Municipalities

Provide all air handling units with an economizer with enthalpy control. Applications include all areas and buildings that can use outside air for "free cooling" during a significant portion of the year. This reduces the energy required to operate a chilled water plant.

Incorporating low-E glazing on glass windows will improve the energy efficiency of your facility year-round. During the cooling season, long-wave infrared radiation from outside the facility is blocked before it can pass through the glass, thus reducing the cooling load.

Insulate exposed hot-water, steam and chilled-water distribution piping and valves where feasible.

Pump and fan capacities can be reduced and energy saved by using variable speed drives to control their speed. These are low-cost alternatives to expensive electric drive modifications. Reductions in both peak and off-peak energy costs can be obtained by using variable speed drives on pumps, fans and compressors that operate at varying loads.

Increasing the amount of natural light used in your facilities dramatically lowers your utility bills. The more artificial lighting used, the greater the heat load imposed on the air-conditioning system. This is a critical point because artificial lighting and air conditioning consume the largest amount of electrical energy in a typical commercial building.

The costs of properly maintaining boilers are fully recovered in fuel savings. To ensure peak efficiency, remove scale, replace leaky tubes and flanges, remove damaged insulation and control linkages, and recalibrate controls.

To reduce costs, investigate using the economizer cycle to cool a building at night.

Encourage employees to turn off computers, monitors, printers and copiers when they are not being used. Consider equipping computers with devices that turn them off automatically after a set period of inactivity.

The goals statement for a comprehensive lighting energy conservation program should read: turn it off when it isn't needed; use the most efficient, suitable equipment; and provide light only where it is needed.

Maintaining cleaner heating and cooling coils by using and regularly changing filters can lead to greater efficiencies. Effective filter replacement schedules will reflect changes of use in the building.

Seventy-five percent of a building's total air loss is from small leaks. Seal electrical outlets and gaps between moldings, as well as plumbing and wiring penetrations. Attic checkpoints include hatches, plumbing vents, chimneys and other roof or wall penetrations. Many areas can be sealed with a caulk gun and tubes of silicone or urethane caulking.

To conserve energy, make inexpensive repairs and improvements to the HVAC mechanical system as required. For heating efficiency, repair or replace burners and add radiator reflectors. Install flue dampers or balance the ventilation system to reduce the exhaust rate. Relocate thermostats, install fans to keep hot air off the ceiling, and install thermostats in hot water tanks.

Fixtures that have state-of-the-art lamps or ballasts (T8 lamps, electronic ballasts, etc.) may save plenty of energy but may also require a higher premium at relamping or reballasting time. Much of this cost is offset because of the longer life. This longer life not only cuts down on replacement component costs but also reduces the associated labor expense to replace them.

Perform regular energy audits to establish the basic costs and uses of energy forms including electricity, gas and steam, and to identify waste or inefficiency. By identifying on-peak and off-peak periods, you can take advantage of a utility's rate structure.

Incorporate motion detectors to reduce lighting usage and save energy.

Consider installing instruments to monitor real-time, cooling plant efficiency in kw/ton. The saying goes, what gets measured, gets done. If efficiency is your goal, then you need an indicator of how well you are doing.

Select replacement windows with a 0.46 U-value or better with optical properties that are appropriate for building use. (U-0.46 is a low-E window in a thermally improved metal frame.)

When retrofitting an existing lighting system, high overall light levels can be reduced when good task lighting is installed. A combination of good, sensible lighting design with the use of the latest technology can result in substantial energy savings and an overall improvement in lighting quality.

In many cases, high overall light levels can be reduced when good task lighting is installed. A combination of good, sensible lighting design with the use of the latest technology lighting systems can result in substantial energy savings and an overall improvement in lighting quality.

Dehumidification equipment helps prevent illnesses and lost productivity.

Light energy can be controlled using overhangs to shade windows, shading glass surfaces, and using glazing material for exposed window surfaces. Other methods for controlling heat flow include selecting the correct materials for the walls and roof and using natural ventilation and landscaping. Our experts can help you select strategies, which provide enough savings to justify their expense.

Internal walls influence window design and placement. Highly reflective, but not glossy, light-colored walls will spread daylight back from sidewalls. Jewel-toned walls will absorb more light and may require more supplemental lighting sources.

Many lighting control projects have payback periods of less than one year. Daylighting control systems examine the total amount of light available in a given space and switch off one or more banks of lights whenever enough sunlight is available. Daylighting control systems are particularly well suited for use in facilities with large areas of exterior glass.

LEDs get progressively dimmer over time, which is helpful in critical lighting areas.

In addition to their aesthetic values, interior window treatments can reduce energy consumption. Insulating vertical or horizontal blinds and/or draperies can reduce heat loss and solar gain through window openings.

At present, many air conditioning systems are being replaced due to the phaseout of ozone-depleting refrigerants. This is an excellent opportunity to incorporate design features that reduce the cooling load on the system. Updating the system results in lower equipment and energy costs.

The initial cost of a state-of-the-art system may even be lower than the overall cost of a less expensive and less efficient system if you use fewer fixtures to achieve the same or better light levels, and if you can tap into utility rebates and other incentives.

Think system efficiency when making decisions about conservation strategies. For instance, you may have the most efficient chiller available, but if parasitic loads from chilled water and cooling tower pumps are high, then the system efficiencies could be quite low.

The right system can be retrofitted to greatly reduce energy costs.

Window films not only reduce air conditioning loads but also help reduce heating energy use. In optimum situations, energy savings frequently pay back the cost of film installation in a year or less. In a surprisingly large number of cases, building owners have been able to pay back the cost of window film installation directly from energy savings.

96% of electric infrared heat generated goes to the person or object.

LED lighting uses 2-3 times less energy than most CFLs.

Get rid of mercury lamps inside and outside a building. Their light output reduces over time, and a dim mercury lamp uses as much energy as a brand new one. Replace them with high-pressure sodium or metal halide lamps.

Heat recovery systems can reduce ventilation costs by 50% or more.

EVs have lower life-cycle costs, saving up to $6K annually per vehicle.

Gas water heaters lose 3.5% stored heat per hour. Electric units lose 1%.

Savings from gas cooking are lost to increased costs of air conditioning.