Conserving energy requires some effort!

What?  You mean there's no easy fix like with the (joke) economy?

It will take a little effort, but many energy remedies can be accomplished by our talented in house employees. Get back in the loop by getting everybody on board.  Talk to your people.  They see things you may not.  (They definitely know more about what is up at your place of business than I do.) Tape up signs in the employee restrooms/break rooms reminding everyone to go green by turning off the light and fan when not in use.  Add on extra lines (it will only cost you a little extra ink) to do things such as...well maybe you had better read and judge for yourself what will work best in your situation.

Back To Basics 

We all grew up learning to conserve energy. 

"Shut the door! You're letting the heat out!"

"Use the bathroom before we leave because once we're on the road, we're not stopping."

"Turn the lights off when you leave a room."

"Stand up straight!"...no, wait, I was caught up... Nevertheless, when we were very young, the value of energy had to be taught to us. We took it for granted until we had to pay our own electric bills in our own place.  Then we would do things to conserve energy that would make our parents blush.  As we get older, and manage our money a little better, we tend to be a bit lax in our energy conservation efforts at home and in the workplace.  We have to admit, when we need to achieve a deadline, or satisfy a customer's needs, the thought of energy conservation goes to the back burner.

On the other hand, I am sure we are all tired of the generic rip-off article that tells us to reset our thermostat setting, where a sweater inside if we are cold, and think of what we want to get out of the fridge before we stand there with the door open. We need advice that is effective on the next level.  To be effective, we need to have practices in place that become part of our routine of providing top-notch customer service safely, while also trimming our energy appetite.  That way as we rush to our customer's side, as we juggle many tasks, these ideas will automatically be set and may actually come to our rescue.  I know there are many ideas out there, but will only share those I can recommend from actual experience.

Peak Hour Usage

What if gas stations charged you a dollar more a gallon just because you bought their gasoline between 9-5?  Would you buy gas at lunchtime, or wait until that evening or even the next morning?

Well, the utility companies do indeed charge you more per kilowatt-hour for the electricity you use during normal business hours.  All the businesses that operate during the Mon-Fri 9-5 workweek place such a demand on the supply of electricity that it costs more during those peak times.  Higher demand=higher prices (think of it as paying overtime rates).  Many utility companies will gladly offer you a schedule of their peak times to avoid.  The price difference can be astonishing.

In the shop, defer specific drain items such as charging batteries for equipment, from golf cart batteries to batteries for cordless drills this way:  a simple plug in timer plugged into an outlet can be tapped into with a multi outlet clip strip.  The cordless drill battery chargers w/drained batteries can be plugged into the strip, and the timer can be set to come on for an hour and a half (most chargers of this type are 1 hr.) during off peak hours. In the morning, the crew will have fresh charged batteries to start the day with. Nearly all cordless tool manufacturers advise that keeping a battery on an active charger after it has fully charged does not keep it 100% charged.  Once fully charged, the battery will then actually start to lose its charge plugged into a live charger, which is a double waste of energy since the charger uses electricity while on.

Don't Just Turn It Off, Unplug It

All electrical items use electricity when they are plugged in, even if they are not turned on. It requires electricity just to energize the internal components prior to start up.  Infrared views show the wasted energy is transformed into unwanted heat.  In the summertime, this is extra heat for the coolers to deal with, and in the winter, they are very, very pricey mini heaters. 

Timers can help. Clip strips also.  They have the ability to interrupt the electrical flow to the device, so it doesn't use electricity standing by.  Even if this practice is adopted only at night, that is 12 hrs each day, 365 days a year that this device, (and that device, and the other device) is not draining your energy dollars away.  So turn it off and unplug it.

In offices, simply click the clip strip on/off button on your computer at the end of each business day.  It costs electricity to keep the computer, keyboard, monitor and printer energized even while they are turned off.  Plus, screen savers are not energy savers.  Close your programs and shut your computer off, using the clip strip on/off switch to 'unplug' them.  If you have to rush, use the stand-by or hibernate option to save all the settings on your system vs. letting the screen saver take over.

More than likely you have a hot water heater (or two or three or four) that provides hot water for employee break room, customer bathroom, and maintenance needs.  If electric, these 220v appetites can be diminished during peak hours by the use of a water heater timer. 

The timer is set so the water tank turns on early before peak hours begin.  After an hour or so, the water is as hot as your thermostat settings will allow, and the timer 'unplugs' the hot water heater, stopping your energy dollars from going in this direction.  The hot water will be available, but as it is used up, no new hot water is made until the next programmed cycle (non-peak hours). 

