Shed those excess £s in 2012

Let me start by wishing you all a very happy new year.

Every year people make ambitious resolutions such as stopping smoking, exercising more often and losing weight after that hearty Christmas dinner. However well intentioned they may be though most resolutions are forgotten come mid-January.

If you haven’t decided what your resolution for 2012 will be yet then we have a suggestion. Why not make it your resolution for 2012 to shed some pounds, from your energy bill that is!

In the current economic climate, and despite rising electricity costs, many companies continue to throw money down the drain due to the inefficient use of energy.

Not the best strategy in the midst of the current economic turmoil!

Equipment sitting idle and running up costs, heating and air conditioning fighting against each other, and lighting being left on overnight or even at weekends, are just some of the common energy wasters that we have encountered.

While examples like this may seem rather insignificant, the full impact of this inefficient use of energy will only be truly felt when that energy bill arrives.

Businesses can make real savings by identifying energy reduction opportunities and taking action to ensure they are only using the energy that they actually require.

Why not make 2012 the year you take control of your energy consumption and trim that excess weight off your energy bill!

Lisa

All I want for Christmas is...

Reduced energy bills!

As you will have noticed winter is upon us yet again so with the night’s drawing in and the temperature dropping, we instantly head for the thermostat to make sure we’re toasty warm at home, in the car and at the office.

But it’s important to remember that turning up the heat in your building can also burn a large hole in your pocket as increased use of energy impacts on your bottom line.

Christmas does not need to be costly.  Here at t-mac we are always looking for ways to help businesses identify and reduce unnecessary energy consumption; so why not follow our festive tips, to try to ensure that your energy bill doesn’t give you frost-bite when it arrives! 

1 – Optimum start: Use pre-set timers to warm up the building before staff arrive which will make it less likely that staff will turn the heating up to excessive levels when they begin work.

2 – Temperature: Communicate with your staff; remind them not to tamper too much with the heating set-points as they will acclimatise to it; alternatively lock-out the wall controller or thermostat.  An ability to increase temperature set-points often results in Caribbean temperatures which, if left at this setting, often have some staff reaching for the air conditioning while the heating remains on!

3 – Windows and doors: Is it really cold in your building or could you quite literally be throwing your money out of the window? It may seem obvious but a lot of the time people leave windows open letting all the warm air out.

4 – Lighting: Make as much use of the daylight hours as possible by keeping your curtains and blinds open; his will reduce the temptation to reach for the light-switch before it is necessary. Also remember to make sure the Christmas lights are turned off at night.

5 – Staff awareness: Encourage your staff to wear extra layers of clothing in the winter months. It is a cost-effective way to keep staff comfortable while keeping your energy costs down.

We’d like to take this opportunity to wish you a very happy Christmas and an energy-efficient New Year!

Lisa and the team

A new dimension in energy management ‘solutions’

We had a great time at the Energy Event in Birmingham in September before moving on to the Energy Solutions Expo in London this month where we gave visitors the chance to ‘touch’ base with the future of energy management and take an interactive tour of the full t-mac range. 

Using touch screen technology, we showed visitors at these two important events how t-mac can help companies manage and control energy consumption, achieving energy savings of up to 40 per cent and a return on investment in 12-18 months.

It was at these shows that we unveiled our new alerting, floor plan and mapping technologies and enjoyed demonstrating the software to the many visitors to our stand during the two-day events.

Using the floor plan portal, businesses can upload graphics of buildings, individual floors, rooms and equipment while receiving real-time energy consumption data from the t-mac unit installed at each site.

The software provides maintenance personnel with a unique overview of energy consumption across the site while highlighting areas which may require attention during necessary service checks. The software can also be used to upload equipment schematics, enabling engineers to assess equipment performance and use easily and interactively.

The addition of a new, innovative ‘mapping’ feature to our Building Management Systems software will offer a visual representation of a user’s sites enabling companies to monitor their facilities efficiently. By highlighting equipment errors staff can respond to faults quickly and rectify them.

