Technology Tips for SMB's » Energy

Appliance Off – It Doesn’t Mean No Energy Used

Steven G. Atkinson — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 11:41:53 +0000

Many modern appliances may be using as much as 15 to 30 watts when off or in Stand-by mode. Some may actually be using the same amount of energy off as they are when on. One common term for these devices is ‘energy vampires’.

Stand-by power is estimated to be as much as 5 percent of all residential energy being used in the United States. A homeowner can see hundred of dollars per year being used by stand-by power. It is estimated to be about 65 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year costing consumers more than 5.6 billion dollars.

What are some common items that use this stand-by power? Anything with an external power pack, has a remote control or displays a clock will be using some stand-by power. The most common are TV’s VCR, Cable Boxes, Stereo Systems and battery chargers.

The real problem with this stand-by power consumption isn’t that they use power, but they have been poorly designed to use more power than necessary. Manufacturers presently have no reason to design their products with efficiency in mind. Only when consumers begin to evaluate brands with this as a consideration will that occur.

In many cases the older the appliance the more energy it may be using than with a newer model. When purchasing a new appliance look for the one that uses the least amount of stand-by power by checking the label and specifications.

While it may not make much sense to unplug the TV, VCR or DVD player when not in use, it may not be a bad idea to unplug these devices when away for an extended period of time such as when on vacation or even a weekend away.

One thing you probably would want to consider unplugging when not in use are battery chargers for items such as cell phone, MP3 players and blackberries. If you have all of these chargers plugged into the same power strip simply turn the strip off when not in use. Make it a habit to charge all of the devices at the same time and turn the strip off when done.

For more information on conserving energy: More Than Switching Off the Lights – Common sense ways to conserve energy

Have You Done One of These?

Steven G. Atkinson — Fri, 27 May 2011 12:21:31 +0000

We all have been using email, the telephone and cellphones for a longtime. Some of us may not even remember a time without cellphones or email. But at times the things we use every day become so common place that we will make embarrassing mistakes.

How recent have you done one of these? Or do one before the end of the year?

Email:
Use Reply All when intending reply only to the sender.

Send a list of email address embedded within the body of the message to someone who may be collecting addresses. Or send a private email address to a person that the address owner would rather not have it known.

Send an email referencing an attachment, without adding the attachment.

Be reminded that the attachment was not attached by a person who you are trying to impress.

Telephone:
Think that the telephone is muted and say something you don’t want the other party to hear. Or say something inappropriate.

Accidentally conference two parties together.

Erase a voice mail message that holds important information, more than likely it’ll be important contact information.

Start leaving a voice mail message to someone only to discover you are actually talking with the person.

Leave a message or adding to the message on someone’s voice mail thinking that you have been disconnected, but not.

Energy:
Turn the lights on in the supply room, forget to turn it off only to find that it was left on for the entire weekend. Worst a long weekend.

Wonder why the office is cold, use a space heater only to find that the thermostat was blocked from getting room air.

Cellphone
Forget to turn the ringer off on the cellphone before entering an important meeting and then have the phone ring. Worst case, heading a meeting and requesting that everyone silent theirs only to have yours ring.

Forget where you are while talking on the phone and talk about important or private information where others can hear.

Stop in mid conversation with someone to answer your cellphone without an apology.

Have a person respond to something you said while talking to the cellphone. Or respond to another person who is on their phone.

While there’s not a way to completely eliminate any of these things from occurring, by taking a second to think and not rushing can help.

Office Energy Savings Tips

Steven G. Atkinson — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:49:11 +0000

When looking at the standard monthly costs of many businesses, three of the areas that has a great portion of those cost are lighting, office machines and the heating and cooling (HVAC) system.

Lighting:
Reduce lighting.
There are a couple of ways to do this, one of the best is to take advantage of natural daylight. Turning lights off or dimming them during the day allows for lower energy costs. It can also make for a more comfortable environment. If you need more light use task lights to light the area where you are working.

Use timers and sensors.
The installation of occupancy sensors, timers, or photocells will ensure that interior and exterior lights are turned off at the appropriate time. These inexpensive devices can reduce lighting costs by up to 40 percent by turning off lights in unoccupied areas. In closets and restroom install motion sensors or timers so that the lights are off when no one is using the room. These can also be used in seldom used work areas such as copier rooms.

However, be aware that sensors may not be the best option in the work area. Many people have complained about the light going off while they are working at their desk typing a letter or working on a report.

Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs)
This type of bulbs can last up to ten times longer and provide the same amount of light as standard incandescent bulbs. Replace incandescent lights in exit signs with LED fixtures, which can reduce costs of these signs by up to 95 percent. Caution though must be used with these types of bulbs since they do contain a small amount of mercury. CFLs should not be placed in areas where they could easily be broken.

