Ways Shopping Mall Owners Can Save Energy

How to Save Energy in a Shopping Mall

It's a critical time to balance the budget and tweak procedures to make your mall run better. One of the most substantial expenses to target is the sky-high energy bill.

Recent surveys show that 1100 malls are operating in the United States. It's time to trim the fat off the budget by cutting down on energy consumption to keep your mall open and competitive.

But what can you do to reduce the energy costs without making your tenants or customers upset? We put together our top strategies to help you save energy in your shopping mall facility.

Motion Sensors

A great way to cut down on energy costs is to install motion sensors. This allows you to leave lights off when no one is in the room, but then turn on when someone enters. 

The most common way to use this technology is in restrooms, where lights are often left on with no one in the room.

Upgrade The Lighting System

Another way to slash the energy consumption of shopping malls is to replace all of your old lighting with more energy-efficient LED versions.

Studies show that LED lights use at least 75% less energy than comparable incandescent lighting.

New LED lights have a lower heat output, which helps save on cooling costs. Additionally, LED bulbs last ten to twenty-five times longer than the incandescent options.

Check Your HVAC System for Energy Savings Opportunities

When was the last time you had someone service the HVAC system? 

Old or unkept HVAC systems will not work properly and cost you money. HVAC systems should be serviced at least once a year.

For those systems that are too far gone, there are new HVAC systems that use far less energy than their predecessors.

Utilize Technology To Save Shopping Mall Energy

The best defense for high energy use is a great offense.

Since lowering a building's energy costs has become a matter of economic necessity in all commercial buildings, owners and managers must have accurate utility management to achieve maximum cost recovery.  

Unfortunately, if an owner or manager wants to increase energy efficiency while decreasing energy costs, there's a level of detail required that owners and managers don't have the time for.

How Submetering Can Make Your Mall Run As Efficiently As Possible

Consider partnering with an energy management firm experienced in monitoring, analyzing, and making recommendations your team can rely on to make your mall as energy-efficient as possible. 

There are plenty of companies selling metering software: however, it's important to note the limitations of metering software alone:  

Metering software does not offer the analysis and expertise required to drive mall occupants and machines only to use the energy they need.

Effective energy management firms that offer energy metering services have a team of billing analysts, engineers, and an operations center all working together.  

This collaborative (and holistic) approach improves your operation's efficiency even when things are changing daily. 

Ultimately, a team of energy experts helps optimize your existing systems to perform at the highest possible levels, while cutting energy costs. 

Ensure whoever you use has the support staff that can look at benchmarks, look at tenants, and what they're doing, not just a reporting system.

To continually use only the energy needed involves some technology but, more importantly, requires quality, meter data in the hands of experts who understand your mall.

Time to Get Savings Bigger Than the Mall's Clearance Sales

When times get tough, the job of the mall operator is to keep the boat afloat. Sometimes that means cutting back on expenses like energy bills. 

If you’d like to see your mall's utility bill drop like sales on Black Friday, contact utiliVisor to discuss how we can help your shopping mall optimize operations and save energy.

Updated September 29, 2020. This article has been updated to add more timely information for our customers.