7 Ways to Ensure Your Business is Energy Efficient

Julie Starr • July 29, 2021



If you’re aiming to promote sustainability in the workplace, one important thing to do is ensure your business is as energy-efficient as possible. Start by performing an audit of your energy usage and look for areas of improvement. As well as reducing your energy consumption in the office, you may also want to consider hybrid business models or renewable energies as a more permanent solution. It’s also essential to improve the efficiency of your business processes as this will save both time and resources. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Go smart

The best way to control your energy usage is by going smart. Upgrade to a smart thermostat that will ensure the right temperature for working at all times without wasting energy. Smart lighting is also much more efficient. It will adapt to the environment creating the perfect balance with the natural light at different times of the day. Here are some other examples of smart office devices . You can control your smart office from a single device remotely, monitor your energy usages, and look for areas for improvement.

Streamline manufacturing

As well as focusing on energy consumption, another important way to improve efficiency is to analyze your business processes. If you make these more efficient then work will get done more quickly, requiring less energy and resources. This will depend on the type of business you run. If you sell your own products you could make changes to streamline the manufacturing process. A quick die change system can speed up your runs , for example. This will reduce the impact your manufacturing has on the environment, improve productivity, and be better for business overall.

Consider a hybrid business model

If you’re looking for ways to improve your processes you could also consider a hybrid business model. There are several benefits of hybrid business models . If you effectively combine remote working with going into the office part-time, or even renting coworking space instead, you could improve efficiency. You will need fewer resources in the office at one time. You can reduce your energy usage in the workplace and save money on overheads as well. This type of structure could also help to improve employee satisfaction and productivity. 

Promote eco-friendly practices

If you are going to adopt a hybrid business model, it’s especially important to promote sustainability while working from home. Encourage your employees to adopt more eco-friendly practices . These can include responsible use of electronics, switching to a smart home system, and various ways to reduce waste. By introducing a hybrid model you will reduce the amount your staff needs to commute. To reduce emissions even further you could also set up a bike-to-work scheme.

Consider renewable energies

You could consider renewable energies. If you own commercial premises, you could install solar panels, for example. This will reduce your electricity consumption. You’ll also benefit financially in the long run as you’ll save money on your utilities and could be entitled to a tax deduction . If you aren’t able to make these kinds of structural changes to your commercial property you could consider solar lighting and other devices indoors and at the entrance, for instance.

Conduct an energy consumption audit

Conduct an energy consumption audit to look for areas of improvement. Once you’ve put changes in place you can then carry out a second audit to find out if these are working. The best way to keep your energy consumption down is to continually monitor it. Here’s how to conduct an energy audit of your business . This will provide you with measurable data to help you make further improvements and set goals for the future.

Set energy efficiency goals

If you want to ensure your business stays as energy-efficient as possible then you need to set specific goals to work towards. Set a budget for your energy spending and ensure you stick to it. This could be part of a monthly plan. It’s important to set realistic goals, so use real data from the results of your energy audit in order to do so. You may also want to set certain goals relating to educating your employees and others about sustainability and promoting eco-friendly best practices. The important thing is to keep them specific and measurable and with set deadlines. Your goals also need to be relevant to your business objectives, mission, and values. This way you’ll be more motivated to work towards achieving them and to encourage others to do the same.

