How to Achieve a Sustainable Warehouse

A sustainable warehouse can significantly improve your operational and cost efficiency in the long run through its cost-effective methods. This is becoming more important to achieve due to the exponential increase in global energy consumption, which increases the price of electricity and affects operational efficiency.

This article will discuss what a sustainable warehouse is and the benefits it brings to your warehouse. Moreover, we will cover some cost-effective tips that will help you achieve a sustainable warehouse. Read more below.

What is a Sustainable Warehouse?

The concept of a sustainable warehouse is mainly attributed to two factors:

1. The first factor is that a warehouse must reduce its energy consumption by avoiding excessive and wasteful energy use or opting for solutions that will lower its overall consumption. The unnecessary utilization of energy leads to an inefficient operation since you would be better off reallocating that energy to more important pursuits.

   

2. The second factor attributed to sustainability in the warehouse is ensuring that your operations are not entirely dependent on traditional energy sources. This is because traditional or non-renewable energy sources are prone to more disruptions compared to renewable energy sources. This factor is crucial in establishing your warehouse’s future capability in handling more extensive operations.

Benefits of a Sustainable Warehouse

There are numerous benefits in ensuring that your warehouse is sustainable, and these benefits will help you grow immensely. Here are some of them: competitive advantage and increased efficiency.

1. Achieve Competitive Advantage

A sustainable warehouse can achieve a competitive advantage by having lower costs, less potential for disruptions, and an improved brand reputation. By having a competitive advantage, you can better retain your clients and gain new customers.

To explain further, here are the factors that can help you achieve this:

a. Lower Costs

A sustainable warehouse can incur lower costs by consuming lower levels of energy and fuel or repurposing existing materials for further use, such as packaging. This enables you to save money by not paying large sums in utility bills every month and reallocating valuable resources to other core pursuits.

b. Fewer Disruptions

Moreover, a sustainable warehouse can help you alleviate disruptions from traditional energy sources since you do not solely rely on non-renewable energy sources. This will enable you to continue operations since your energy sources are more diversified, resulting in fewer disruptions.

 

c. Improved Brand Reputation

Additionally, by striving to attain a sustainable warehouse, you will improve your brand reputation. An example of this would be to implement eco-friendly packaging for all products being sent out to consumers. A study shows that as much as 72% of customers actively buy more environmentally-friendly products than before.

This shift in consumer preference, with more people willing to pay extra for eco-friendly products, makes it even more crucial for you to achieve a sustainable warehouse to cater to this growing desire and reap its benefits.

2. Increased Efficiency

With decreased dependence on traditional energy sources, a sustainable warehouse will increase its efficiency. This is because it does not have to stop its operations whenever the grid goes down or if any disruption from the supply chain occurs. Furthermore, an increase in efficiency comes from the decrease in power consumption without sacrificing the amount of work done in the same amount of time.

How to Attain a Sustainable Warehouse

After having discussed the benefits of a sustainable warehouse, here are some ways for you to attain it:

1. Efficient Utilization of Light

a. Energy Efficient Lighting

Lights are considered the primary driver of a facility’s electric load, making it a crucial aspect of warehouse sustainability. To address this, you may opt to use LED lights, which utilize at least 75% less energy and last 25 times longer compared to incandescent ones.

b. Natural Light             

Another way to increase sustainability in your warehouse is by maximizing the natural light put forth by the sun. By installing skylights, you let natural light inside and increase visibility in the facility without incurring additional costs brought about by electric lights.

2. Ensure Proper Ventilation

Proper ventilation is another component to be prioritized when striving for a sustainable warehouse since cooling and ventilation consume a lot of electricity. It is also worth mentioning that it affects multiple aspects of your operations, such as worker productivity and safety, therefore it is not to be overlooked.

One of the best ways to ensure proper ventilation without incurring high costs is by painting your roof white. Since lighter colors reflect more heat than darker colors, you will be able to minimize the amount of heat from the sun entering your facility. This will allow you to rely less on cooling systems that are costly for your business.

To learn more about how you can improve your warehouse ventilation, click here.

3. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

The term “reduce, reuse, and recycle” is often cited when preserving the environment is discussed. However, many businesses still do not employ this strategy, despite its numerous benefits and its significant impact on warehouse sustainability.

An option for warehouses to minimize the waste produced by their facility is by reducing the amount of packaging used when shipping products. Advancements have been made in packaging materials, such as fiber-based wrappers that are lighter and stronger than the usual plastic and reduces the amount of material needed to package the products.

4. Invest in Renewable Energy

To attain a sustainable warehouse and minimize the impact that your warehouse has on the environment, you must invest in renewable energy sources instead of solely relying on carbon-emitting fossil fuels. Although it may be costly at the start, it can provide a significant return in the long run since you do not have to pay a lot for electricity.

For this to come to fruition, you can invest in solar panels, which will allow you to generate electricity that you can use to power a portion of your warehouse. Furthermore, it will bring in massive savings and eliminate some of your carbon footprints.

5. Choose the Right Location

Lastly, a sustainable warehouse can be achieved by choosing the optimal location for your facility. Factors such as accessibility to roads and highways and local traffic density must be considered since transportation costs amount to 50.3% of logistics costs, impacting the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of your warehouse. If not, it will lead to higher fuel consumption, which diminishes the sustainability of your warehouse.

To learn more on what factors to consider when choosing a warehouse location, click here.

Summary

A sustainable warehouse brings several benefits, such as improving cost and operational efficiency. Additionally, the significant impact that it can contribute on the environment cannot be overstated. With the ever-increasing problems that industries face regarding climate change and global warming, it would be beneficial to attain sustainability not only for the environment, but also for the future of your warehouse.

Looking to reduce technology costs while achieving a sustainable warehouse? Click on the banner below to reduce it by up to 36%!

If you want to learn about warehouse technology and optimizing warehouse processes, you can follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook. If you have other inquiries or suggestions, don’t hesitate to contact us here. We’ll be happy to hear from you.

Source: https://articles.cyzerg.com/sustainable-warehouse-how-to-achieve