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EPA ENERGY STAR BUILDINGS PARTNER
What is the ENERGY
STAR Buildings Strategy?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified a proven strategy to increase the efficiency of buildings. This strategy has been successfully demonstrated through research, pilot projects, and working with thousands of organizations in all sectors of the U.S. since 1991. The strategy has three key elements:
Planning
and Benchmarking
Using
An Integrated, Five-Stage Approach To Building Upgrades
Communicating
Success
Eco Engineering is a partner in the EPA's ENERGY STAR Buildings program and can help you ensure your energy investment will be a success.
Planning and Benchmarking
Managing and operating your facilities as efficiently as possible requires
the involvement of a variety of people within your organization. ENERGY STAR
Buildings provides a road map that gets the right people involved,
establishes benchmarks, and empowers your employees.
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Using an Integrated Approach to Building
Upgrades
The Integrated, Five-Stage Approach:
Stage
1. Green Lights
Stage 2.
Building Tune-up
Stage 3.
Other Load Reductions
Stage 4.
Fan System Upgrades
Stage 5.
Heating and Cooling System Upgrades
Most commercial buildings in this country use energy inefficiently. They use
equipment that is either inefficient or just the wrong size. Buildings may
also not be properly maintained or may have older, less efficient equipment.
The result is wasted energy and, consequently, higher energy bills. But that
is not all; these inefficient buildings don't provide the best working
conditions for the people that occupy them. Workers are often less productive
and customers are often not as comfortable. Maximizing a building's
efficiency can decrease your operating costs and improve comfort at the same
time.
There are proven ways to accomplish this. ENERGY STAR Buildings recommends an
upgrade process that includes five stages which reduce costs and maximize the
rate of return on your investments in energy efficiency. The five-stage
approach is a process of considering and implementing upgrades in a specific,
progressive, logical sequence. It is based on the interaction of building
systems.
When you plan your upgrades in the recommended order, upgrades conducted in
the beginning of the process often simplify the choices and reduce the cost
of upgrades conducted later. Following this five-stage approach will help you
choose where and when to invest and how to select and size the most
appropriate equipment for your facility.
Stage 1. Green Lights: Lighting alone
accounts for 20 to 40 percent of all energy use in commercial buildings.
Fortunately, readily-available, proven technologies can reduce the amount of
energy consumed by your lighting by 50 to 70 percent and also decrease glare,
reduce maintenance costs, and provide a better working environment. Too much
light or inefficient light also generates more heat, thus raising cooling
costs.
Stage 2. Building Tune-up: A building
tune-up ensures that the equipment you have is maintained properly and is
operating at design efficiency. Often, only simple adjustments to your existing
equipment are needed. But the small adjustments made during this stage will
have a dramatic effect on the scale and type of upgrades needed in later
stages.
Stage 3. Other Load Reductions: Electrical
devices such as computers, printers, vending machines and copiers use energy
and generate heat, which increases the need for air conditioning in the
summer. Drafts and excessive sun from poorly designed windows make occupants
feel uncomfortable even when the room temperature is in the comfortable
range. Using energy-efficient office equipment and building envelope
technologies will reduce your building loads, thus lowering your electric,
heating, and cooling bills and increasing occupant comfort.
Stage 4. Fan System Upgrades: Many buildings
have over-sized fan systems. Under some conditions these fans circulate too
much air overcooking or overheating your space. As a result, they consume
excess energy, raise your energy bills, reduce comfort, and generate
unnecessary noise. Measuring how much fan power your facility needs before
you upgrade your fan system is a low cost, high value investment.
Stage 5. Heating and Cooling System Upgrades:
By implementing the first four stages of this approach, you will reduce the
loads on your building and right-size your fan systems. As a result, you will
need less air conditioning and heating. These systems are often oversized to
start with. Now, to really capitalize on the reductions you have made
already, you need to measure the exact heating and cooling needs of your facility.
For every dollar spent in measuring your needs, you will save $10 to $100 on
new equipment. Armed with this information you can install the most efficient
and appropriately sized heating and cooling systems for your building.
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Communicate Your Success
The third component of the ENERGY STAR Buildings strategy is to communicate your accomplishments, both internally and externally. Eco Engineering will help you communicate to your employees, customers, shareholders, and the public, about your environmental leadership and financial success through the development of a press release illustrating the benefits.
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