The energy efficiency plan for your buildings in 3 steps

How can companies mobilize for energy sobriety and efficiency with simple and immediate actions?

EFICIA has been working with professionals for many years on these issues and now offers you – while building your own longer term investments plan – a special anti-waste checklist for commercial buildings for this at risk upcoming winter.  

Actions that your technical team can implement 

• Limit heating to 19° or 18° (and even 17° Ecowatt).  
• Control your heating according to the weather, activity schedules and the thermal inertia of the building. Example: early start and stop in the morning and stop at 5:00 p.m., on working/openning days only. 
• Condition the air renewal according to the air quality only and stop it during the closing hours. 
• Change the lighting that is not yet LED. 
• Install presence sensors to control lighting in the lobby/reception, break and passage areas.  
• Limit lighting between 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. in particular (which are the peak hours of the day) and until nightfall.  
• Turn off interior lighting in buildings when they are closed and reduce exterior lighting on buildings, especially for advertising.
• Automatically turn off lights 3 hours after sunrise in naturally lit rooms. 
• Install power strips with switches for all workstations and plug in devices that remain on standby (screens, chargers, individual ECLs, wifi relays, etc.). 
• Turn off the wifi when the offices are closed. 
• Limit the amount of equipment and avoid oversizing it (number of screens, size of these screens, power of the computer equipment compared to the need…) 

Recommendations to make to your employees  

• Turn off your computer and phone at night. 
• Turn off the power supply of your workstation every evening when you leave. 
• Clean up your mailbox every month. 
• Reduce or turn off non-essential audio-visual systems, such as projectors or screens in reception areas or cafeterias during peak hours (8am-1pm & 5pm-8pm). 
• Favour soft mobility or public transport.  
• Do not charge your electric vehicle during peak hours (between 8:00 am and 1:00 pm and between 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm) and use off-peak hours (between 10:00 pm and 4:00 am or on weekends). 
• Limit the use of the elevator when possible. 
• Dress warmly in winter. 
• Close doors to prevent heat loss or heat gain. 

Guidelines your management can follow  

• Gather employees who work in open spaces to free up areas that should not be heated or lit on slow days. 

• Organize an energy saving contest between the different offices of the company.
• Raise employee awareness of energy efficiency issues through regular educational messages. 
• Organize work to facilitate employee commuting outside of peak traffic hours whenever possible. 
• Sourcing suppliers and partners locally in order to reduce the number of kilometers traveled by products, among other things. 
• Give preference to reconditioned equipment (computers, telephones, etc.). 
• Raise employee awareness of eco-driving and offer courses and training. 
• Pooling and limiting meal deliveries by opening a Canteen 2.0.