For many buildings, extreme outdoor temperatures can cause energy consumption and costs to spiral out of control. Good news: There are some low-cost ways to reduce your facility’s energy consumption.

“The key,” says Ryan English, Service Operations Manager at Baker Group, “is to routinely check your systems to make sure they are operating properly and efficiently.”

English, along with Baker Group’s Automation Manager Chuck Woods, offer these tips for reducing your building’s energy consumption and expense:

USE ENERGY BASED ON OCCUPANCY.

• Install and routinely calibrate carbon dioxide (CO2) sensors. Strategically placed CO2 sensors provide demand-controlled ventilation (DCV). “Based on occupancy, they sense when people are present and turn ventilation systems on or off accordingly,” says Woods. “With incentives offered by energy companies for installing CO2 sensors, I see businesses typically realize a payback in just one to three years.” 

• Use vacancy sensors to control lighting in offices and conference rooms. Unlike occupancy sensors (which turn lights on upon sensing occupants), vacancy sensors are manually turned on and automatically turned off when an area is vacated. Because vacancy sensors do not turn on lights unless they are needed, energy consumption drops. 

• Program your HVAC system to automatically heat or cool when people are present. Ensuring that the building is operating in the most efficient manner possible can be achieved in a variety of ways. Simple, low-cost solutions – such as installing a programmable thermostat, zone sensors or timers – can provide significant savings for many types of buildings, from older churches, schools and hospitals to newer, more energy-efficient facilities.

English cautions, “In very cold or very hot weather, programming significantly different ‘occupied’ and ‘vacant’ temperatures can cause your system to overwork – and negate any energy savings you hoped to achieve.”   

BE SURE EQUIPMENT IS WORKING PROPERLY.

• Air handler – Is the air handler (the part of your HVAC system that regulates and circulates air) maintaining its set point? Is it properly adjusting the air supply temperature per the building’s heating and cooling needs? If not, the system may reheat air unnecessarily – a huge energy waster. Also, be sure the unit’s outside air damper seals properly: Just 5-10% leakage can significantly increase energy bills. 

• Economizer modes – Even in cooler months, commercial buildings must provide cool air to building interiors to offset the heat produced by people, lights and equipment. Properly working economizer modes reduce energy consumption by using outdoor air to cool interiors. 

• Boilers – If your heating system uses a hot water boiler, be sure the pre-programmed outdoor reset points are correct. This ensures that water is heated only to the level needed based on outdoor temperatures, and helps prevent damage to the unit. Also, be sure sensors are properly calibrated, that burners are firing on the proper combustion mixtures, and that burners are not burning excess gas. 

• Steam-heating systems – Steam heating is common in older churches, schools and hospitals. In addition to tuning the burner fuel mixture, maintaining steam traps is key to an effective, efficient system. Failed or inoperable steam traps cause the steam boiler to run more often and use more chemical treatment. In most cases, the cost to test and replace steam traps will be recovered in one heating season in boiler chemical savings alone, not to mention decreased gas consumption. Steam traps should be tested and repaired annually. 

If you need help inspecting or maintaining your mechanical systems, Baker Group offers 24/7/365 service and preventive maintenance programs shown to reduce downtime, increase productivity and reduce operating costs and environmental footprint. To learn more, please call us at 515.262.4000.