| |
|
Energy Efficiency and Your Company's Bottom Line
Most commercial facilities require a high volume of electrical power to run their operation. Whether you pay the monthly bill on an office complex or a small office, a shopping mall or a mom-and-pop shop, you can effectively save money using energy more efficiently. Like your home, think twice about how you use your heating and cooling system, lights, and other electrical elements required for your business. Though the needs of each business – large or small – are different, there are basic things all businesses can do to use energy efficiency to improve their bottom line.
- Replace filters in heating and cooling systems on a regular basis – every 3 months is recommended unless your business uses aerosols heavily (such as a beauty salon or restaurant).
- Use programmable thermostats or a digital energy management system to regulate temperatures and system use in specific spaces and lower energy costs.
- Raise the indoor thermostat temperature setting of your building through proper humidity control (primarily large facilities). Operation at 78°F and 30% relative humidity (RH) has shown to provide the same level of occupant comfort as a system operating at 74°F and 70% RH.
- Create and follow a regular maintenance and inspection schedule for furnaces, rooftop units, boilers, heat pumps and any other part of your heating and cooling system.
- Determine your building's heating load and make sure your system is the proper size for your facility (hire an engineer for this purpose). Consider replacing your system with a high-efficiency unit. Check out our rebates for energy-efficient HVAC equipment.
- Maintain your building envelope including doors, windows, wall, roof, and insulation. The condition of these items can impact the efficiency of your HVAC system, occupant comfort and overall building performance. Replace worn or cracked caulking and weather stripping around doors and windows.
- Consider window replacements, window coverings and window films to lower solar heat gain. Check out our rebates for energy-efficient roof and window coatings.
- Make sure all ducts within your facility are properly sealed.
- Upgrade ceiling and wall insulation levels if necessary.
- Install aerated faucets and low-flow showerheads to reduce the amount of hot water used for washing hands, cleaning instruments, or for employee or guest showers.
- Consider shutting off or turn down hot water heaters at night, on weekends, or over periods of non-use (Be cautious, Legionella bacteria may grow in temperatures less than 160 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Replace old water heaters with high-efficiency models
- For restaurants and facility cafeterias, run the dishwasher with the proper cycle option and only when it is fully-loaded. Also use microwaves, cold water or refrigerators to defrost food when appropriate and safe.
- Turn off lights when they are not in use. To aid in this task, employ timers, occupancy sensors, and dual-level switches to manage lights in rooms that may be frequently be unoccupied such as break rooms and stock rooms.
- Replace inefficient incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).
- Replace existing T12 fluorescent lamps with T8 fluorescent lamps. The T8 lamps are more efficient and produce the same amount of lumens as T12 lamps, but use less power to do so. Replace old magnetic ballasts with electronic ballasts. Check out our rebates for high-efficiency lighting equipment.
- Use windows to provide natural light. A combination of natural sunlight and dimmed fluorescent lighting can produce a cost-effective and comfortable working environment.
- Conduct an audit to determine if any areas of your office are over-lit and energy is being wasted. Pay special attention to copy rooms, break rooms, individual offices and hallways.
- When replacing exit signs, use light emitting diodes (LED). LEDs are quickly becoming the standard in exit sign lighting due to their high efficiency and long life.
- Determine if any areas of your parking lot are over-lit. Replace low-pressure sodium parking lot lights with low wattage induction lamps using fixtures that direct light down. These brighter lights reduce the number of lamps necessary even when using low wattage lamps.
- Turn off screen savers. While they help with burn damage to monitors, they actually waste power keeping your computer active.
- While your computers may be equipped with a low-power sleep mode, more energy can be saved by manually shutting them off completely at night and on weekends. A typical desktop PC may save up to $100 annually if shut down at night and on weekends.
- Consider upgrades -- Newer computers, including laptops, are more energy efficient.
- Networked systems that allow several nearby users to share a single printer generally save time, cost, and energy compared with each computer having a dedicated printer.
- Do photocopying in batches and with the duplex setting when possible to allow your copier to spend less time in the active mode.
- Use Energy Star appliances and review savings for electric and gas steam cookers, electric and gas fryers, hot food holding cabinets, and solid door refrigerators.
- Integrate controls that turn down the heat input with sensors that determine when food is not present. A large percentage of food equipment continues to run (idle) at high heat input rates even when food is not present.
- For those facilities that have electric ovens and cooking surfaces, flat ribbon, low watt-density heating elements consume less energy and have longer life than traditional round calrod heating elements.
- Be sure that refrigerant is properly charged. Undercharged and overcharged systems experience excessive compressor and fan motor cycling with little impact on ambient temperature.
- Upgrade refrigerator appliances -- Newer refrigerators are equipped with better insulation, improved heat transfer surfaces, more efficient compressors, and more precise temperature and defrost mechanisms. These modifications reduce compressor run time, which eliminates excess heat caused by running the compressor.
- Maintain the refrigeration system per manufacturer recommendations. At a minimum, keep the fan vent, coils and any filters clean and clear of dust.
Energy Management: Install a computer-based energy management system to control lighting, temperature and other conditions within your place of business. The average price of PC-based energy management programs has dropped dramatically over the past decade. These systems are smarter and more cost-effective than ever before. Let us help you track and manage your energy demand. Enroll in CPS Energy’s LoadTracker to identify demand peaks and implement better energy management practices. Also check out our rebates for custom equipment and innovative technologies.
Motors: Since most miscellaneous electrical loads involve motors, select the most efficient motor possible within your price range. An energy-efficient motor that costs up to 20% more than a standard model is typically cost effective if used more than 1,000 hours annually. Check out our rebates for premium efficiency motors.
Warehouses: Loading dock doors that are open when not in use may result in considerable energy loss in conditioned warehouses.
Solar: Consider the installation of a solar photovoltaic system on the roof of your building to supplement your energy needs. Check out our rebates for solar photovoltaic systems.
|
|
