24 Apr
Small Business Awareness Week is recognized April 28 – May 4, 2024. CORE is here to help small business owners improve the energy performance of their facilities and cut down on their utility bills.
Importance of Energy Efficiency:
• Increases profits, reduces operating costs.
• Promote your business by marketing your environmentally friendly practices and/or products.
• Reduce environmental impacts.
Energy Efficiency Tips:
• Measure and track your energy performance in SmartHub.
• Turn off lights and equipment when not in use.
• Purchase energy-efficient products like ENERGY STAR qualified office equipment.
• Install lighting occupant sensors in proper locations.
• Tune-up heating/air-conditioning (HVAC) system with an annual maintenance contract.
• Regularly change HVAC filters.
• Install a programmable thermostat.
• Control the direct sun through windows in both summer and winter to prevent or encourage heat gain.
Using SmartHub to your business’s advantage:
The Usage Explorer feature gives you a detailed look at your past and current usage, all in one place. View your power use alongside weather trends by month, day or hour. Set filters for the graphs, such as date ranges or specific meters, and view a breakdown of monthly costs, along with temperature data overlaid on top of it.
Average Usage allows you to see how much electricity you typically use during a specific time period. This is a powerful tool to see energy usage during specific hours of operation.
The Usage Tracking feature in SmartHub gives you the option of creating trackers for specific times or windows of time in your energy usage history.
Usage Comparison lets you compare two monthly bills side-by-side to see “this month vs. last month” as an example. You can see how weather and temperature affects your monthly bills. This is also a good way to determine if new energy habits or an appliance are having a positive effect on your usage.
CORE CLEAN Power Choice:
Is being green important to your business? CLEAN Power Choice is an affordable way for businesses to meet certain mandates or claim their business as one that runs on renewable energy sources. Learn more and enroll here.
Additional Resources:
• CORE partners with Manufacturer’s Edge to help provide assistance to manufacturers and business of all sizes across our state. Services include operations, talent management, data & technology and success planning.
• Colorado Small Business Development Center Network (SBDC) is a great place to consider consulting services, workshops and other resources to support your business needs.
• Explore CORE’s Business Development page for an overview of what we provide to businesses in our service area.