Energy Library

Business Place Conservation

Post a flyer in your lunchroom and elevator each month to encourage employees to conserve energy and reduce utility costs.

Whitepapers (all PDFs)

Energy Audit: When should you get one? - This guide will help you decide if an audit is right for you.
General Energy Audit Approach - Considering an audit? Here are some things you can expect.
Maintenance Tips for Energy Conservation - Maintenance is essential to keep your energy use low year after year. Here are a few ideas to keep in mind to save dollars on energy bills.
Typical Equipment Life Spans - Here are some typical energy consuming equipment life spans to help you plan. Setting aside 2 to 3 percent per year of the building cost is usually sufficient to sustain the building systems.
Equipment Service and Access Items for New Designs - A handy checklist for new designs, to help you ‘build-in’ a maintainable facility.
Hybrid Cooling: Indirect - Direct Evaporation with Supplemental Cooling - Our semi-arid climate is a natural resource that can be leveraged for energy savings. This ‘hybrid’ system offers the best of both worlds: excellent energy and demand savings, and year-round comfort.
Hidden Costs of Low Load Factor - For large customers that have demand charges on their electric bills, spreading out electric usage during the day - controlling the load factor - is one way to control electric costs.
ASHRAE 90.1 Common Requirements - Commercial buildings must meet the local Energy Code. If the ASHRAE Chapter 11 point-system option is used to show compliance, there are some additional things that must be provided as well as making the grade on points.
Comfort Envelope and Your Thermostat - Look at the “Comfort Envelope,” which represents opinions of comfort from all over the country, and see where your thermostat should be set.
Free Cooling: Chilled Water Flat Plate -
Free Cooling: Outside Air Economizer - It’s like opening a window when it’s hot inside and cool outside.
Direct Evaporation for Supplemental Cooling - Get a 25 percent efficiency boost from evaporative cooling with your existing equipment.
Modular Boilers to Save Energy - This simple technique can save 5 percent on your annual boiler gas use. So, when your boiler needs replacing, consider multiple boilers instead of just one.
Smart Use of Your Cooling Towers - With the right chillers, smart cooling tower application can increase cooling system energy efficiency by 10 to 15 percent.
Reducing Air Distribution Costs - The choice to down-size ductwork permanently raises the cost of HVAC operation, so put your designers on an energy diet today. The payback may be quicker than you think.
What to Look For in a Commissioning Agent - For an extra measure of assurance that you end up getting what you really want, a Commissioning Agent can help. Here’s some tips on how to pick a good one.
Demand-Controlled Ventilation - For buildings with large and variable occupancy, this may be a good way to control HVAC costs. By bringing in only enough outside air as is needed, the energy to heat and cool that air will be reduced.
Conservation vs. Curtailment - They affect you and the utility differently. They both can save you money.
Evaporative Pre-Cooling of Large Air-Cooled HVAC Equipment - Even when it’s 95 degrees outside, your equipment will think it is only 70 degrees.
Strategic Facility Guidelines for Improved Energy Efficiency in New Buildings - Using the contents of this guideline can reduce new facility energy use by 30 to 50 percent compared to ASHRAE 90.1 Base Building and Minimum Local Energy Codes. These guidelines are for new construction projects, to give to the design team as part of their project intent guidance.

Top Energy and Demand Saving Fact Sheets - by segment (all PDFs)

Church
College/University
Education: K-12
Grocery
Healthcare - Hospital
Healthcare - Non-hospital
Lodging
Manufacturing
Multifamily
Office
Restaurant
Retail

Calculators

Compact Fluorescent Lamp Calculator (Excel)  - illustrates the value of CFLs over conventional lighting. (ENERGY STAR®)
Energy Use Index Calculator (Excel)  - calculates the average kilowatt-hours used last year per square foot of floor space, which should be calculated yearly. It's an excellent measure of your energy efficiency.
Portfolio Manager  - helps assess building performance (ENERGY STAR®)
QuickScope - helps property managers improve the value of their property (ENERGY STAR®)
ENERGY STAR® Calculator Page - links to almost forty calculators that can help evaluate energy efficiency.