Turn off the lights when not in use.
It doesn’t get any more simpler than this.

Office Machines:
Turn them off when not in use.
Turning off one computer and monitor nightly and on weekends could save up to $80 a year. It’s a good idea to set PCs, monitors and copiers to use sleep mode when not in use. Unless a computer is doing a critical function at night, such as a daily backup that takes hours or being used as a server, there is no reason for it to be on. Turning it off will not allow the system to last longer, and will only be wasting energy.

Choose ENERGY STAR® products when upgrading or adding new equipment.
These products meet federal standard for energy efficiency, and are often available at the same low cost as less efficient models.

Replace Power Wasting Units:
LCD monitors uses much less energy that a CRT Monitor. The cost for a new LCD monitor will pay for itself in a short period of time making it uneconomic to keep a CRT Monitor when replacing an older system.

Turn the monitor off when not in use or better yet have the computer put the monitor and itself into power save mode when inactive for a period of time.

Do you have an old hand-me-down refrigerator for office use? It may be using more energy than a newer energy efficient model.

Heating and Cooling:
Lower the thermostat temperature in the winter and raise it in the summer.
Adjust the thermostat down in the winter and up in the summer and shut off when not in use. Even a few degrees can significantly reduce heating and air conditioning costs.

When the building is not occupied, nights and weekends, turn the heat or air conditioning off or at least adjust the thermostat.

Make certain that the thermostats are not blocked.
It’s not unusual for thermostats to be above filing cabinets and having books or paper around them. When blocked they aren’t able to get a correct reading of the room air temperature. The room may be cold, but the thermostat may be warm and comfortable.

Don’t open windows and doors.
All this does is to heat or cool the outdoors. If the area is too warm or cooled there may be a problem with HVAC system that needs to be checked. Or as stated earlier the thermostat may be blocked.

Install programmable thermostats or time clocks
These systems can automatically control temperature settings on heating and air conditioning equipment so that when the office is not scheduled to be in use the settings can be at a saving level.

Conserve Energy – A Top 10 List

Steven G. Atkinson — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 11:27:34 +0000

10 Ways to Conserve Energy

It doesn’t matter whether you consider Global Warming a fact or a hoax. The one thing for certain is that we do harm the environment every day. These are things we can do to not only save and conserve energy but also help the environment.

10) Follow The Three ‘R’ – Recycle/Reuse/Reduce
American’s have become a very wasteful society. When our founding fathers were forming our nation, they used everything with little waste. Washington at Valley Forge, the frontier families who settled west of the Mississippi, even the families of World War II used everything.

Today nearly every item that we purchase is in some type of disposable wrapper. This wrapping is used once and thrown in the trash. This uses another piece of a resource that is diminishing. By following these three ‘R’s’ one may or may not not see a direct savings. But in some cases the cost of manufacturing the products might be less. A recycled aluminum can requires less energy to reuse. than having a new one produced from the raw materials.

9) Drive Smart
There are a number of ways that we don’t drive smart.

We are a mobile society. Many times we jump into a vehicle to attend a meeting across town without looking to see if there are other things we can be doing while in the area. How many of us have gone one place, come back only to realize we also needed to go to another either a few miles farther or someplace between the two? Planning our trips will allow us to use less fuel. it also saves time as well..

Poor maintenance of our vehicles causes us to use more fuel than required. Having the engine routinely serviced, will keep it running at peak efficiently. Don’t forget the tire pressure. Tires at the wrong pressure, especially ones that are low, is a big fuel waster. And don’t forget to have the brakes checked. A dragging brake not only causes the brakes to wear out faster, it will make the engine work harder. And use more gas.

When driving, don’t make rapid stops and starts. This, as well as exceeding the speed limit, can quickly reduce gas mileage. By using the speed control on long trips, the vehicle runs at a constant speed.

8) Heat or Cool the Living/Work Space – Not the World
Does the building have enough insulation? Older homes and building probably don’t. Windows are also an area where energy costs are moving from their desired purpose to change the temperature of the outside air.

Many homes are heating or cooling areas that are seldom used. By setting up heating and cooling areas, one can save money and energy by keeping the seldom used areas warmer or cooler than the rest of the house. Many people may like a warm living room in the winter, but wants a cool bedroom. This would be another reason for separate environmental areas.

Use a programmable thermostat. By using a programmable thermostat you can automatically turn down the heat when it’s least needed, at night when sleeping or during the day when no one is home. Have it raised to a comfortable level shortly before getting up or arriving home. Be certain that it is the correct type of programmable thermostat for your heating or cooling system. Some heat pumps and air conditioning systems require specialized programmable thermostats.