Water heaters are quite cleverly made.  As the new cold water enters, it is piped to the bottom of the heater.  This pushes the warmer water to the top of the tank, where the outlet pipe takes it away.  This process ensures the warmest water is always delivered to the hot spigot.  Wrapping the heating unit with an insulation jacket will keep the heated water inside toasty warm even longer the same way a thermos keeps coffee hot.  This would be a good time to check the two thermostat settings on the hot water heaters.  Most plumbing fixtures should only allow 110F temperatures or less to avoid the responsibility of a scald.  Any heater temperature setting above this area is an outright waste of energy dollars. Again, since we are cutting peak hour usage, the savings are compounded.

Programmable thermostats can warm or cool automatically before business day, before peak hours and shut itself off at night when not in use. 

Property checks

Check or re-check your attic access panels, located inside the building. Often there is no insulation on the backside of the panel.  Energy dollars are escaping here.  Take a peek in the attic.  Is there a need for more insulation?  How about in spots?  Often as maintenance is done in the attic, insulation is pushed aside to accommodate the work.  Every where there is a weak spot there are energy dollars escaping around the clock, 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year.

Re check your weather-stripping at door/window locations.  A light talc-like dust at threshold/track bottom is often evidence of air migration past the seals.  Stand back, latch the door and check the door reveals.  If you see any light, that is where your energy dollars are escaping. The dollar bill test is quick and effective.  Take a dollar bill (if someone actually has that much cash on them anymore) and close the door on it. If the dollar bill is pinched tight, the seals are doing their job.  If the dollar bill floats loose, then some of your energy dollars are floating out also. Re adjust the weather-stripping and add dust blocks so the $ stays put.

In the office, you probably have a glass door or window area that because it gets full sun is known as a hot zone.  The next time you have to repair the screen only on that unit, try the option of going with a solar screen ($10-20 per unit depending on size).  They claim to block heat by leaps and bounds, and their claims are true.  A kit to do a large door or window or two will only cost a few dollars more than the most economical alternative, and the energy savings and personal comfort achieved will be immediate.  If you look to do several units, buying the product in a roll will cut its price per sq ft to you almost in half.  The install is very painless and new rubber gasket with a new rolling tool will cost around $10.  The easiest way to achieve near perfect results is to lay the screen flat on a tile floor using the grid as a reference for keeping the unit square, and trim the screen after you have installed it.  Try it one time on one unit and you will be sold.

In some areas, with the in and out traffic of our customers/employees, the idea of addressing these items may seem fruitless.  But each of these items mathematically saves energy dollars even with people running in and out.  And even more when they are not running in and out, and after business hours, weekends, holidays...

Roof vents

Roof vents can work both ways.  Ones that can be shut or blocked off will help conserve any residual heat in the attic in the winter when you want all the heat in the attic to stay in the attic.  Fan vents that are powered by the wind are energy savers in that they don't use a motor.  Unfortunately, in the stillness of the summer's heat with no breeze, these free spinning vents do less to help exchange the heat trapped in the attic to the outside.  That is when you need air movement the most.  . A vent with a back up motor is more effective.  It comes with an internal thermostat, which kicks the fan on and sucks the overheated air out of the attic on still days.  Once cooler air is drawn in, the thermostat shuts the fan off.

Psychrometry

We now understand that inside humidity affects an air conditioner's performance.  Water spills, leaks, migration and high humidity activities (hot showers) add humidity to the inside air.  During the summer, an air conditioner has to work harder in higher humidity as it struggles to pull the moisture out of the air.  An otherwise comfortable temperature setting may seem 'sticky' because of a few extra points of humidity, causing one to turn the thermostat down even further in an effort to find relief.  During peak hours, this problem compounds itself.

Boiling water for cooking w/out venting it outside, fish tanks, water fountains, even large plant life collections that require lots of water to sustain all can contribute to the interior humidity.  Leaking pipes under cabinet sinks, roof penetrations that 'only leak a little if it rains a lot', even exterior landscape sprinklers that defectively hit up against a building's exterior all contribute to a building's interior humidity.  Your air conditioner is now working extra hard doubling as a dehumidifier.  These repairs will eventually need to be made. The sooner they are, the sooner you will start to experience energy savings.

Fluorescent Light Bulbs vs. Dimmers 

In the last millennium, I purchased a fluorescent bulb that replaced a standard (incandescent) light bulb for my bedroom lamp.  The bulb produced the light of a 75-watt bulb for about the electricity of a 20-watt bulb.  The bulb cost about $30 at the time, but over the course of its life, it would actually save me more money than it cost because it used so little energy.  Those type bulbs now cost about a dollar apiece today, and achieve the same energy savings.  They do not produce the noisy hum we normally associate with florescent lights in office buildings (the four foot tubes), and the light is normally a very crisp white that is very comparable to a soft white bulb.

