How does renewable energy affect businesses?
Energy is integral to every part of our society – including the business world. For larger-scale companies dealing in energy-expending industries such as logistics, your energy consumption is a key consideration. However, even in small SMEs, you need to account for your energy usage and implement renewable measures if you want to reduce carbon emissions in line with government expectations.
The UK has set its net zero emissions for 2050. Businesses of all shapes and sizes are expected to contribute to this target, with larger organisations subject to carbon reporting measures such as ESOS (energy savings and opportunities scheme) and SECR (streamlined energy carbon reporting).
While some businesses will need to offset their emissions to achieve net zero, others can manage solely by switching to more renewable sources. While your existing energy supplier may be able to offer renewable options, you can also take measures into your own hands to reduce emissions and create a more efficient, more sustainable business as you move towards the future.
Here at Quora Group, we support businesses of all scales in installing and maintaining more eco-friendly systems such as heat pumps and solar photovoltaic panels. Generating your own energy or utilising these modern technologies helps reduce your overall carbon emissions and also usually results in efficiency gains.
In a 2021 government survey, the main measures businesses indicated they were taking towards reducing emissions were replacing bulbs with LEDs and adjusting heating and cooling systems. With the recent energy crisis of 2022, we imagine that focus on heating and cooling is becoming more vital than ever as businesses look to move away from fossil fuels towards more efficient, renewable choices.
How can businesses use renewable energy?
The first step a business can take towards renewables is choosing a supplier that prioritises renewable sources as part of its energy mix. After that, installing your own domestic measures on-site can help reduce your emissions. While these measures may seem expensive at first glance, the lifetime savings offered by many of them make them not only energy efficient, but cost-efficient too.
Take, for example, Solar Photovoltaic panels. Installation costs have remained relatively stable despite surging energy prices. Once fitted, they generate green electricity to use on your own site and can offer thousands of pounds worth of savings over time.
No single technology poses the full answer. Instead, designing a better system for all of your energy needs is a better option. Taking the solar PV example, you would also ideally update your heating and cooling system to harness the electricity you’ve now generated – utilising something like a ground or air source heat pump rather than a gas boiler.
An increasingly popular addition to a modern energy system is battery storage, which allows you to store energy produced by your solar PV panels and harness the energy when required rather than sending it back to the grid. Larger units often have periods of peak energy demand, so having battery storage on site allows you to harness the full potential of your PV system.
Here at Quora Group, we can help design an energy-efficient system for your entire business – whether it’s a standard building like an office or something more complex like a warehouse or manufacturing facility.
Don’t wait until you are forced to take action. Begin making more responsible moves towards an energy-efficient future by taking your business’s carbon emissions into your own hands and installing a new energy-efficient system that offers long-term savings and positions you in line with net-zero targets. Visit our Renewable Energy page to learn more.