Life has become crazy lately and it feels like the world has turned upside down.
Office buildings, classrooms, and public places have been shut down. People are working from home in greater numbers than ever before, and students of all ages are being taught via the internet instead of in traditional classrooms.
This means that there are a lot of unoccupied buildings in this country, many of which are still being heated or cooled as if they were full of people.
If you have been forced to shut down your facilities, take advantage of it to reduce your operational costs.
First, use the building’s energy management system (EMS) or building automation system (BAS) to set back the temperature in all your unoccupied spaces. This can often reduce your utility costs by 50% – 70%.
Second, you may be able to consolidate office space by relocating your remaining workers or staff into the same building. This will allow you to take one or multiple buildings ‘offline’ and add them to the unoccupied building list.