Energy Saving Tips for Professional Services

Energy Savings Tips – Professional Services

Commercial energy customers have needs that are unique and vary widely depending on the industry or business. Finding ways to save energy can mean big operational energy savings, a smaller carbon footprint and improved profitability. Businesses can qualify for efficiency programs and earn rebates for energy-saving purchases when they consider new machinery or appliances to improve operations and conserve energy.

Pioneer is committed to being your community-owned resource and to helping our commercial customers research and implement options to save money on their energy bills. We’ve curated information from specific industries and provided energy-saving tips and tricks which reduce consumption and ultimately improve your bottom line. The government-backed ENERGY STAR program provided many of the cost and energy-saving recommendations found here.

General Energy Saving Tips

Buy energy-efficient office equipment (ENERGY STAR)
Carry out regular maintenance on office equipment for optimal energy efficiency performance.
When leaving the office, arrange for the last person out to check and switch off the power source to all lighting and office equipment.
Place signs around the office encouraging conservation.

Heating and Air Conditioning

Set thermostats at 68 degrees (F) in the winter and 76 degrees (F) in the summer.
Install occupancy/motion sensors to adjust temperature settings of the air-conditioning in infrequently used areas such as conference and storage rooms.
Keep the windows and doors closed when the AC is turned on and use curtains or blinds to shade against sunlight.
Switch off lighting and heat-producing appliances when not in use to reduce air-conditioning load
Install thermometers to monitor the room temperature to avoid excessive cooling or heating.
Set the fan coil to “low” fan speed as the normal setting.
Using a ceiling fan or a floor fan can achieve two objectives. First, the cool air can lower a person’s body temperature. Second, the fan can evenly distribute the cool air around the room. These benefits allow the thermostat to be set a couple of degrees higher or lower which results in further energy savings.
Clean dust filters and fan coil units regularly.
Remove obstructions at air inlets and outlets of the AC and ventilation.

Lighting Tips

Switch off lights that are not in use.
Affix “Save Energy” stickers near the switches as a reminder.
Remove excess lighting in areas that are too bright.
Maintain only those lighting which are essentially needed for safety, security or other specific purposes in areas that are infrequently occupied.
Maximize daylight usage. Use task light to minimize general overhead lighting.
With few people working in the office, switch off the non-essential lighting and use task lighting to directly illuminate work areas.
Install occupancy/motion sensors to automatically control the on/off of lighting in public areas such as corridors and bathrooms.
Install lighting zone control wherever possible to switch lighting off in unoccupied areas.
Keep all windows, light bulbs and light fittings clean to maintain optimum lighting performance.
Replace T8 and T12 fluorescent lamps with Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs or LED retrofit kits.
Replace screw-in CFL and incandescent lamps with Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs.
Replace conventional “Exit” signs with LED “Exit” signs for energy-saving and longer bulb life.

Computers

Switch off computers after office hours or when leaving the workplace to reduce power consumption.
Use the power management feature to preset the computer to “sleep” or “hibernation” mode when idle.
Switching off the screen can save even more energy than just letting the screen savers run.
Reduce the brightness level of the screen to the lowest comfortable level.
Use an intelligent adaptor to automatically switch off peripheral devices, such as monitors and printers, for reducing standby power.
Use ‘smart’ power strips to turn off unused equipment

Copiers and Printers

Switch off photocopiers and printers after office hours.
Set the “Low Power” and “Off” mode default period to the lowest setting.
Follow the maintenance schedules as recommended in the instruction manual of the related appliance.
Photocopy in batch as it can minimize energy consumption due to less frequent starting.
Arrange for the “last-person-out” to switch off all photocopiers and printers or use timer switches to reduce power consumption.
If possible, use the “Print Preview” function to check the layout and style of the document before printing.
Adjust the margins and font size of documents to optimize the use of paper.

Copiers and Printers

The energy wasted by a photocopier left in “standby” mode overnight is enough for making up to 700 copies.
The power wasted by a desktop printer left in “standby” mode after office hours accounts for 70 percent of the total energy consumed by the printer.

These tips have been compiled from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ENERGY STAR program. If you have any questions about other ways to reduce your energy bills, please contact your Pioneer Community Energy team by email at info@pioneercommunityenergy.org or by phone at (916) 758-8969.

Energy Saving Tips for Professional Services

Energy Savings Tips – Professional Services

General Energy Saving Tips

Heating and Air Conditioning

Lighting Tips

Computers

Copiers and Printers

Copiers and Printers

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