Author: bldgcontrols

Can your choice of lightbulb impact your company’s budget? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. While there are several options on the market, the LED lightbulb is the smartest investment choice.

Based on energy consumption alone, LED bulbs can help a company realize substantial savings versus traditional incandescent light bulbs and even compact fluorescent lights. Incandescent lights use almost 500 times as much energy as an equivalent LED light while CFLs use about 20% more energy than LEDs.

While it is true that LED lights are more expensive on a per unit basis, this cost is deceiving. During the life of a single LED bulb, you can expect to have to replace traditional bulbs at least ten times and CFL three. This makes the lifetime cost of the LED less expensive, in turn saving you money in the long run.

A hidden cost related to replacing bulbs is the expense of replacement. Having to replace lights less often leads to maintenance savings. Keeping a single replacement light on hand for an LED versus a shelf of backup bulbs for incandescent lighting saves inventory costs. Also, CFL bulbs contain hazardous materials requiring special disposal procedures, adding to their maintenance costs.

Another unseen impact is on your HVAC bill. Incandescent lights generate a lot of heat. CFLs, while cooler, still generate noticeable heat. LEDs are cool. Your facility’s lighting has a is a significant impact on your HVAC system simply from the number and type of lights in your facility.

The experts at Performance Solutions are happy to meet with you and develop a transition plan to reduce the sticker shock of switching to LED lights so you can start operating leaner and greener.

When we talk about energy, we tend to think of the immediate impacts of the choices we make. For example, fossil fuels are still fairly cheap, but they’re harmful to the environment. Solar and wind energy, while not currently able to step in and immediately replace these fossil fuels, are clearly a more acceptable, long-term solution.

Fostering energy efficiency in the long-term is referred to as energy sustainability.

What is Energy Sustainability?

When most people think of sustainable energy, they’re thinking of green energy-electricity produced from solar, wind, hydro-electric, tidal generation and other sources of naturally occurring power. That’s a piece of energy sustainability, but the most important aspect of an energy type to qualify is its sustainability. Or, its ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.

Fossil fuels are not sustainable, for example, because there’s a finite amount of them. Even if it were possible to drill every well and mine every bit of coal without doing extreme damage to the environment, eventually, those resources simply run out.

Resources like wind or sunlight are different. While the wind does die down and the sun sets, those resources are infinite. Not only that, they are plentiful. The challenge is harnessing them in a way that is not harmful to the environment that will allow us to shrink our environmental footprint over the coming years.

Fortunately, though, that’s a challenge we seem to finally be meeting.

The terms “going green” and “green building” are buzzwords in the energy sector. This is defined as opting for a sustainable and renewable way of living by focusing on reducing, reusing and recycling. Renewable and sustainable forms of energy such as solar, wind, hydro and geo-thermal have taken the construction industry by storm.

Green design is about balancing high-quality construction and low environmental impact. It is a process combined with materials to maximize efficiency, durability and savings. Going green with your facility can be expensive, but it’s an investment in future savings that will pay you back over time. However, many building owners cannot begin to afford the expensive equipment associated with green design such as solar panels, new HVAC and geothermal technologies and green building materials. We’ve got good news! You have many of the tools you need to implement green practices and to start creating a sustainable building today. The problem is, your potential savings are being wasted on inefficient practices. Here’s how to create sustainability using funds you already have.

Reuse: to use again especially in a different way or after reclaiming or reprocessing

The first and least expensive step is to ensure that the facility equipment currently running your building is operating at its best potential. While ripping and replacing old equipment with new, highly efficient products is the upfront solution to creating a greener facility, your organization can be more sustainable by taking care of and adding life to your existing equipment. In fact, reusing is a fundamental concept in the practice of sustainability. Regular maintenance and programming that optimizes when and how your equipment is used can rejuvenate and lengthen the life-cycle of old equipment.

Reduce: to make smaller or less in amount, degree, or size.

Evaluating existing equipment, taking inventory and making value judgements while weighing a cost-benefit analysis, reduces waste. This process paints a big picture of your building’s assets and needs which helps you prioritize the items you actually need to replace. You save money by replacing only what you really need to and identifying what could be working better. These residual funds can be used to train and educate facilities staff on efficiently running existing equipment which further reduces waste.

Recycling: converting waste into reusable material

The triple bottom line, an accounting framework that goes beyond traditional measures of profits and return on investment to include environmental and social dimensions, is a vital tool in measuring sustainability goals. Organizations that focus not only on profitability, but also social, human and environmental capital are essentially recycling their resources. Allocating funds towards a more efficient building by reducing waste and reusing existing equipment converts the money wasted on emergency maintenance and equipment inefficiency to savings that can be used to invest in the triple bottom line.

The money, energy and resources saved by reducing, reusing, and recycling your current facility equipment will compound as your building begins working at its maximum potential efficiency. This will allow you to save funds for larger green building investments such as LED lighting, building automation controls and highly efficient HVAC equipment.

You can afford to “go green.” Create sustainability using funds you already have.

Union Station Kansas City and operations manager, MC Realty, partnered with BCS Performance Solutions to address high utility costs. After replacing an antiquated building automation system and implementing BCS Performance Solutions’ tailored energy savings program, Union Station is on their way to a 16% decrease in electricity consumption and a drastic increase in energy efficiency. Union Station has saved 2,811 metric tons of Carbon Dioxide. That’s equivalent to 15 railcars worth of coal burned or 6,508 barrels of oil consumed.

Union Station’s Story

To encourage others in the community to take the same steps toward sustainability, the team created an educational kiosk, titled So Watt, housed in Union Station’s Science City. This will hopefully share with others the power of energy efficiency on utilities. The kiosk is modeled after Union Station’s central plant. It integrates sound bites from the chiller housed in Union Station’s facility and is designed to reflect aspects of the replacement equipment. An interactive game educates the user on energy efficient practices and reducing waste at home.

The kiosk teaches visitors tips and tricks for energy efficiency and highlights its importance. BCS Performance Solutions is hopeful that this kiosk will help spark the continued growth of sustainability in the Kansas City area and teach residents easy ways to reduce their utility spend. The kiosk is installed and operational in Union Station’s Science City and is currently open the public.

“The Energy Kiosk promotes energy efficiency and sustainability content to visitors utilizing a multi-level approach. This unique blend of game design and fun icon usage creates a strong instinct for visitors to stay engaged and complete the quiz, while being immersed in the content. Completed in partnership with Performance Energy Solutions, this kiosk truly engages visitors with all their senses. The unique blend of digital and physical kiosk design makes the kiosk truly a ‘destination’ kiosk and successfully delivers the often complex concepts of energy efficiency and sustainability to the community in a fun and memorable way.”
– Jeff Rosenblatt, Director of Exhibits for Kansas City’s Science Center.

Our engineering team hears a lot of energy myths. We want to set the record straight. In #6, we debunk a common energy efficiency myth.