It has been suggested that UK firms will benefit from investing in smart metering, but would this show how document scanning could reduce energy use?
British firms should invest in smart metering technology to help monitor their energy expenditure, it has been claimed.
According to t-mac Technologies, businesses should be checking how much electricity they are using to identify where savings could be made.
One potential source of power wastage could be in printing, which not only uses energy, but comes with the additional costs associated with equipment, ink and paper.
Document scanning could help firms cut down on this expenditure and allow them to move forward with their important information safe in a secure online document storage facility.
Those who do turn to document scanning services might be able to track potential savings on their smart meters.
Speaking at the recent Energy Services and Technology Association event in Manchester, t-mac Technologies director Lisa Gingell suggested that smart metering could be a good way to keep track of which areas are most power hungry.
"You may have an estate with many buildings and smart metering allows you to see what is being used and where. Hand-in-hand with smart metering, you really need some software – you need to be able to analyse it," the expert said.
"There is no point in having a load of data unless you can access that data easily – map it, graph it, view it, download it and learn from it."
She added that real-time metering technology is best as it allows bosses to track what is being used instantaneously.
"Real-time metering tells you what you are consuming now and it alerts on it, so you can run to the site and switch that piece of equipment off. With real-time metering comes sub-metering, so you are not just knowing what your main building is costing you; you are knowing what activities in that building are costing you and where," Ms Gingell stated.