Many firms could be saving themselves a lot of money - and slashing their carbon emissions - if they paid a little more attention to the way they light their premises, according to a new survey.
The research carried out by Ex-Or - a company that has designed, manufactured and installed lighting management systems for almost three decades - showed that on average, lights are left on unnecessarily for an average of 12 hours every single day in UK firms.
Perhaps even more shocking was the fact that 17 per cent of respondents to the poll said that their office lighting was left on without any apparent reason for 24 hours a day.
Not only is this adding an eye-wateringly large sum of money to electricity bills across the year, but doing so produces a considerable quantity of completely unnecessary carbon emissions - a behaviour with which companies should arguably be ashamed to be affiliated.
Marketing communications specialist at Ex-Or Jason Ng said: "With UK businesses tightening their purse strings and urgently eliminating costs from their organisation, wasting so much money on lighting empty rooms is almost a criminal drain on resources." He added that many appear to completely unaware of what they are doing - meaning they are also unaware of the costs and emissions they could be slashing by changing their ways.
Companies looking to work out where this is happening should look to rooms which may often get forgotten about - for example, warehouses, stock rooms and cupboards, toilets and communal areas which may only be used around lunchtime.
Ecologically savvy companies could even go one step further. In addition to making more of an effort to switch off lights, they might decide to carry out a retrofit project on their lighting scheme, opting for a more energy-efficient solution.
Switching all of the ceiling spotlights for greener alternatives over primary work spaces could reduce electricity bills, maintenance costs and emissions by a commendable amount more.
