Our Fuel Efficiency Guide for Businesses

Fuel efficiency is key for all businesses that rely on fuel to operate, from construction to transportation. It is significant both economically and environmentally, which is why everyone should be making efforts to be as efficient with their fuel usage as possible. 

Fuel is an expense for businesses, so making efforts to reduce fuel consumption can help with costs and budget predictability. Environmentally, you’ll support efforts to mitigate climate change and balance the carbon cycle by using less fuel. Less fuel means fewer greenhouse gas emissions and a lowered carbon footprint for you and your business.

In this post, we’ll share tips and strategies for saving money and correcting your carbon footprint by reducing fuel consumption.

Fuel consumption in business

The primary areas businesses typically use fuel are transportation, heating, and machinery. From staff vehicles to service fleets to shipping by sea and air, fuel is needed to keep transportation moving. Furnaces and boilers require fuel to heat buildings, as do process heaters in manufacturing, such as metal fabrication and food processing. Machinery is used across a wide range of industries and sectors, and fuel is essential to keep it operational.

Factors affecting fuel efficiency

Many will find that the three main sources of fuel inefficiency are outdated equipment, lack of training, and inefficient operations. 

Old equipment may have outdated and inefficient technology and suffer from wear and tear. Machinery that isn’t well maintained can also consume excessive fuel. Inefficient operations, such as poor route planning, scheduling errors, and inadequate energy management, also result in fuel overconsumption. Finally, if employees aren’t trained on how to use vehicles and equipment in a fuel-efficient way, then high consumption is bound to happen. 

Fortunately, these factors can be remedied with a strong fuel-saving strategy.

Strategic planning for fuel efficiency

To improve fuel efficiency, you need to plan strategically. Without goals and no plan or processes, then fuel reduction targets will be much harder to reach. Here are our tips on how to be more efficient with your fuel, from conducting a fuel audit to practical efforts in reducing fuel usage.

Fuel audits

Before you create a strategy or implement any fuel-saving practices, it’s important to assess where your business is in terms of fuel consumption. We recommend conducting a fuel audit to identify areas of improvement.

How to audit fuel usage:

1. Define the scope of the audit by identifying which parts of your business use fuel, e.g. heating systems, machinery, and fleet vehicles.
2. Select a time frame for your audit, such as a month or a year. You will analyse the data collected over this time period.
3. Collect data. This could be from fuel purchase records, operational data such as vehicle mileage and heating schedules, and usage logs that include data collected from GPS systems and manual logbooks.
4. Once the time period is over, start analysing the data. Get a baseline of total fuel consumption by adding all used fuel up and, if possible, compare the results against industry benchmarks or previous business performance. 
5. Identify patterns and trends in the data that indicate unexpectedly high fuel usage, inefficient equipment, and peak consumption times or activities.
6. From here, you can find areas for improvement. Use the data to identify inefficient equipment, inefficient operations, and employee behaviour. 
7. Create an action plan by prioritising areas that you most want to improve or will provide the best results when actioned. This plan should include measurable goals and targets and the specific changes you want to implement. This could include investing in better equipment or training drivers further. 
8. Finally, implement your action plan and regularly monitor the results. This way, you’ll be able to measure the success of your plan and make any required adjustments. 
9. Document your fuel-savings and reduction results, and regularly revisit the audit process to refine your fuel-efficiency practices. You will be able to make improvements and adjustments based on new data collected. 

Training and engagement

• A simple yet sure way to reduce overall fuel usage in businesses is to train all staff on fuel efficiency techniques. If everyone is on the same page regarding the company’s fuel reduction goals, then conscious efforts will be made in everyday tasks.
• Incentives go a long way in motivating employees. Recognition or rewards for fuel reduction may encourage staff to follow fuel usage practices. 

Practical efforts

• Consider upgrading to more fuel-efficient equipment. By investing in modern machinery and vehicles, you can ensure fuel efficiency due to more advanced engines and technology. One-time purchases such as these can provide long-term savings by reducing operational costs and minimising maintenance needs, which ultimately helps towards your overall fuel efficiency.
• For the equipment you already use, make sure you have a regular maintenance and servicing schedule in place. It’s essential to check and maintain your vehicles and machinery often to ensure they’re running at peak performance efficiency. Equipment that is lagging behind may consume more fuel.
• Businesses can reduce fuel usage by optimising driver and operator schedules and routes. They can also use software and technology for route planning and management to plan in advance and avoid unnecessary fuel use. 
• Energy-saving driving techniques can be implemented to save fuel in the transportation industry. Methods such as gradual acceleration, maintaining steady speeds, minimal idling, and optimal gear usage can all help reduce fuel consumption in vehicles.

Monitoring and optimising

• Track your company’s fuel efficiency by setting up systems to monitor savings. You should also analyse the effectiveness of your fuel reduction strategies. All of this data can go towards creating new and improved strategies.
• With the performance data gathered from tracking progress, adjust and optimise your processes. It’s important to assess and refine as time goes on rather than letting practices run their course without involvement. 

Fuel management with Fuelsource

Taking these suggestions and strategies on board can go a long way towards saving your company some money while positively impacting the environment, but there is more you can do. With an expert fuel management system, you can be kept aware of how much fuel you have and how much you’re using, helping you to identify areas for improvement with ease.

With the Fuelsource management system, we’ll monitor your levels remotely and can have fuel delivered to you when supplies start to run low. You’ll have one trusted point of contact throughout who will help you get the best price for your fuel. This support can help improve fuel efficiency as there will be no risk of over-purchasing, and any issues in consumption will be spotted immediately. 
To find out more about our fuel management service and our fuel deliveries, contact us today on 0207 846 0255 or use our simple online form for a quote.