Earth Day may be over, but the folks at JLL gave us three practices for buildings (more accurately, the people in them) to reduce energy consumption and costs.
Corporate and institutional facilities (not including manufacturing plants) consume nearly one-fifth of the energy purchased in the US, according to the US Department of Energy. (The machines aren't rising up against us, they're just slowly draining all of our energy.) That’s why JLL senior GM Jennifer Clendening (here at the Earth Day event at Park Place on Turtle Creek Tuesday) tells us it’s important to take steps to achieve energy efficiencies and to reduce the overall building carbon footprint.
1) Keep it simple
Before you jump into a significant energy-focused capital program, make sure that the simplest steps have been taken to immediately reduce energy bills, Jennifer tells us. That could be as easy as enabling the sleep mode feature on your computer, allowing it to use less power during periods of inactivity.
2) Get smart
Install smart building systems and smart building managed services, Jennifer says. Building managers have struggled with systems that monitor and manage internal HVAC, lighting, and energy systems using complex and mostly proprietary techniques. Though integration, these multiple building reporting systems can create better building management systems. In some buildings, these investments pay for themselves within one or two years.
3) Night lighting
Up to 40% of the electricity used in commercial office buildings comes from lighting, Jennifer tells us. (Curse our poor night vision, this wouldn't happen if we were cats.) Small things help: turn off the lights in unused conference rooms and when you step out for lunch. Jennifer says in less than 18 months, Park Place reduced its kWh usage by more than 6%, despite an overall increase in occupancy of 6% since 2012. Among the improvements: a lighting retrofit. Year over year, during the summer season alone, this has translated into monthly energy savings of $50k, an 11% increase in efficiency, she says.
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