You’ve done the “low-hanging fruit” energy saving items for your building, but want to do more. What comes next? See below for some more ideas on how to save on your energy bills.
Interior Lighting:
- Install daylight sensors in rooms that have a lot of windows and program lights to dim when daylight will suffice.
- Investigate redesigning your ceiling layouts to take advantage of new lighting technologies. Optimize new fixture layout for actual lighting needs on work surfaces.
- Replace high-pressure sodium lights to metal halide, or better yet, LED fixtures.
HVAC & Temperature Controls:
- Replace HVAC equipment with new, energy efficient equipment. Take a look at actual heating loads for the building’s operation and investigate if a reduction in size of units is justified for further savings.
- Invent in VRF equipment, where each zone has its own thermostat for individual control and thermal comfort.
Water Saving (hot water = energy costs):
- Consider switching to tank-less water heaters, or switch to a more energy efficient water heater.
Miscellaneous Energy Savers:
- Install spray foam insulation in your attic. This can act as a better barrier than regular batt insulation because it expands to fill in gaps in construction and has no joints.
- Replace glazing in windows with Low-E, insulated glass. Get argon gas filled glazing for best results.
- Shade your windows from the outside. Consider things such as shade trees to shade your building or canopies and awnings to shade your windows from the outside – before the heat can infiltrate your building.
- Invest in a “cool roof”.
- Develop an Operations and Maintenance Plan to get the most use out of any energy saving items you’ve completed and continue on with better operations practices. Otherwise those initial savings can slowly creep back on you.
If you would like an individualized plan for more in-depth energy saving techniques for you building, including an “energy audit” or “cost/benefit analysis,” contact Labarre Associates for more information about what services we offer.
For Part 1 of the Energy Savings Techniques series, “Low-hanging Fruit”, click here..