Download this checklist and use it to help implement quick wins that will help in reducing your energy usage and make your business more resource efficient. These measures can be easily implemented and have a significant impact on energy reduction, as well as having a cost-benefit.
You can edit the checklist to tailor it to your business requirements.Maintaining the right temperature in your workspace is crucial. Overheating wastes energy and may lead to additional cooling costs. The ideal temperature often depends on your specific activities. Check guidelines, such as those provided by the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), to determine suitable temperature ranges for your workplace. Ensure your employees dress appropriately for the conditions.
|
Temperature Range |
Unacclimatized Workers |
Acclimatized Workers |
|
Below 70°F (21°C) |
Low risk of heat-related illness |
Low risk of heat-related illness |
|
70 to 77°F(21 to 25°C) |
Strenuous work possibly unsafe |
Low risk of heat-related illness |
|
Above 77°F (25°C) |
High risk of heat-related illness with strenuous work |
Strenuous work possibly unsafe |
* Assume a worker is unacclimatized if they have been doing the work for less than 1-2 weeks
For additional information, please refer to OSHA recommendations.
Sometimes, manual adjustments to heating are necessary. It's important that all employees understand how to use heating controls properly. Designate responsible staff members, like facilities managers or office/site managers, to oversee these controls. Train your team regularly to ensure everyone knows what to do. Display a Heating Control Poster near thermostats to remind staff of the policy. You can download the Heating Control Poster to display next to any thermostats to remind staff of this policy.
Timers play a crucial role in preventing unnecessary heating when your facilities are unoccupied. To maximize energy savings, it's vital to understand the usage patterns of your buildings. Predictable periods of low occupancy, such as nights and weekends, should guide your heating system's schedule. Adjusting heating schedules to accommodate weekends, where different working hours may apply, can help prevent the common issue of offices feeling too cold on Monday mornings. Additionally, implementing frost protection programs is essential to safeguard against damage during extended shutdowns.
For optimal timing, you may consider investing in advanced 7-day timers. These timers allow for more precise control over your heating schedule, ensuring that temperatures reach their set points precisely when needed, thus avoiding energy waste and the associated costs of overheating.
Further tips to help optimize your system’s start and switch-off times:
Embracing smart heating controllers can yield substantial energy savings compared to conventional timer-based controls. Smart controllers incorporate outside air temperature sensors to determine when heating should commence to achieve the desired temperature by the start of the working day. They calculate the duration required to reach the target temperature efficiently, thereby minimizing energy consumption. For larger premises with complex heating and cooling needs, consider the potential advantages of implementing a Building Management System (BMS), which provides centralized control over these systems. Detailed information on BMS is available further in this module.
Most water-based heat distributors use radiators to deliver heat. Thermostatic radiator valves are often used to control domestic heating systems by shutting off the flow of heat when the air temperature reaches a set level. This same principle applies in a commercial environment.
These valves are instrumental in controlling heat distribution effectively, especially in spaces with varying temperatures. By installing thermostatic radiator valves in areas prone to significant temperature differences, you can regulate the delivery of heat more precisely. To achieve the best outcomes, combine electronic thermostatic radiator valves with room sensors to ensure accurate temperature monitoring.
When it comes to thermostatic radiator valves, a common misconception is that fully turning up the valve will make a room heat up faster. This actually does not make the room heat more quickly, rather, it will result in overheating later in the day. The function of this particular technology is to open a valve and then close it once the pre-set room temperature has been reached. Explain this to your staff to ensure that the thermostatic radiator valve is used correctly, and your organization does not incur any additional costs of misuse (i.e., overheating costs).
Encouraging employees to refrain from placing furniture, equipment, or personal items in front of heaters is crucial for ensuring optimal heat circulation within your workspace. While it may seem like an efficient use of space, obstructing heaters can hinder effective heating.
Many businesses resort to supplementary space heaters when their primary heating systems fall short. However, these supplementary heaters not only indicate deficiencies in your main heating system but can also be costlier to operate, primarily if powered by electricity. As a medium-to-long-term strategy, consider improving your centralized heating system rather than relying on supplementary space heaters to address irregular heating.
One of the most effective ways to reduce energy consumption and costs is to enhance the insulation of your building. Industrial structures can lose up to 75% of their heat through their building fabric, including walls, roofs, floors, windows, and doors. Insulating your building adequately significantly minimizes heat loss, subsequently reducing the energy needed for heating. Insulation also enhances the comfort of your employees working in these spaces. To ensure compliance with local standards and legal requirements, make sure your buildings meet modern insulation standards.
Insulation options are diverse, with most being relatively affordable and straightforward to install. Consider insulating various areas of your buildings, such as:
Depending on your facility, your organization could benefit from better-insulated pipework. Perhaps you have a plant room. These are often quite warm due to heat losses from uninsulated pipes. Insulating these pipes can help prevent heat loss in a specific area and can help stabilize the temperature in that particular room.
