Salt Lake City is known as a great place to grow your business and your life. Together with our Community Partners we are working to bring people together to foster balanced growth and an ever increasing quality of place in our community. One of these great community partners, SLCC Workforce, brings a guest blog with thoughts and ideas on celebrating Earth Month April 2018:

When you own a small business, it may seem like your operation doesn’t make much of an impact on the environment, but even basic, day-to-day energy consumption can be reduced with minor changes.

Energy Management program lead Alyssa Kay, LEED AP, with Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) Workforce Training & Continuing Education, offers these tips to conserve just in time for Earth Month:

  • Turn things off when nobody is there. Occupancy sensors can help with this. Occupancy sensors are fairly common on lights, but they’re also useful on ventilation systems for those rooms that aren’t always in use, like conference rooms, meeting spaces, classrooms, etc. When rooms are occupied they need to have fresh air, but when nobody is in them, it is not necessary to heat or cool air from the outside for ventilation. With an occupancy sensor, business can reduce the ventilation rates while rooms are unused.

Also, invest in load-sensing power strips, which turn outlets off when devices that are plugged in to the power strip are turned off, eliminating energy consuming “ghost loads.”

  • Do a little research. Look at your utility bills and compare with previous years to see trends over time.
  • Cash in where you can. Take advantage of your utility company’s “Demand Side Management” rebates. If the energy provider is offering rebates for specific equipment, it’s a sure bet that the equipment saves energy.

“Celebrating Earth Month each April provides a time to pause and consider how we can protect the natural resources we enjoy here in Utah – and that so many local industries depend upon,” said Dr. Jennifer Saunders, associate dean for Workforce Training & Continuing Education with SLCC. “When conserving also helps the bottom line, there’s a win-win for business owners to celebrate!”

SLCC’s Energy Accounting Certificate provides practical training to help small businesses get a handle on their energy use, decreasing expenses and maximizing the bottom line as a result. Classes begin Aug. 6; contact 801-957-5404 or alyssa.kay@slcc.edu for more info.