Do you dream of leaving the office early and having more time to enjoy the afternoon? Is the warm June air calling your name? Even as a business owner rather than an employee, you might daydream of spending your time doing something else other than sitting at your desk until 5 p.m. every weekday.
Take advantage of Leave the Office Early Day – an annual holiday that takes place on June 2 or the nearest weekday – and send your employees home early today or another day of your choosing! The primary motivations for celebrating this holiday are to reward employees for their productivity and boost morale, but the chance to save energy and money is an added bonus! Just how much do you stand to save? Let’s find out.
How Much Energy Do Office Buildings Consume?
United States Office Buildings
According to a publication from the US Energy Information Administration in 2016, office buildings account for about 18 percent of all commercial energy consumption. This amounts to 1.2 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) of energy consumed every year by the 1 million office buildings located in the United States.
Canadian Office Buildings
According to the Commercial and Institutional Consumption of Energy Survey published in 2007, offices in Canada account for 20 percent of all commercial energy consumption. In all, 132 trillion Btu of energy are consumed every year by the 87,000 office buildings located in Canada.
Breaking it Down…
United States Office Buildings
On a smaller scale, this level of energy consumption means a typical office building in the US uses an average 1.2 billion Btu of energy every year, or about 23.6 million Btu per week. Assuming you only light, heat, cool and run office equipment while employees are in the building, you pay to power your office about 40 to 50 hours per week.
At the average rate of energy consumption for American office buildings, this means you consume about 524,000 Btu per hour. Assuming most of your energy consumption this summer is in the form of electricity for air conditioning, lighting and powering office equipment, Forbes estimates you spend $26.31 per million Btu.
This means by sending everyone home three hours early, you could save nearly 1.6 million Btu of energy, or $42 every time you celebrate Leave the Office Early Day.
Canadian Office Buildings
A typical Canadian office building consumes 1.5 billion Btu of energy every year, or about 29 million Btu per week. Assuming you only light, heat, cool and run office equipment while employees are in the building, you pay to power your office about 40 to 50 hours per week.
At the average rate of energy consumption for Canadian office buildings, this means you consume about 650,000 Btu per hour. Assuming most of your energy consumption this summer is in the form of electricity for air conditioning, lighting and powering office equipment, Forbes estimates you spend $26.31 per million Btu.
This means by sending everyone home three hours early, you could save nearly 2 million Btu of energy, or $51 every time you celebrate Leave the Office Early Day.
Make Leave the Office Early Day a Tradition!
After a trial run, you may realize that the incentive to go home early helps your employees be especially productive on those days. The energy savings on top of good employee morale and increased productivity could mean you decide to make Leave the Office Early Day a quarterly, monthly or even weekly tradition! Surely your employees wouldn’t argue with that.
For more information about conserving energy at home and at work, please contact Mr. Electric® today.
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