At the Energy Event we were also delighted to provide a special presentation to delegates in the ESTA seminar hall where we discussed ‘Applying Key Energy Saving Technologies’ and how building energy management systems (BEMS) can help businesses to reduce the cost of building operations.

And now it is time to give our feet a little rest until the next one.

Lisa
 

You’ll never guess what we did this summer...



Although the great British summer was a little bit of a damp squid, the lack of continuous sunshine didn’t impact the fundraising spirits of the t-mac team! In a bid to enjoy the outdoors as well as raise money for good causes, the team decided to take on Kinder – which at 2,087 feet is the highest mountain in the Peak District a whopping 636m above sea level!

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for the 17-strong team, we had chosen a rare day when the sun was out! Nevertheless, we donned our hiking boots and met at the car park close to Edale station ready for the challenge just after 2.30pm. After a quick stop at the local shop for a few last minute supplies, we began our route in an anti-clockwise direction along Pennine Way.

Our first challenge was to navigate the tough incline through Sheepfold up to Grindslow Knoll – we were glad to get this steep bit out of the way at the start of the walk especially with the sun beating down on us!

The walk through Edale Head to Kinder Low, along the tops of the mountains, was quite a gentle one except for a few boggy bits and the need for some rock climbing! Thankfully, we had ‘Scout Leader’ Ian (our own Captain Scott) to help us all conquer the big rock at the top.

From Kinder Low we began the descent back to Edale through Jacob’s Ladder, Sheepfold and Upper Booth. At this point we thought all the scrambling was finished and we could leisurely stroll to the finish line. Unfortunately, the route back into Edale was not flat – one final hill stood in our way as well as fields full of sheep and lambs!

We gave a big sigh of relief when the finish line came in to in sight and once we crossed it headed to The Old Nags Head Pub in Edale for a well-deserved drink or two! It took us around three and a half hours to complete the 10k trek and we raised £1,500 for charity - a great way to spend a summer’s day!

Lisa

t-mac acquires FAW Electronics

This is a very exciting time for t-mac Technologies with the announcement of our acquisition of design engineering and manufacturing firm FAW Electronics Ltd.

As part of our continued development strategy, which includes a 40 per cent growth target over the next 12 months, t-mac, will now provide a one-stop-shop for clients’ energy management needs.

Adding to our proven capabilities in energy management software design the t-mac portfolio has been enhanced with innovative design engineering and manufacturing capabilities.

We have worked with FAW Electronics since our launch to produce and deliver technical hardware products for our ever expanding client base, so this acquisition was the next logical step.

FAW Electronics had expressed a wish to forge stronger links with t-mac which made this a natural move for both of us. We have very exciting plans for our newly formed fully functional business.

By acquiring FAW Electronics we have reduced the final link in our production chain. Now our cutting-edge products, which we provide for businesses across the UK and worldwide, will be made from beginning to end by t-mac.

Our continued growth in the market has been driven by an increased understanding of the necessity of energy management by the business world with the need to monitor, manage and control energy usage never greater.

Now with this new acquisition, the t-mac team boasts 32 professionals working together to provide energy management solutions for any business across the UK.

Lisa

t-mac’s guide to summertime savings

After a grueling winter it’s now that time of year when we can enjoy lighter mornings, longer evenings and even some warmer weather (fingers crossed)!

And as the season changes so too will your energy bills - BUT – you need make sure they’re going down instead of up which can happen during this time of year.

How? Well many of us simply forget a few easy housekeeping rules. We always remember to do a wardrobe ‘switch’, packing our woollies at the back of the wardrobe, but how many of us think about ‘switching’ our appliances to summer mode?

Year after year people fall in to the same warmer-weather pitfalls, using the air conditioning unit instead of opening the window, leaving the heating on at the same level as previous months or even whacking it up when you think it’s getting a bit colder (when it’s really just time to put on a cardi).