7) Use Water Wisely
Water may be free, but getting it from the ground to the home costs a lot. There’s the cost of pumping it from one location to another, as well as the cost of treating it to be at a usable state. There’s also the cost of removing and cleaning the waste water.

6) Use Energy-Efficient Products
Many older appliances use a great deal more energy than a new one. The 20 year old refrigerator may be working fine, but a newer one could use half of the energy.

Water heaters can use as much as 14% of the energy bill. The older it gets the less efficient it is with one over 10 years being as much as 50% less efficient than as it was when new.

And don’t forget the light bulbs. Most of the energy used by old style incandescent lights is turned into heat. A 15-Watt Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) gives the same light as a 60-Watt incandescent using a quarter of the energy.

5) Turn Off and Unplug
Unplug devices that use a transformer when not in use. Example; battery chargers. Whenever these devices are plugged in they consume minor amounts of energy. Many devices such as TVs and DVD players still use energy when not in use. Turning them off may only save a small amount of the total energy used. Unplug them when they won’t be used for a long period of time.

Turn off computers at night, and use sleep mode as often as possible. When not in use turn off televisions, radios and other entertainment equipment.

4) Light the area reasonably
Office lighting can be the one single source of using the largest amount of electric each month. Reducing the energy used by lights can make a quick and noticeable impact to the bill.

Many offices either use too much light or does not use the most efficient type of lighting. It’s important to have enough lights in an area so that it’s safe, but there may be places where lights can be removed, the size of the fixture reduced or more economical sources of light are use.

Use task lights to reduce the amount of overhead lights. Task lights puts the required amount of light on the project at hand allowing the room lights to be at a lower light level, therefore saving energy.

Don’t light areas that aren’t being occupied. Install timers and occupancy sensors. These are great in offices for restrooms, storage closets and copier rooms.

3) Make it a Habit
Habits are those things that we do without thinking. Developing a habit takes time. At first it may take some constant thoughts and reminders. By spending time considering your actions and doing the things to save energy each day, these actions will become a habit.

2) Pass Along the Word
It’s amazing how many people there are out there that just don’t know, don’t have an understanding or just need to have a person they know and respect to assure them. Pass along the information. Let your friends know when you replace an appliance and see a drop in the electric bill. Or when they throw a plastic bottle or newspaper in the trash let them know it can be recycled and used again. The more people hear it from someone they know, the more apt they are to follow the advice.

1) Switch Off the Lights
When being the last to leave a room turn out the lights. It will always be saving energy and with few exceptions also saving money.

Tips to Save Gas

Steven G. Atkinson — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 13:18:22 +0000

With each passing day, the price of gas is rising. Here are 6 tips do to help use less gas.

1. Don’t drive if you don’t have to.
If you are close enough to your destination to walk or ride a bike. Not only will it save on use of the gas, but also you will be getting exercise.

2. Combine errands.
Plan the trip before you even start it making the stops in the most efficient route. This not only saves money on gas, but also can save time.

3. Use the air conditioner smartly.
When traveling at speeds over 40 miles an hour you actually use more fuel by having your windows open, then using the air conditioner. In Stop and Go traffic though it’s more fuel efficient to turn the air condition off and open the windows.

4. Keep the vehicle well maintained.
Under inflated tires can decrease gas mileage. Many newer tires may look properly inflated, but still be under inflated. Seasonal temperature changes can also change the air pressure of the tire. You will also want to keep the other parts of the vehicle well maintained such as keeping the air filter clean and regularly changing the oil.

5. Lighten the load.
Each extra 100 pounds can decrease the gas mileage by 2%. Don’t leave the golf clubs in the trunk unless you are planning on using them.

6. Don’t unnecessary idle the vehicle.
A non-moving vehicle gets 0 miles to the gallon and starting a vehicle uses no more gas than one sitting idle for less than 10 seconds. The best way to warm up a vehicle is by driving it. You don’t need to have it idling to warm up, even in cold weather.

Businesses – Do An Energy Audit

Steven G. Atkinson — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:29:32 +0000

For most businesses their single most costly item is electric costs. There are ways to cut some of these costs. In some cases a business may have to spend some money to save. But there are ways to save on energy costs without spending a dime.

By doing an Energy Audit savings can be seen quickly by finding the energy wasting hot spots.

When looking at the electric costs, there are three major places where it’s used. Lighting, Office Equipment and Heating/Cooling. Each area needs to be looked at individually as well as in total.

Lighting:
• Reduce lighting by using task lights.

• Turn off the lights when they aren’t needed.

