Energy Efficiency Tips for Commercial and Industrial Facilities
We have assembled a collection of tips to help your organization make the most of its energy resources and arranged them by Management, Facility, Operations and Equipment. We are constantly adding best practices to this list, so visit often.
Management
- Senior management should have a vision of how energy is used in your facility.
- The vision should be written down and workers made aware of it.
- Key performance indicators should be established to measure and monitor performance.
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Facility
- When it's time to repaint the exterior of your building, consider using light colors. More sunlight will be reflected away from the building, thus lowering air conditioning expenses.
- Seal off unused areas to heating and cooling. Storage areas are a good place to start.
- Reduce lighting. Remove lamps where you have more lighting than you really need, but be sure to maintain safe lighting conditions for work areas. Turn lights off when they're not in use.
- When buying or replacing computers, copiers and other office equipment, compare energy requirements of various models and buy the most energy-efficient equipment.
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Operations
- Turn off machines and equipment when not needed. Don't underestimate the energy savings you can achieve by turning off unused computers, monitors, printers and copiers.
- Clean heat exchangers and perform routine maintenance on refrigerating equipment.
- Inspect and recalibrate thermocouples in furnaces to obtain more accurate zone temperature measurements - this will also help increase your furnace's efficiency.
- Inspect steam distribution systems for leaks and repair where necessary. Possible sources of unnoticed leaks include piping, valves, process equipment, steam traps, flanges and seals.
- Regularly clean strainers upstream of steam traps to prevent particle accumulation. Excessive deposition can hasten the need for repair or replacement.
- Prevent scale accumulation by ensuring water treatment systems are operating effectively. Scale build-up in boiler feed water tubes inhibit both throughput and heat transfer.
- Rework schedule of processing operations (e.g. lessen the frequency of mixed and/or partial loads) to reduce delays and reheat requirements.
- Measure and manage ventilation in the plant. Use an economizer to optimize outside air use. Replace warped or worn outside air dampers.
- Reduce the hot water temperature. Reducing the temperature on your water heater thermostat can decrease heat loss from your tank. For washing hands, you may be able to turn the temperature to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Dishwashing may require higher temperature settings such as 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Lower the water temperature in boilers to reduce short-cycle loss as well as convective and radiant heat loss.
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Equipment
- Install programmable thermostats and automatic room-lighting controls.
- Minimize surplus combustion air by tuning damper settings on boiler draft fans, installing over-fire draft control systems, sealing doors, etc. Excess air in the combustion chamber contributes to heat loss via flue gas escape.
- Install removable insulation on uninsulated valves, pipes and fittings to reduce energy loss in the process heat distribution system.
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