| I believe that everyone should make an effort to become informed about energy conservation, both in the home and in the workplace. In past articles I’ve discussed at length ways that each of us can reduce our power usage in our homes, but lets focus on commercial energy use and ways that businesses can help reduce the demand on our energy resources.
In the Northwest, the commercial sector consumes approximately 30 percent of total energy use, according to the Northwest Power Planning Council. To put this into perspective, the Council also states that residential power use only accounts for about 16 percent. While it’s no less important for private residents to reduce their power consumption, these percentages demonstrate how crucial it is that the commercial sector does their part to consume less too.
There are many ways that the commercial sector can reduce the amount of energy that is consumed by businesses — both in the short and the long term. The long term, in part, consists of more efficient construction. It’s important when talking about energy conservation to understand that it’s not about doing without, it’s about being more efficient. With that in mind, long-term solutions for commercial construction should focus on finding energy-efficient building-material alternatives. For example, a relatively simple way new commercial construction can save energy is by investing in energy-efficient windows. These windows help to regulate internal temperatures, reducing the demand on furnaces and air conditioning systems, which by design use a lot of energy.
Other savings can be found by using highly efficient insulation and by using insulation in the most effective way. There are also a number of alternative building materials that achieve a higher level of energy efficiency, and are environmentally friendly too. Ventilation is the least expensive and most energy-efficient way to cool buildings. And perhaps one of the most important ways a new-construction commercial site can consume energy is to install intelligent thermostats and control systems.
So, what about all of the existing commercial buildings? There are many things businesses can do in the short term, which will result in long term savings. The first place to start is to develop a power management plan. Identify areas in your business that use excess energy and work your way down to more simple measures, such as simply switching off the lights. One area that EVERY business can potentially save energy is with office equipment.
Most office equipment spends much of its time sitting idle; the energy used even during idle times can be significant. There are power management tools you can use that shift office equipment into low-energy mode when not in use for a certain period of time. Energy Star® labeled office equipment has this type of power management built right into it. Computers, monitors, copiers, printers, scanners and fax machines are just some of the types of office equipment that carry the Energy Star seal of approval — and are all well worth the investment.
If you consider how many computers there are in a single office building, you can imagine how much collective energy they use. To reduce computer-related energy consumption, have employees power down their computers at night and over weekends. It requires much less energy to boot up a computer every morning than it does to leave it running idle all night. And don’t forget to manually turn off those monitors — they consume more energy than the actual computer does, so it’s important to turn them off. If your computer has an energy savings mode, set it to kick in every 15 minutes. This will shut down your monitor and hard drive if you leave your desk for an extended period of time. It’s suggested that you avoid the use of screen savers because they actually require your hard drive and monitor to continue running and use energy.
Office buildings can save an enormous amount of money and energy by simply adjusting the thermostat by a few degrees. It’s suggested that thermostats be set around 74 degrees in the summer and 68 in the winter. Another way to save is to replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) in desk lamps. It’s a fact that CFLs use 1/4th the energy of traditional light bulbs and last ten times longer (make sure they’re Energy Star approved). It’s preferable to use desk lights in place of overhead lighting when possible. You can direct employees to do their part by turning off office and task lights when away from their desks, and at night and on weekends. Remember to speak with anyone who enters the building after hours on a regular basis, such as cleaning crews, and reinforce the importance of turning lights off upon their departure. Also, don’t forget about exterior lights, such as business signs — they should be shut off during daylight hours and at night between the hours of 11 p.m. and 4 a.m.
Some even simpler tasks that will reduce energy use include turning off coffee pots and other small appliances when not in use. It also helps to power off photocopiers and other office equipment at night and on weekends. There are so many things that commercial office buildings can do to reduce their power consumption. For more information, go to your local power company’s Web site and visit www.energystar.gov. We’re all in this together—for today and for life.
(Editor’s Note: J. Lennox Scott is the president of John L. Scott Real Estate. You can visit his award-winning website at www.johnlscott.com). | 
