Maximize Efficiency in Commercial Buildings
TM
Slash Plug Loads in 6 Steps
Plug loads are becoming one of the fastest growing end uses of energy, the New Buildings Institute warns, and their drain on energy budgets is on the rise.
This group includes any devices
that plug into a building’s electrical
system. In a typical office, the worst
offenders are desktop equipment such
as computers, monitors, and printers,
notes Suzanne Foster Porter, director
of research and technical services for
ECOVA, an energy and sustainability
management firm. Small offices also
see a disproportionate amount of their
plug load stemming from IT closets and
computer rooms.
Fortunately, occupant participation
and low-cost technology can shave up
to 40% off of your building’s plug load.
Could one of these six ideas help unlock
savings at your facility?
1) Dispel Common Myths
Many people still believe that turning
computers off and then on again uses
more energy than just leaving them on,
Foster Porter notes. Start improving
occupants’ energy behavior by providing
facts and figures about why your
organization is pushing for lower energy
consumption.
“It’s important to have training
for how to manage power at your
workstation,” Foster Porter says.
“This can be done in a variety of ways,
including IT onboarding, but it should be
specific to what has been implemented
in that person’s space. The point isn’t just
to say what someone should do, but to tie
it back to the company mission and why
you’re trying to reduce energy use in the
first place – for example, ‘We’re doing
this to cut costs’ or ‘We’re doing this to
walk our talk on being green.’”
2) Use Better Computer Settings
The default energy settings on many
computers aren’t very efficient, and
occupants may overestimate how much
energy they’re saving. Using standby
mode while away from the computer
helps. However, some may believe their
computers are saving energy on standby
when their absence actually just puts
the computer in idle mode. This means
that after a certain number of minutes
without use, the screensaver appears or
the screen goes black, but the computer
is still running at full power waiting for
its owner to come back.
“There’s not that much difference
between standby and off because if a
computer is truly in standby mode,
it’s using less power,” Foster Porter
says. “But users don’t do a great job of
powering down unless they’re supported
with some low- and no-cost technologies.
You can implement better power
management settings using software that
already comes with your computers.”
3) Scale Up to Enterprise-Level
Software
Though the power management
software packaged with new computers
can make a sizable dent in energy
consumption, it also offers occupants an
easy override opportunity.
“Users can change the individual
power management settings on their own
without necessarily understanding the
implications of that change,” explains
Foster Porter. “If I’m tired of my
computer going to sleep after 15 minutes
of not being used, I can change it so it
never goes to sleep, but that completely
negates the power savings possible in
sleep mode. Enterprise-level power
management software allows users some
personal control, but sets boundaries. For
instance, you can have the computer turn
off after four hours of inactivity so that at
least it goes to sleep at night.”
ATTACK PLUG LOADS with better behavior and
low-cost tools to drive down energy costs.
continued