Buildings Magazine - Buildings 1/2015

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.”