With the economy being what it is (bad) (not very good), businesses are cutting costs wherever they can, and they are doing that in a number of ways: fitting devices to fleet vehicles to monitor fuel use, downgrading or moving out of their commercial property into more affordable, manageable premises, and even restructuring their staff.

One major business expense has always been energy. Whether you're keeping banks of computers running in an office all day or heating a large warehouse throughout winter, energy costs - as in, gas, water and electricity - are a significant price to pay for maintaining commercial business premises.

So saving on those costs is important for businesses. However, as a recent survey by E.ON found, the majority of staff 'pass the buck' when it comes to energy savings, and are costing their businesses money - British businesses spend an estimated £7.7 billion each year on energy waste.

According to the research, which polled 2,000 small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) staff members in the UK, just one in ten staff members assume responsibility for their businesses cutting down on energy use. It doesn't have to be much - flicking switches and sockets off at the end of the day, or shutting down computers entirely rather than leaving them on standby - but 11 per cent of those polled took no measures at all.

And the problem could be starting at the top - more than half of those at board member level (51 per cent) said they had 'never discussed' energy saving measures with their staff.

"I was quite surprised that the overall number of people taking personal responsibility for saving energy, and for passing on help to colleagues, is still relatively low," said E.ON's Iain Walker.

"I think responsibility for reducing waste should start at the top, with bosses and senior managers passing the message to all employees."

As well as educating employees, it helps to have energy-saving technologies installed in the first place. Just as you choose fleet vehicles with the best MPG return, LED lighting offers the best illumination for the lowest energy spend, and is perfectly adaptable for commercial installations.