Specialist products such as fiberglass sheaths can make insulating your pipes quick and easy. You can hire a professional to fit the pipes that need it most or your team can install insulation themselves. Many products can be picked up at your local hardware store or ordered online; just make sure to measure your pipes to get the right fit!
In regions with mild climates not experiencing extreme heat, consider utilizing fanned air as a cost-effective alternative to air conditioning. Various fan options are available:
Passive cooling techniques can be effective, especially in milder climates or areas with cool night-time temperatures. Passive cooling strategies include:
These strategies can reduce the load on air conditioning units by up to 80% and can help lower energy bills significantly (provided you are not simultaneously running air conditioning).
Thermostat Placement
The strategic placement of thermostats is essential to ensure accurate temperature measurement within your facility. Variations in internal temperature can result from various factors, including room height, elevation, proximity to windows, doors, and heat sources. For larger facilities, consider zone controls, or at the very least, employ different controls for each floor. In smaller buildings, it may be most practical to position employees with sedentary roles in the warmest areas.
Zoning
Some buildings require different areas to have different temperatures. The most energy-efficient and cost-effective tool in this case is called zoning. Aim to create different ‘zones’ within your space with individual time and temperature controls. It might be necessary to modify your space if it was originally created without these zones in mind.
Once these controls are in place, each zone can be monitored with its own sensors. This information can be used by the controller to open and shut valves to distribute heat into any areas where the temperature drops below that zone’s set temperature. Likewise, when a zone is at its set temperature, that valve will shut, requiring less work from the boiler and thus less energy and money.
Zones are particularly important to consider where you have a range of occupancy patterns, floors or requirements. For example, consider a production floor on the ground level in which is occupied by workers from 7:00-19:00 versus a second level which houses office workers from 9:00-18:00 and a third level which is temporarily vacant. These levels will have different requirements and should be heated as such.
Boilers often consume more than half of your yearly energy expenses. That's a significant cost! However, using an efficient boiler can help you save money. Modern boilers, especially condensing ones, are designed to be more efficient. Unlike older boilers, they recover more heat, making them better at using fuel. A non-condensing boiler with basic controls can be 10-30% less efficient than a modern condensing boiler.
Boiler Maintenance
The efficient operation of your boiler is dependent on regular maintenance. Proper maintenance can elevate boiler efficiency to impressive levels, ranging between 85% to 95%. On the other hand, neglecting boiler upkeep can result in low conversion efficiency, with as little as 50-75% of the input energy being transformed into usable heat. It's strongly recommended to maintain a detailed record of boiler maintenance and settings. This record should encompass all modifications, whether performed by you or contracted professionals. Additionally, it's essential to verify that the boiler ceases operation when the thermostat or timer deactivates the circulating pump. During annual maintenance, your boiler maintenance engineer should perform a combustion efficiency check, helping identify potential replacement parts requirements and ensuring the boiler operates correctly with the appropriate fuel-to-air ratios.
Replacing inefficient boilers
In many countries, gas-fired and oil-fired boilers will have a minimum efficiency rating. For example, In 2021, new standards from the U.S. Department of Energy took effect. Gas-fired and oil-fired hot water boilers now have minimum efficiency ratings of 82% and 84% respectively (some have higher minimums dependent on size). There will be negative implications for your business if your boilers do not meet the requirements in your country.
A series of smaller boilers that cater for the heating demand can be more efficient than a single large boiler. Multiple boilers are often set up with an intelligence sequence controller that determines the number of boilers that need to be online to maintain correct temperatures. Be sure to ask the system designers for heat loss calculations and heat demands at different times of the year.
Additionally, some facilities have relatively low demand for heat and hot water during the summer months. It may be worthwhile fitting a separate hot water boiler to provide hot water if it means that the main boiler can be completely turned off during the summer months.
When replacing a boiler, it is worth considering fuel switching. This provides the opportunity to move from expensive fuels, such as oil, LPG, or electricity, to less expensive and more environmentally friendly forms of heating such as biomass or heat pumps. Fuel switching is particularly relevant to businesses that are not connected to the gas grid.
Ground source heat pumps
Ground source heat pumps take low-grad energy from the ground and convert it to higher grade energy for use in heating by means of a heat pump. It is important to recognise that the pump is powered by electricity, so this is still an electrical form of heating, though much more efficient than electrical resistance heating (such as storage heaters or bar fires).
In addition to high installation costs, there are various constraints:
· Ground source heat pumps work best where there is a low-temperature distribution system, such as underfloor heating and where the building is well insulated.
· Space is required outside for a collector loop- this could be a horizontal or vertical loop, depending on space availability and ground conditions.