Smart Sensors, Smarter Supply Chains: Enhancing Traceability in Food & Beverage

By Julie Starr • June 20, 2025
In today’s competitive food and beverage (F&B) landscape, traceability is no longer a compliance checkbox—it’s a differentiator. The ability to track every step of a product’s journey, from origin to shelf, is vital for regulatory accuracy and to ensure brand integrity, supply chain agility, and consumer trust. Add smart sensors to the mix: the quiet, tireless observers revolutionizing supply chain intelligence. Traceability Has a Data Problem Despite digitization across many F&B operations, most traceability systems still rely on fragmented or manual data inputs. Batch numbers, barcodes, and handwritten logs often stand between a supplier and clarity when things go wrong. This approach struggles with latency and scale. When contamination or delays occur, root cause analysis is slow, costly, and damaging. Smart sensors shift this paradigm by embedding real-time, contextual intelligence into every stage of the supply chain . Whether monitoring humidity in transit or recording fill-level precision in bottling plants, they remove the guesswork by turning physical conditions into structured, time-stamped data. From Passive Monitoring to Active Optimization Sensors used to be reactive tools, alerting operators to anomalies. But smart sensors now play a proactive role in process control. They measure, and they interpret. For example, temperature sensors embedded in cold chain logistics can dynamically adjust cooling systems or flag threshold breaches before spoilage occurs. These advancements reduce waste and loss at a systemic level. In a production facility, smart sensors integrated with PLCs can enforce recipe compliance, verify clean-in-place processes, and detect micro-stoppages in real-time. This enables operations to pivot faster and isolate inefficiencies before they cascade downstream. Trust is Built on Transparency Consumers are paying more attention to what they eat and drink. They’re looking beyond labels, expecting visibility into how ingredients are sourced, processed, and handled. Smart sensors make this level of transparency achievable —without burdening manufacturers with excessive manual oversight. By capturing metadata throughout production and distribution, these sensors create a digital footprint that’s tamper-resistant and instantly accessible. When this data is integrated with a central platform, brands can respond confidently to audits, recalls, and quality assurance challenges with a level of precision that would be impossible through legacy systems. Intelligence Without Infrastructure Overhaul One common misconception is that adding smart sensors requires a top-down reinvention of supply chain infrastructure. In reality, companies can deploy edge sensors in a modular, scalable way. Many modern solutions offer plug-and-play functionality, allowing for fast integration with existing machinery and MES systems. This is where suppliers like alps-machine.com are reshaping expectations. Rather than pushing proprietary ecosystems, they design sensor-ready equipment with interoperability in mind. This future-proofs investment and keeps businesses nimble in the face of regulatory or market shifts. Designing for Data Longevity Sensors are only as powerful as the context they capture. A smart implementation ensures the data collected can be standardized, stored securely, and accessed meaningfully across departments. This means moving beyond local dashboards toward centralized, queryable datasets that inform everything from supplier contracts to marketing claims. As AI and predictive analytics become more accessible, these data-rich environments will unlock new capabilities—such as predicting demand spikes based on real-time freshness indicators or adjusting production schedules dynamically based on in-transit sensor feedback. Final Thoughts: Smarter Isn’t Optional Traceability isn’t solved by more paperwork—it’s solved by embedded intelligence. Smart sensors don’t just help businesses know what happened; they help prevent the wrong things from happening at all. For companies in the food and beverage sector, adopting smart sensors is less about chasing innovation and more about enabling resilience, speed, and confidence in every decision.

Eco-Friendly Garden Prep: Summer Tips for a Greener Business Space

By Julie Starr • June 5, 2025
If you're lucky enough to have a garden as part of your business, taking some time to set it up for summer is a great investment of your energy. Not only will it be ready for your customers to spend time in, but you can also incorporate some eco-friendly elements into it. Many people just think about the property and what eco-friendly updates they can make , but there are plenty that you can implement in your garden. This gives you the best of both worlds. You own a sacred and beautiful place for your customers to spend their summer, and at the same time, you can do your part for a better planet. If this is the route you want to take, then you also need to consider how to do this with the different seasons. To help you on your journey, here are some top tips for preparing your garden for summer. Plant trees and flowers Planting trees and flowers in your garden is a must. It will make a beautiful scene of nature for everyone to enjoy. Trees will provide people and animals with shade, as well as provide a habitat for wildlife. More trees are needed in the world because they purify the air that we breathe. Flowers, especially if you plant with pollinators in mind, can be an excellent way to attract bees and butterflies, which contribute largely to the earth. Use natural pest control When preparing your garden for summer, you can do this more sustainably and kindly by using natural pest control. Simply by planting trees and flowers, you are likely to attract lots of different wildlife, some of which may destroy your efforts. While all wildlife should be considered, you may need to take measures. Some better and more eco-friendly ways you can do this, as opposed to spraying toxic chemicals onto your plants and into the air, you can implement companion planting, using protective nets over your crops, choosing resilient plants, using natural repellents, and encouraging natural predators so nature can do its thing. Maintain your garden Maintaining your garden in itself can make it more eco-friendly. Composting your garden waste regularly, and kitchen waste can help you to reduce overall waste and create nutrient-rich soil. This is a great cycle of sustainability. You can also keep on top of things that need cleaning and replacing, so you can recycle the materials for other garden structures and projects, and repurpose things around your garden before they become waste. If you have features in your garden like a swimming pool, then a regular pool maintenance service is going to be vital in keeping your water consumption to a minimum, as when it is cleaned and maintained, it will need to be drained and refilled less as well as using less energy. You could also consider how you can use natural purification methods to reduce chemical usage and support biodiversity right in your backyard. Your garden is just an eco-friendly project waiting to be built. Use these top tips to help you get started.