• Use timers and sensors for seldom-used areas such as storage closets, conference room and rest rooms.

Office Equipment:
• Shut off computers, copiers and other office equipment at nights and on weekends. If these items are always on just by turning them off during these times will reduce energy costs associated to Office Equipment by over 50%. While some computes, such as servers, need remain on at all times, the monitors do not.

• Use Power Management on computers, copiers and laser printers.

• If you still have the CRT style monitors replace them with LCD monitors. They save in desk space as well.

Heating and Cooling:
• Don’t open windows and doors.

• Lower the thermostat in the winter and raise them in the summer.

• Make certain that the thermostats are not blocked and can get a correct reading of the room air temperature.

When performing and energy audit, it’s important to walk around the office with an energy checklist to help identify areas where savings cane be found.

This walk around should involve the employees and done at different times during the day, during work hours as well as after-hours and on weekends. Since seasonal conditions may change it should be done on average once each season.

Once the checklist is finished items needs to be itemized and prioritize. Those that can be accomplished quick and with little expense can be done first. Those that have costly upfront costs need to be part of the annual budget review and made part of the business plan.

Standard Time and Smoke Detectors

Steven G. Atkinson — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:35:18 +0000

At 2 AM on November 1, 2009 the United States will be returning to Standard Time. Please remember to set you clocks back one hour. The best time to do this is before you go to bed.

This is also a recommended time to check the smoke detectors in you home. Take the time to replace the batteries and check for correct operation.

Is it time to get new detectors?
The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) recommends that smoke detectors be replaced after 10 years of service. Tests have shown that at 15 years it is just as likely for a smoke detector to fail as to sound an alarm. This failure chance increases each year.

Does your smoke detector include a Carbon Monoxide sensor?
Having a Carbon Monoxide detector is just as important as having a Smoke Detector. Many Smoke Detectors do not include a senor for Carbon Monoxide. And those that do sometimes aren’t the most reliable. It’s better to have one of each than a combine unit.

Do you have an escape plan?
This would be a good time to go over the plan. In the plan know two ways out of every room and have a pre-arranged meeting place outside. And if you don’t have a plan, now is a good to to make one.

Smoke detectors save lives. But many lives are lost because of defected smoke alarms. 85% of the time this is because of a dead or missing battery/power source.

You aren’t being protected if it doesn’t work.

This would also be a good time for Businesses to check that their exit signs and night lighting (inside and out) are in correct working order.

Note:
This was written for the site 6ThingsToConsider.com and are suggestions for home use but can also be use within the business environment.

10 Ways to Conserve Energy

Steven G. Atkinson — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:14:35 +0000

Recently I was invited to a 9th grade class to talk on ways to help the environment. I developed this 10 Ways list a few years ago giving ideas to conserve energy in the office. I handed it out to each of the students and the teacher with a plan to gloss over each item quickly and move onto other things. Going through the list there was discussion on just about each item. When the class period was over, we had just reached the last item. That lead me to place it here.

10 Ways to Conserve Energy

9) Drive Smart
There are a number of ways that we don’t drive smart.

7) Use Water Wisely
Water may be free, but getting it from the ground to the home costs a lot. There’s the cost of pumping it from one location to another, as well as the cost of treating it to be at a useable state. There’s also the cost of removing and cleaning the waste water.

6) Use Energy-Efficient Products
Many older appliances use a great deal more energy than a new one. The 20 year old refrigerator may be working fine, but a newer one could use half of the energy.

Water heaters can use as much as 14% of the energy bill. The older it gets the less efficient it is with one over 10 years being as much as 50% less efficient than as it was when new.

Turn off computers at night, and use sleep mode as often as possible. When not in use turn off televisions, radios and other entertainment equipment.

4) Light the area reasonably
Office lighting can be the one single source of using the largest amount of electric each month. Reducing the energy used by lights can make a quick and noticeable impact to the bill.

Don’t light areas that aren’t being occupied. Install timers and occupancy sensors. These are great in offices for restrooms, storage closets and copier rooms.

2) Pass Along the Word
It’s amazing how many people there are out there that just don’t know, don’t have an understanding or just need to have a person they know and respect to assure them. Pass along the information. Let your friends know when you replace an appliance and see a drop
in the electric bill. Or when they throw a plastic bottle or newspaper in the trash let them know it can be recycled and used again. The more people hear it from someone they know, the more apt they are to follow the advice.

1) Switch Off the Lights
When being the last to leave a room turn out the lights. It will always be saving energy with few exceptions also saving money.

