Once you've found out where energy is possibly being wasted, the next step is to plan your actions. It can help to prioritise them by looking to see what is:

• No cost
• Low cost
• Small investment/quick payback, and
• Capital investment - see Investing in energy saving. More pages about the kind of technology that can help here will be added later
  

No cost

• Turning off computers and monitors at the end of each work day
• Making sure that all the energy saving options for the computers are turned on
• Setting thermostats on the heating at the recommended temperatures - 19ºC for the office, less for the factory and warehouse where people are moving around more
• Setting the controls on the heating or air conditioning to turn them off automatically when the building is empty, or if you don't have that kind of control system, making sure someone is responsible for doing that - otherwise everyone is likely to think someone else will do it.

To help, as people are often unsure of what can be turned off, used colour-coded stickers - green means always turn off, amber means check first and red means never turn off.

Low cost

Some of the low cost opportunities that are likely for a printer are:

• Carrying out a leak check on compressors, and repairing any that are found
• Servicing boilers and air conditioning
• Fitting timers

Needing some investment

Moving on to higher costs, but potentially bigger savings, think about heat loss from shutter doors. If they tend to be left open, then fitting draught strips will help avoid heating the entire estate, or automatic high-speed shutter doors.

Automatic lighting sensors can save wasted energy: if you operate a night shift, even if you have good natural light in the factory, lights tend to be left on as no-one notices. Ambient light sensors will turn them off when natural lighting levels are high enough, and back on again when they are not. In little-used areas, movement sensors can make sure lights are only on when needed.

For more ideas, see the links on the right.