Never fear - there are a number of simple solutions which anyone can implement to make sure your third quarter energy bills do not escalate through the building’s roof and drive you a little bit daisy!

Firstly, we all do it – we switch lights on when they are not needed – it’s a habit, but one we need to break. Think during the summer months, do I really need it? When the sun is shining strong lights can be useless at best and counter-productive at worst with an increased risk of glare. If working overtime why not leave the curtains or blinds open for longer to take advantage of the lighter evenings instead of reaching for the switch.

Next – have you checked your heating levels? British summers may not traditionally be Mediterranean-esq but keeping the heating at the same levels as it was in December will certainly result in a scorching energy bill, which is both wasteful and unnecessary. Turn it down. Unfortunately many employees are also guilty of turning the heating up on a cold summer’s day (yes they do sadly exist in the UK) only to forget they have done this and proceed to using other cooling methods when it gets too hot. Getting the balance right is important and everyone can be comfortable without it costing money.

Finally, I have to talk about our old pal, air-conditioning – everyone’s friend on a sweltering hot day. But why not try a free and refreshing alternative by opening a window first and see if that helps or making sure you close the curtains or shut the blinds in direct sunlight to prevent your workplace from heating up too much in the first place. As they say every little bit helps.

These three key things can help you save energy and of course money. It is important everyone gets involved and does not revert back to the bad habits, and this is not just the staff, visitors can waste energy too unless your energy saving strategy is pointed out to them.

Of course, technology like t-mac BMS can prevent equipment from fighting against each other, connecting to lighting, heating, refrigeration, air conditioning and other energy intensive equipment in the workplace. It will automatically highlight opportunities for energy reduction by identifying unnecessary use and control equipment to reduce use and cost to the company. You can find out more on our website http://www.t-mac.co.uk/

Let’s hope for a sizzling summer and make sure you follow these simple energy saving tips –unless of course you have money to burn!

Lisa

t-mac’s travel tales

Last month t-mac went stateside as we visited the GLOBALCON Expo in Philadelphia, USA.

What an experience!

Being a large energy trade show, we got a real insight in to how US organisations operate in the energy management sector. It seems there has been a huge push in America from both the public and private sectors to bring efficiently managed energy to the forefront of the business agenda.

We have started to see more and more US businesses incorporate metering technology into day-to-day practice in order to monitor performance levels, but more importantly, they are using this data to showcase their activity to their key stakeholders, namely their customers.

The US, like Britain, has seen a rise in consumer expectation for brands to operate with a ‘green conscience’ and from my conversations with individuals at the event, this was a key driver for US businesses.

The Globalcon Exhibition gave us the opportunity to share our thoughts and experiences with like-minded people across the pond and gave us great insight as to how to approach the wealth of opportunity that will await us in the not-too-distant future when we enter the US market.

But all in good time.

We also very much enjoyed ourselves at NEMEX at the Birmingham NEC last week. We exhibited at stand Q16 (part of Sustainability Live) from Tuesday 24 May until Thursday 26 May, where we launched two new products – the t-mac Weather Feed and the new-look Energy Analysis software.

The new Weather Feed is a fantastic new feature we’ve designed that allows you to enter your site’s postcode onto t-mac software in order for t-mac to adapt your site’s system applications to local weather conditions in that area. Gathering data from weather stations across the globe, it provides accurate predictions on temperature, humidity, chance of rain and cloud cover – all of which are important factors to consider when analysing energy consumption and comparing historical data. Very intelligent indeed – we couldn’t wait to show off our new addition!

We also showcased a rework of a modern classic. Our hugely successful Energy Analysis software has had a face-lift for 2011. It is faster than ever before and has many more useful features including a calendar date selector tool on the dashboard’s homepage, allowing users to select multiple periods of time for energy analysis and comparison.

It was a great three day event and gave us an opportunity to offer advice, answer any questions and chat about our new love of the states!

Lisa