It is worth noting that, under the Biden administration, the Department of Energy has announced a $250 million funding opportunity to advance heat pump manufacturing in the U.S. In theory, this should decrease the upfront cost of the technology over time.
Air source heat pumps
In the same way that a refrigerator extracts heat from its interior, an air source heat pump extract heat from the outside air. This heat can then be used to heat radiators, warm air convectors, hot water, or underfloor heating systems. These pumps can extract heat from air even when the temperature is as low as 5° F. Like ground source heat pumps, air pumps are powered by electricity, meaning this is still an electrical form of heating.
In addition to higher installation costs, various constraints exist with air source heat pumps as well:
· Air source heat pumps work best where there is a low-temperature distribution system, such as underfloor heating and where the building is well insulated.
· Outside space is required for the external condenser unit (similar size to an air conditioning unit). These units can be loud and may also blow out colder air.
Biomass boilers
Biomass boilers can be a good option if your facility has a high and constant demand for heat (likely in old buildings that are in constant use) and if there is a reliable source of biomass fuel. Facilities that have a need for continuous heating can justify the high installation cost of a biomass boiler.
Because biomass is considered a renewable energy source, the carbon emissions from this type of heating will be very low, if the feedstock is sustainably produced and not transported at a great distance.
All forms of renewable or low-carbon heating can have a positive impact on a company’s ESG (environment, social, governance) reputation. It can also be used to encourage employees to become more aware of sustainability issues at work or at home.
Solar Cooling
Solar cooling is a technology that allows heat from the sun to be used for refrigeration and cooling equipment. Solar energy is collected (usually by solar panels) and then is used to produce chilled water or air for buildings’ air conditioning systems. The process can be seen in the diagram below:
There is likely a higher up-front cost for a solar cooling system than a traditional HVAC system, but it can be less expensive in the long-term as it does not rely on purchased electricity. Additionally, many countries offer rebates or tax incentives to support businesses looking to invest in solar photovoltaics.
Renewable Electricity
If specific renewable systems (e.g., solar cooling or ground source heat pumps) are not a financially viable option for your organization, consider looking to your energy provider. Many energy providers now allow customers to opt for energy from renewables. If this is not an option at your current provider, consider switching providers. This switch will help you to decrease your carbon emissions.Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems usually distribute heat and cooling via convection (warm air). If your heating is delivered via warm air, then it is likely that it is part of one of these systems. These can be powered by boilers or air-source heat pumps. HVAC control is a special area, so it is very important that there are at least two people within your organization appointed to understand how to operate the machine. Ensure there is always a back-up person available in case the first person is not present.
These systems can vary greatly from simple time clocks (such as those found on domestic boilers) to more advanced, programmable, 7-day, multi-event controllers. A full BMS (building management system) can use many different variables and inputs to control multi-zone HVAC systems that can span several buildings.
It is extremely important that you keep a comprehensive record of all your HVAC controls. HVAC contractors should explain and record how to use any new controls added to a system to enable your nominated staff members to adjust as needed (and override any temporary settings). This will also allow any engineers who visit in the future to understand how the system was set up.
The most common techniques for optimizing demand from HVAC systems are:
Maximizing the dead band
The ‘dead band’ is the gap between the temperature at which the heating stops and cooling starts.
If the dead band is set as wide as possible (a minimum of 4°C is considered good practice), simultaneous operations of heating and cooling systems can be prevented. This will also maximize the amount of time in which neither system is operating.
Free cooling
Free cooling can be used when the external air temperature is lower than the temperature of the building (or certain zones of the building) that need to be cooled. In this process, lower external air temperatures are used to help chill water used by HVAC systems. Unfortunately, many HVAC systems do not take advantage of this approach which can be very cost-effective. If you think free cooling could be of help in your facility and geography, it is worth consulting a specialist contractor to see if your system can be adapted.
Implementing a Building Management System (BMS)
A building management system (BMS) is a computer-based system that manages and controls the HVAC system for large sites. These systems can deliver cost savings of up to 30% (e.g., if your utility costs are $300,000 a year, a fully optimized BMS could save you $90,000 a year) by tailoring energy usage to activity patterns. The flexibility of the system allows real-time access to react to the needs of the occupants and the weather conditions. On the flip side, a poorly-maintained BMS could waste significant energy, and this is a very common problem among businesses.
Whether your site needs an update to the existing BMS or an entirely new system, it is likely that significant financial commitment will be necessary to pursue a BMS project. Thus, it is extremely important that the new or existing BMS is designed with the specific facility in mind and that the procurement process is closely monitored. This may be applied to the supply and installation of equipment alone or to an ongoing arrangement over many years with a service provider or contractor.
Download this action plan to track your progress against energy efficiency objectives.
