Commercial Energy Saving Tips

There are many ways to reduce energy consumption and therefore your energy bill in your business.  Here are some suggestions:

Lighting

• Where practical, replace incandescent lamps with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).  Ensure you install compatible dimming technology if CFLs are used along with a dimming system.  These use only 20% of the energy for the same light output, and last eight to ten times longer.
• Install motion sensors on outside security lighting, no need for all lights to be on all night.
• Turn off lights when not needed.  For example, turning off fluorescent lights saves energy, extends overall lamp life and reduces replacement costs.  It is a myth that turning lights off and on uses more electricity than leaving the lights on.
• Reduce or replace inefficient, outdated or excessive lighting within your building.
• When replacing old lighting equipment, evaluate new technologies that may need fewer fixtures and/or fewer lamps within existing fixtures.
• Ensure that light levels will remain at adequate levels before changing out technologies and/or reducing number of lamps.
• Replace all old T-12 fluorescent tubes (38mm tubes) with T-8 (25mm tubes) and consider changing from magnetic ballasts to electronic ballasts.
• Replace incandescent "EXIT" signs with LED signs.  LEDs use about one-tenth the wattage and last 50 times longer than incandescent-lamp signs.
• Install lighting occupancy sensors that automatically turn lights on or off, depending on occupancy.  These sensors work well in areas such as conference rooms, break rooms, toilets or individual offices that are not occupied continuously.
• Take advantage of natural daylight: turn off or dim lighting when adequate daylight is available to illuminate interior space.
• Ensure outdoor lighting is off during daytime.

Compressed Air

• Fix compressed air leaks.  Compressed air is a very expensive utility and any air leaks waste energy and money.
• Compressor running costs can be very high, especially when running many hours per day.  Choose an energy efficient motor; the extra cost of the motor is likely to be repaid in energy savings within a year.
• Have your air compressors maintained regularly by qualified personnel.
• When buying a new compressor, ensure it is a variable speed type; it will ramp up and down to compressed air demand.
• Consider heat recovery from the compressor.  Hot water can be preheated by hot exhaust air.
• Ensure hot exhaust air is ducted to outside so as not to heat the intake air for the compressor.

A Compressed Air Calculator is available by clinking here: www.energysmart.com.au/wes/displaypage.asp?flash=-1&t=20067130&PageID=53
This calculator provides an indication of the savings that can be made by fixing air leaks, reducing compressed air pressure and lowering inlet temperatures.

Air Conditioning

• Close the doors and windows of the air conditioned space.  With doors and windows open, the air conditioning system is trying to condition the outside air as well resulting in poor performance and higher energy bills.
• Have a regular maintenance programme to clean air filters and check the air conditioning systems.  Clean filters and a well maintained plant reduce energy costs.
• Use the thermostat wisely.  An air conditioner with the thermostat set to 16°C will not cool the room down any quicker then when it is set to 20°C, and may be forgotten to turn up again.  Leave the thermostat alone and let the air conditioner do its job.
• Reducing fan speed saves energy by the “cube law factor”; a 25% reduction in speed produces an energy reduction of 58% (75% of full speed uses 42% of full speed energy).
• Reduce fan speed instead of using a damper for control.  A damper acts like a brake to moving air.  Reducing the speed means less “braking” requirement.  Fan speed can be reduced with variable speed control devices or changing the pulley sizes.
• Ensure the optimiser is working properly if fitted to an Air Conditioner Unit.  This will ensure that the right mix of fresh air and return air is used for air quality and energy efficiency optimisation.
• Moving air feels cooler than still air.  Instead of using the air conditioner, use a fan to blow the air around.
• During summer months, adjusting your thermostat setting up one degree typically can save 2-3% on cooling costs.  A set point of 22°C or 23°C will still be comfortable.
• In winter the set point can be lowered to 20°C and save heating energy.
• Consider installing locking devices on thermostats to maintain desired temperature settings.
• Install programmable thermostats that automatically adjust temperature settings based on the time of day and day of the week.  If you have multiple HVAC units, set thermostats to return to the occupied temperature a half an hour apart.
• In larger facilities with Building or Energy Management Systems (BMS or EMS), verify that temperature set points and operating schedules are correct for the controlled equipment.  Have the systems checked annually.
• Establish a preventative maintenance program for your heating, venting and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment and systems.  Ensure that you regularly:
o Change or clean all air filters, preferably every month.
o Clean all heat exchanger surfaces, water and refrigerant coils, condensers and evaporators.
o Repair leaks in piping, air ducts, coils, fittings and at the unit(s).
o Replace defective equipment insulation, ducting and piping.

Vehicles

• Drive sensibly.  Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes fuel.
• Consider buying a fuel-efficient vehicle.  A fuel-efficient vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, or an alternative fuel vehicle could save you a lot at the fuel pump and help the environment.
• Combine errands into one trip.  Several short trips, each one taken from a cold start, can use twice as much fuel as one trip covering the same distance when the engine is warm.
• Get regular engine tune-ups and car maintenance checks to avoid fuel economy problems due to worn spark plugs, dirty filters, dragging brakes, low transmission fluid, or transmission problems.
• Keep tyres properly inflated and aligned to improve your fuel consumption by around 3.3%.
• Use the grade of motor oil recommended by your car's manufacturer.  Using different motor oil can increase fuel consumption by 1%-2%.
• Check into carpooling and public transit to cut fuel and car maintenance costs.
• Reduce drag by placing items inside the car or trunk rather than on roof racks.  A roof rack or carrier provides additional cargo space and may allow you to buy a smaller car.  However, a loaded roof rack can decrease your fuel economy by 5%.
• Clear out your car; the extra weight of unnecessary items lower fuel economy.
• Use air conditioning only when necessary.
• Using cruise control on the highway helps you maintain a constant speed and, in most cases, will save fuel.
• When you use overdrive gearing, your car's engine speed goes down. This saves fuel and reduces wear.
• Avoid high speeds.  Above 100km/hr, fuel economy drops rapidly.
• The best way to warm up a vehicle is to drive it.  No more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days is needed.  Anything more simply wastes fuel and increases emissions.

Heating and cooling

• Verify control for effective operation so that there is no simultaneous heating and cooling.
• Install variable speed drives (VSDs) on large motor loads, where appropriate, to further reduce energy usage.
• Use outside air economizers (if installed) for "free cooling" when outside air temperatures and conditions permit – especially during the spring and autumn.
• In facilities with older chillers requiring lots of maintenance, consider replacing them with new, energy-efficient units.
• Perform regular maintenance on boilers, chillers, fans and filters by qualified personnel.
• Have a combustion analysis performed on boilers at least annually.

Office equipment

• To conserve energy and reduce internal heat gain, turn off computers, monitors, printers and copiers during non-business hours or while these are not being used or extensive periods of time.
• To save energy during periods of inactivity, ensure that the built-in power management system for your office equipment is active.
• Ensure your screen saver is compatible with the computer's power management features, and that the setup allows the system to go into power saver mode.
• According to E-Source, using a laptop computer instead of a desk-top system can save 80-90% in electrical cost.
• When purchasing new equipment select the most energy efficient option.

Employee involvement

• Educate and encourage employees to be energy-conscious and to offer ideas about how energy can be saved. Employee buy-in and involvement can make or break your company's efforts to conserve energy.
• Designate a "responsible party" to be responsible for and to promote good energy practices for the organization and/or facility. This individual should work with management to facilitate energy savings ideas and strategies - optimizing energy use and costs minimizes overhead and operation costs.
• Switch Off campaign and other ideas are available on the EECA website: www.eecabusiness.govt.nz/emprove/