Different Buildings Have Different Energy Needs
The type of work a business does determines the type of building(s) it needs. In the commercial sector, there is a wide variety of building types, including schools, retail shops, office buildings, religious institutions, grocery stores, health care facilities, warehouses and restaurants.
Different commercial activities have unique energy needs but, as a whole, more than half of the energy used in commercial buildings is used by the lighting and HVAC systems. Commercial business owners can use today’s technologies and best management practices to reduce energy use in these and other systems without sacrificing comfort or performance.
Some Energy Saving Tips for your Commercial Business Include:
- Retrofit older 1½" diameter T12 fluorescent fixtures with energy-efficient T8 fixtures and install electronic ballasts. T8s are high-efficiency lamps that are thinner in diameter, have a higher efficacy (lumens per watt) rating and better color rendering than T12 lamps. Depending on the ballast used, the T8 lamp often delivers the same lumen output while consuming 20 to 40 percent fewer watts. T8s last longer and require less maintenance over the useful life of the lamp. Because light quality is also better, fewer fixtures per square foot are needed, making delamping possible. (Delamping involves removing one or more fluorescent tubes from your existing fluorescent fittings where lighting levels are too high, reducing the total wattage further.) Reduced wattage results in lower cooling loads, which means that related cooling costs are also decreased. Ballast replacement should also be considered as part of any lighting retrofit. Replacing magnetic ballasts with basic electronic ballasts can save an additional 10 percent of energy consumption--even more if premium electronic ballasts are used.
- Replace interior incandescent lamps with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and exterior incandescent or mercury vapor lamps with metal halide or high-pressure sodium. CFLs are much more energy efficient than incandescent lamps, typically using 75 percent less energy, generating less heat into the surrounding space. They can last ten times as long. Exchanging incandescent lights for CFLs is a good energy-saving strategy. If your business requires the use of refrigeration equipment, CFLs are also available for refrigerators and freezers. Exchanging incandescent lights for CFLs in walk-in refrigerators is a good energy-saving strategy because the CFLs give off less heat than incandescent lights, so the refrigerator does not have to work as hard. Replacing exterior incandescent or mercury vapor lighting with metal halide or high-pressure sodium lighting can save you up to $40 per year in energy costs for each lamp replaced.
- Install ENERGY STAR®-qualified exit signs to replace signs with incandescent or fluorescent lamps. Exit signs that have earned the ENERGY STAR® rating operate on five watts or less per sign compared to standard signs, which can use as much as 40 watts per sign. One ENERGY STAR®-qualified exit sign alone can save about $10 annually on electricity costs and can last up to ten years without a lamp replacement, compared to less than one year for an incandescent.
- Effectively operate and maintain lighting systems. The light output from fluorescent lights will decrease in brightness and whiteness over time, prior to the lamp burning out. Clean lighting fixtures and reflectors to remove built-up dust or debris that can absorb light and heat. Clean fixtures will run cooler, last longer and provide better lighting levels. Consider group relamping (replacing lamps in batches rather than intermittently as they fail). Scheduling the replacement of lamps saves maintenance time. Determine the useful life and recommended group relamping schedule of your bulbs with your lighting supplier and replace bulbs prior to significant burn-out.
- Use high-efficiency HVAC units and consider desiccant dehumidification. Select cooling equipment that has multiple levels of capacity (compressor stages) with good part-load efficiency, because equipment often runs at less than maximum load. A highly efficient, packaged air-conditioning unit can reduce cooling needs by ten percent or more over a standard-efficiency, commercial packaged unit. Where appropriate, install variable-speed drives to control fans and pumps. Humidity levels can be of particular concern to businesses with high refrigeration and freezer costs. It is more efficient to control humidity levels with a dedicated desiccant dehumidifier than to have your refrigerators or air conditioning equipment battle humidity levels.
- Effectively operate and maintain existing HVAC systems. This is a quick way to save energy at little or no cost. Implement a preventative maintenance program and/or service contract to keep cooling equipment running efficiently. Good practices include changing filters monthly or more frequently, if recommended by the equipment manual or service contractor. The refrigerant condition and charge levels of the cooling equipment should be checked and serviced regularly by a properly trained technician. Both insufficient and excess refrigerant create poor performance.
- Install ceiling fans. Ceiling fans can improve circulation, help introduce fresh air and make your space feel cooler. Reverse the fans in winter to bring heat down from ceilings, making employees and customers more comfortable (at a fraction of the cost of running your heating or cooling systems).
- “Cool” your roof. If your roof needs recoating or repairs, lighter or reflective coatings can make your roof “cooler” and reduce the cooling load on your interior air conditioning equipment.
- Automate exterior lighting. Put your exterior lighting system on a clock-based or photosensor-based controller to make sure that it is not left on unnecessarily.