Golf Clubs Utility & Energy Quotes

The Carbon Trust advises a social and working space like a golf club house should have a temperature of between 16 – 20°C. Invest in a thermostat that can be timed to go off and on where necessary. In the warmer, summer months turn it off completely and even in winter, set it to go off an hour before close down – there will be no noticeable change to customers. Think about where you place the thermostat – sunlight or radiators could affect the reading.  Consider investing in a compensator, which regulates the temperature based on the weather, it could save your golf club thousands of pounds.

Lighting – your golf club could be spending 20% of its electricity costs on lighting which means it makes sense to have the most cost efficient and appropriate lighting for your needs.  A quick win is to ensure all light switches have switch off notices to remind everyone to turn them off if they are the last to leave a room. Staff and members have a role to play and everyone should be encouraged to save lighting energy. Replace tungsten standard light bulbs with CFLs which last eight times longer and only use a quarter of the energy.  Replace fluorescent tubes with tri-phosphor coated tubes with give a much better, natural light.  Consider using occupancy sensors in the club house toilets and store rooms, these can achieve up to 30% on lighting costs.

Refrigeration uses a lot of electricity.  Keep doors closed when not in use and defrost regularly to prolong the life of your equipment and save money.   Do you need to keep chilled cabinets on overnight?  If not, switch off. Does your cooking equipment need to be switched on right away? Modern catering equipment reaches optimum temperature very quickly and so doesn’t need to be switched on to ‘warm up.’ Make sure when you buy any piece of new equipment it meets the highest energy performance standards and keep up to date with servicing.

It’s really important to have a nominated member of staff or a small team of staff or even committee members that have ‘energy saving’ as part of their job role.  Once an initial energy audit has been conducted there should be a regular ‘inspections’ to ensure good behaviours and housekeeping is maintained.

Check for gaps in the fabric of the clubhouse building around doors and windows which could be an issue in older buildings. In addition to letting warm air out and cold air in, small issues can quickly become big problems and so address them right away.

Always check for damp, move items of furniture away from outside walls once or twice a year to look for tell-tale signs, and if you have a cellar this may need looking at more than twice a year.

Walk around the outside of the building too and make sure leaking gutters or faulty roof tiles are replaced quickly. A quarter of your club house’s heat can be lost through a poorly insulated roof.  This could add hundreds of pounds to your bills and so while it may look like an expensive repair in the short term, it will save you a lot of money in the longer term.

Why not set targets to reduce your energy consumption by 5 – 10% over a year and get all staff and members involved.  You could even offer a prize to anyone who develops the best energy saving suggestion.

It’s important to make energy efficiency a club wide issue. Explain to staff and members the benefits of increased efficiency to their club house. It’s not just about saving money – although that is always important, it’s also about reducing your carbon footprint and showing your local community that you care about the environment. After all, golf clubs are a large part of the local area.