The only downside is that these bulbs do not work on a dimmer switch.

So, if you have incandescent bulbs on a dimmer you seem stuck with incandescent bulbs.  The dimmer is a great tool. Dimming the lights when not required at full strength saves energy. Dimming them very low can be a great 'night light'. Yet, if you are always turning the dimmer up full strength because the full strength light is required for the environment (busy office), you may be defeating the purpose of the dimmer.  It may be wiser to install a standard light switch in place of the dimmer and install florescent bulbs, since they can provide constant full light at a fraction of the cost.  Again, cutting costs in peak hours has a compound effect.

Housekeeping

I cannot stress enough the importance of going back to basics.  Keeping equipment in running order helps it to run more efficiently.  Air conditioners properly serviced and charged run more efficiently.  Air filters are important to keep clean also, not only on A/C's, but also on vacuums and shop-vacs.  When these filters are clogged, they strain and fail to perform at peak.  Therefore, you are running the equipment longer than usual to achieve the same or sometimes inferior results.

We may also have cordless tools that simply don't work.  Maybe they did once, or maybe they never did.  Flashlights that barely glow orange, vacuums with so little suction that the debris falls back out, and the old jumbo cordless screwdriver, which spins slower than time itself. Occasionally we take them off their charging cradle and attempt to use them. Then, we are reminded of their pathetic efforts. But, out of routine, we go and put them back on the charger where they suck our energy dollars into another dimension.  Evaluate and discard any useless power drains.  Better yet, let a Goodwill type association have them. They will try to fix them and may offer a tax deduction.

Looking around many maintenance and storage rooms, you will find bulbs that flitter dimly that need replacing in lights, stereo's that 24/7 mutter static softly that nobody listens to, or air compressors plugged in that kick on suddenly around the clock although they are not being used because of a very slow leak in a hose or a connection.  Taking care of these items not only extends the service life of the equipment, but again energy savings that occur during peak hours have a compound benefit.

Preventative purchases

There are many more energy saving practices out there.  They often require the up-front investment of a product that pays for itself by reducing energy needs over the course of time.  While your budget may have limits, researching the energy needs of an electrical device when you have the opportunity to make purchases can help you buy something that will cost less in the long run.  Often energy efficient models (because they start saving you money from day one), will pay for the difference in their price in the first year or two, and after that, it's money back in your pocket.

Equipment with automatic shut-off, timers for delayed start/operation (again, avoiding peak hours), and new low drain technology are good examples, but even opportunities such as choosing exterior paint color schemes can have dramatic effects.  The darker the exterior paint color, whether the body or trim, the more solar radiation whatever is painted will absorb.  Going even a few shades lighter can decrease the external temperature of the shell of the building a few degrees.  A portion of this heat is absorbed into the wall cavities and a portion of that is absorbed into the buildings interior as well.  This in turn is extra work for the cooling unit(s), and in peak hours, the issue is compounded.  Many paint suppliers will also inform you that an exterior paint mixed to a dark color will deteriorate years before that same paint mixed to a light color.  This is because of the abuse the actual paint film must endure because of the extra solar radiation it absorbs.  If you don't believe me, wear a dark black t-shirt the next time you are working in the sun, and see how long you can take it.  Then change to a white t-shirt and see the difference that occurs.

If you need a dark color to match a color scheme on the exterior that gets full sun and find the interior portion of the building in that area gets extremely warm in the summer, you may want to investigate in low-e paints.  Using a technology similar to the coatings on radar evading aircraft, the paint reflects the solar radiation as if it were white paint, even though tinted extremely dark.  But that is one product that definitely requires an up-front investment, as these types of paints cost several times more than conventional paints.

Stick with it

Just like a diet or exercise regimen, stick to your energy conserving goals for optimum results.  Many of the ideas are easy to incorporate and absorb into everyday routine.  You may even forget you are doing some of them, but they will continue to save you energy day after day for years to come.

Review this article often, to make sure you are keeping up with everything else. 

Start implementing these ideas today and your savings will start today.  Put it off and you put off your savings.  I will close with a brief story that goes something like this:

A gentleman with many responsibilities was watching a group of landscapers as they were planting something.  They seemed to be taking a very long time to do it, and finally he had to say something to them about it taking so long.

"Why sir," one of them informed him.  "This tree will have to grow for 100 years before it will ever even get its first bloom."

"In that case," the gentleman informed them. "Plant it RIGHT NOW!"