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Commercial Buildings

Make energy efficiency pay in your building
Whether you own or rent your building, you can realize substantial savings every year through effective energy management. Often, it's easy to achieve these savings.

Use this section to find areas in your building's lighting, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and building envelope where you can reduce energy consumption.

Although some improvements will require an investment of capital and expert help, you can often calculate the payback period so you'll know when your improvements start paying dividends. You may be surprised just how soon they pay off.

But best of all, there are dozens of ways to lower your energy usage that won't cost a cent! Just a minor change of habit can lead to significant savings. Read our tips below, or to learn more, download our brochure Conservation through Design (PDF 5.7 MB).

9 steps to serious energy savings
Looking for ways to reduce energy consumption in your building? Follow this action plan to get results.

1. Read this section of the site and download the PDF files.
   
2. Find out last year's energy use and cost. With some effort you can probably reduce your energy use by 20% or more.
   
3. Do an energy audit.
   
4. Get some expert help with the audit if you need it. You'll get an unbiased accounting of all of your energy systems and know where you use-and waste-energy.
   
5. Ask co-workers and employees for their ideas. Employee suggestions have saved companies millions of dollars. It pays to involve them in your energy management efforts.
   
6. List possible projects, costs and savings. Get everything on the list first. Then proceed to the next step.
   
7. Prioritize your list. Include the projects that are cost-effective and will make the biggest difference.
   
8. Do this with outside help if needed. Put together a schedule with deadlines and teams to handle the jobs.
   
9. Keep track of savings. See how much you're saving, and fine tune if necessary.

Our top 10 list
Many of the easiest ways to save energy cost you little or nothing. In fact, you may achieve substantial energy savings by doing these "Top 10": Why not implement them today?

1. Turn off lights when not needed.
   
2. Evaluate overlit areas.
   
3. When replacing bulbs, use lower wattage or more efficient ones
   
4. Lower your heating settings.
   
5. Raise your air conditioning settings.
   
6. Reduce heating and air conditioning during unoccupied hours.
   
7. Optimize operating schedules -delay turning on heating and air conditioning at the start of the day; turn it off sooner at the end of the day.
   
8. Make sure all automatic controls are in good working condition and are set properly.
   
9. Have your heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems serviced and adjusted.
   
10. Turn off machines and equipment when not needed.

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