercial clients, this is a "ghost charge" that feels impossible to control. But with the right services , it becomes a manageable variable.
For business owners in Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia —right here in our backyard —energy costs are more than just a line item: they are a significant variable that can impact quarterly profitability and long-term operational planning. In recent years, the natural gas market has been characterized by notable volatility. From global supply chain disruptions to shifting domestic production levels, the price you pay for the blue flame in your furnace or the heat in your commercial kitchen has likely felt like a moving target. At Electric Advisors, Inc. , we believe that data-driven decision-making is the only way to effectively manage utility expenses. To help you understand where the market has been and where it is going, we have analyzed the historical procurement costs for Washington Gas (WGL) and compared them to the current opportunities available through competitive suppliers across Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia. The results are clear: across the WGL service territory in MD, DC, and VA , the cost of sticking with the utility’s default Purchased Gas Charge (PGC) may be significantly higher than many business owners realize. The Benchmark: Washington Gas Historical PGC Rates in Maryland, DC, and Virginia Every month, Washington Gas updates its Purchased Gas Charge (PGC) . This is the rate at which the utility passes through the cost of the natural gas it buys on the wholesale market to its customers. By law, the utility does not make a profit on the gas itself; they make their money on the delivery and infrastructure. However, the price they pay—and the price you eventually see on your bill—is subject to the fluctuations of the monthly wholesale market. For businesses in the broader WGL footprint, the important takeaway is this: Washington Gas default supply pricing and competitive market opportunities are consistent across its service territory in Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia. In other words, the same benchmark applies whether your business is in suburban Maryland, downtown DC, or Northern Virginia. Looking back at the last 24 months across the WGL service territory in MD, DC, and VA , we see a story of dramatic shifts: 24-Month Average WGL PGC: Approximately $0.68 per therm . The 2025 Spike: In April 2025, rates peaked at a staggering $0.8085 per therm . The 2026 Moderation: As of April 2026, the WGL rate has settled to $0.6382 per therm . While the 2026 rate is a welcome decrease from the highs of the previous year, it remains significantly higher than the rates seen a decade ago. For context, in 2010, the rate hovered around $0.32 per therm. We have seen a steady, long-term upward trend that necessitates a more proactive approach to commercial natural gas rates .
Helping Washington D.C. businesses take advantage of their sales tax exemption opportunities. Did you know that restaurants don't have to pay sales tax?