While the upfront cost might be great, the payoff of making big energy-saving changes comes in the long run, as you save money on your energy and water bills. And you can give yourself a pat on the back, knowing that what you’re doing is also helping reduce your impact on the environment.
1. Let There Be (Better) Light
Ready to make your first material-change in the salon? Start with the lighting. Incandescent bulbs waste 90 per cent of the energy they use through heat, plus the new lighting systems for salons have become quite good, offering clear light and much less energy usage. There may even be government incentives available to you to help make the change. Michael Crispel, owner of Earth Salon in Toronto, took advantage of a program that offered a consultation on lighting, plus the first set of new lights for free.
“The quality of lights is very conductive to working in the salon. Visually, esthetically, it doesn’t look different,” he says. “It has also reduced my energy bill by 10 to 30 per cent.”
Brian Phillips of worldSALON in Toronto, who has switched to using LED lights in his salon, has gone from using 150 kilowatts a day to 35 kilowatts a day with his new system.
2. Reduce Water Usage
At Kevin Murphy’s Green.Salon, a virtual online salon where you can make and see the impact of green changes, water usage is an area where easy fixes can be made. Two in particular cost almost nothing: Suggest that stylists turn off the tap while washing clients’ hair, and fix your leaking tap. Leaving a faucet running wastes 10 litres of water per minute, and by turning it off you can save up to 3,600 litres in a year. Secondly, fix the leak and save 2,400 litres of water a year.
A bigger but more expensive change is upgrading to an energy- and water-effi cient washing machine. It uses up to twothirds less water, or about 70 litres less per wash.
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