Energy Saving Ideas for Pubs

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Last updated: 08 June 2021

Saving energy is a great way to cut down costs, however sometimes it may seem like a challenging task. We are here to give you some tips on how to save energy in your pub whilst maintaining a welcoming ambience for your visitors. There are 6 main areas you can make adjustments to save energy: heating, lighting, cellar services, hot water, building and catering appliances.

How to Save Energy: Heating

People may love a warm and cosy pub, but maintaining high temperatures is costly and if you want to bring that cost down, the heat is going to have to come down too.

Below are some simple tips to help save energy with heating:

1) Stick to the recommended temperature

This is between 20-22 degrees Celsius and should be ideal for the warm atmosphere people want when they enter a pub.

2) Divide your pub into zones to enable you to heat more efficiently

If you separate your pub into zones, you can then have separate heating controls and adjust temperatures depending on how occupied each zone is.

3) Install a seven-day electronic time-switch

This gives you the ability to have different settings for different times of the day. This is very useful if you have varying opening hours throughout the week.

4) Set your thermostat around customers

This means that your pub will reach ideal temperatures as customers arrive and will fizzle out as your pub begins to become less occupied. This ensures you are not losing money, wasting heat on an empty space.

5) Put thermostats away from temperature extremes

Make sure your thermostat is not in a particularly draughty area, in areas of sunlight or near internal heat like fires. This will make ensure that the temperature is adjusted correctly.

How to Save Energy: Lighting

Having effective lighting is essential for health and safety reasons but also for the enjoyment of customers.

One of the easiest and best ways to save energy on lighting is to have all of your windows and skylights as cleaned - letting in as much natural light as possible. This will make your pub bright and welcoming without adding any added expense.

You can reduce lighting energy costs by 50% or even more by implementing automatic lighting controls and installing LED lighting.

How to Save Energy: Cellar services

In many pubs, 10% of the overall energy bill cost in incurred because of the drink cooling mechanisms. About half of this goes into cellar cooling.

By taking these simple steps you can save from 10% to 50%.

● Improve the layout:

Put any heat producing equipment (line coolers for beer and soft drinks, cooling cabinets and ice makers) outside of the cellar in a well-ventilated area. Then install thermal insulation and draught stripping.

● Replace lighting

Replace standard tungsten bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) or fluorescent strip lighting.

Make sure that you turn off lights when they are not in use to avoid excess heat production and waste.

● Check refrigeration equipment is up to a good standard

Pipework circuits should be kept as short as possible, try to place cooling system temperature sensors at barrel height and away from the evaporator and set cooling system controls to the recommended cellar temperature, usually between 11°C and 13°C.

How to Save Energy: Hot Water

Avoid overheating water: this can be potentially dangerous and is also definitely not cost effective. The optimum temperature for stored hot water is about 60 ͒C.

Introduce urinal flush controls: this controls the amount of water when flushing and avoids an unnecessary amount being used.

Install a seven-day electronic time switch: this means you can set different hot water settings for different days and avoids waste.

How to Save Energy: Building

Around two-thirds of heat from a typical building is lost through the walls, floors and ceilings. It is a good idea to make improvements to these areas to minimise the amount of heat that is lost especially if you're planning on upgrading a heating system.

How to Save Energy: Catering and Appliances

If your pub has a kitchen, you may want to consider installing a sub-meter. This allows you to see how much energy is being used. This way to can identify areas you can save energy.

As well as making practical changes you can also view your energy bill. If you haven’t changed supplier in awhile you might want to consider browsing other suppliers and get a variety of different quotes. This way, you can compare business energy deals to get the best prices for you.

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Author: Danny Lord

Danny is our Editor-in-Chief, and has been writing news and guides for comparison sites for the last five years.

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