Creating a Greener Office

Steven G. Atkinson — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:18:34 +0000

The 3 R’s – Recycle, Reuse and Reduce
Everything has a beginning and the simplest beginning to creating a greener office is to follow the 3 R’s. Some of the things that you can do is; Recycle toner cartridges and paper. (Shreadded paper can be recycled too).

Use mugs and cups that display your logo and other company information. Replace disposable items with items that can be reused. By adding the company logo on them is a creative use of the advertising dollar.

Along with the invention of computers it was going to help create a paperless society. Instead we seem to be using more paper. Try to print only those documents that are required and when possible use recycled paper.

If you don’t think an item can be recycled or reused check. You may be surprised.

Do an Energy Audit
Having an energy audit performed is a way to find some quick and inexpensive ways to conserve energy. One quick way is to walk through the office either a few hours before work begins or after the work day ends. Look for items that are on that could be turned off such as computers, lights or copiers.

It’s a misconception that equipment last longer if they are not turned off. A screen saver doesn’t save energy. It can at times use more.

Is the office temperature comfortable during these off hours walks? If they are thermostat temperatures need to be adjusted.

Even during the day look for lights that are on all day in rooms that are seldom used. These rooms may be a candidate for installation of room sensors light timers

Keep the Office Comfortable
While we are thinking about the temperature in the office, How does it feel? Is it hot in one place , but cold in another? This may be a problem with the HVAC system or possibly as simple as a blocked thermostat.

Recommended office temperature for winter months is 68-72 degrees and for the summer is 74 to 80.

How hot is the hot water? A hot water heater in the office environment only needs to have its water temperature at around 120 degrees, but many of them are set for 140 or hotter!

Schedule Trips Wisely
Running back and forth from one end of town to another not only is a waste of time, but also a waste of energy. Try to schedule appointments with clients in the same vicinity on the same day.

Need to make a trip to the Office Supply house? See if a nearby client would like you to drop by.

Or schedule those out of the office trips to correspond with the commute to or from work.

Use Nature
Use natural light instead of overhead lights. Opening the blinds can also help to heat in the winter, but you’ll want to close them to the sun in the summer.

Adding a plant into the office area not only makes it a more pleasing place, it also helps to filter out carbon dioxide and increase oxygen.

Take a System Approach
The best way to have a green office and to maintain it is to take it across the entire system. All employees from the owner to the part-time delivery person needs to work together. As with a chain keeping a green office is only as strong as the weakest link.

*****
Steven G. Atkinson is the owner and chief consultant of E-S Technology Consulting based on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He has also published Technology Tips for Small Business. an informational book for Small Business owners and managers who are not experts in technology to better understand the technology they use everyday. More about the book Technology Tips for Small Business and Steve Atkinson can be found at tt4sb.com.

Things to Do Around the Office to Save Energy

Steven G. Atkinson — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:15:17 +0000

When looking at the standard monthly costs of many businesses, three of the areas that has a great portion of those cost are lighting, office machines and the heating and cooling (HVAC) system.

Lighting:
Reduce lighting.
There are a couple of ways to do this is to take advantage of natural daylight. Turning lights off or dimming them during the day allows for lower energy costs and a more comfortable environment. Need more light on a work surface use task lights.

Turn off the lights when not in use.
It doesn’t get any more simpler than this.

Office Machines:
Turn them off when not in use.
Turning off one computer and monitor nightly and on weekends could save up to $80 a year. It’s a good idea to set PCs, monitors and copiers to use sleep mode when not in use. Unless a computer is doing a critical function at night, such as a daily backup that takes hours or being used as a server, there is not a reason for it to be on. Turning it off will not allow the system to last longer, and will only be wasting energy.

Replace Power Wasting Units:
LCD monitors uses much less energy that a CRT Monitor. The cost for a new LCD monitor will pay for itself in a short period of time. Also turn the monitor off when not in use or have the computer put the monitor and itself into power save mode when inactive for a period of time.

Heating and Cooling:
Lower the thermostat temperature in the winter and raise them in the summer.
Adjust the thermostat down in the winter and up in the summer and shut off when not in use. Even a few degrees can significantly reduce heating and air conditioning costs.

Make certain that the thermostats are not blocked.
It’s not unusual for thermostats to be above filing cabinets and having books or paper arond them they aren’t able to get a correct reading of the room air temperature. The room may be cold, but the thermostat may be warm and comfortable.

Don’t open windows and doors.
If the area is too warm there may be a problem with HVAC system that needs to be checked. Or as stated earlier the thermostat may be blocked.

*****
Steven G. Atkinson is the author of the book Technology Tips for Small Business. The book is an informational source for Small Business to better understand the technology they use everyday. More about the book Technology Tips for Small Business can be found at tt4sb.com.