Business Contractor Assisted Projects To Help Save Energy
Business Contractor Assisted Projects To Help Save Energy
Energy-efficient additions seem expensive, but calculate your payback period and watch the return on your investment in your energy savings.
Building Maintenance
• In many buildings, storm or thermal doors are largely seen as unimportant or too small for consideration. However, the infiltration loss of doors is actually a substantial portion of the total energy and dollar losses in the building. Maintain doors and have them serviced regularly.
• Oftentimes in business facilities, the largest exposed area is the roof. Therefore, it is very important that this area be insulated to the recommended levels. A ceiling or roof with too little insulation could be wasting your energy dollars, both winter and summer.
• Perform routine maintenance of rooftop HVAC units.
• Roof vents and attic ventilators help by allowing hot air to escape and cooler outside air to enter. With proper air flow your attic shouldn't be any warmer than the outside air. Have these checked often by an HVAC contractor.
• If you are re-roofing, use light colored shingles. The lighter colors reflect more sunlight and reduce heat gain of your building.
HVAC (Heating Ventilating & Air Conditioning)
• Have your heating & cooling system professionally serviced. Tune-ups can help you save on operating costs and extend the life of the system..
• Install an air conditioner economizer (applicable to packaged rooftop units) to reduce the need for electrical cooling.
• Today's energy-efficient heat pump is a real energy saver and makes good sense for businesses.
• Look at installing an Energy Management System to control HVAC and lighting.
Equipment
• Consider replacing some or all electric cooking equipment with comparably sized gas-fired equipment.
• Where applicable, replace broilers with grooved or smooth griddles to significantly reduce the associated energy consumption.
• Solid-state cooking controls allow the operator to program the equipment with complete instructions, including pre-heat temperatures, cooking times and temperatures, and holding temperatures once the food is cooked. All the information is easily entered via a keypad-type control panel.
• Replace any equipment that has reached the end of its service life with high efficiency equipment.
• Chillers are used extensively for large facility space cooling and in industrial process liquid cooling. In many business and industrial facilities space cooling and process refrigeration represent one of the largest energy expenditures. Improving chiller efficiency can significantly reduce your energy usage without affecting comfort or production.
• Install a refrigerant heat recovery system and use waste heat from walk-in refrigerators and freezers to preheat the facility hot water.
• If you have an older gas water heater, replace it with a high-efficiency water heater. It can save a significant amount of money for years to come.
Lighting
• Retrofit with the most efficient lighting sources available today: High Intensity Discharge (HID), and Low-Pressure Sodium (LPS) lamps.
• Low voltage lighting is ideal for retail and specialty stores, museums, galleries or whenever pinpoint lighting accuracy and excellent color and sparkle are needed to make your merchandise and business look their very best.
• Installing lighting controls is one of the most efficient means of decreasing facility operating expenses. When lights are left on unnecessarily or areas are lighted excessively, energy costs increase.
• Rewire restroom fans to operate with the lights.
Remodeling Tips
• Painting walls with light colors help to keep interiors cooler. A white wall can reflect 80% of the light that hits it.
• Install energy efficient windows. They not only help to lower your energy bills for years to come, but they help reduce fading of carpets, drapes and furniture.
• Re-roof with highly reflective materials so the building doesn't absorb as much of the sun's heat.
Start Saving Energy - No Reservations about Energy Management (3 of 4)
Start Saving Energy - No Reservations about Energy Management (3 of 4)
Checking out conservation strategies in the hospitality industry
Small actions result in big savings when you're talking about energy management in the hospitality industry. The 24/7 nature of hotel and lodging operations can escalate energy usage from sensible to shocking if energy management practices are not developed and implemented. "I'd say that maybe 10 percent of the hotels out there have a good, solid energy management program," says Phil Sprague, president, PSA Energy Consultants, Mound, MN. If Sprague's estimates are correct, simple math shows that nearly 52,000* lodging establishments in America are not reaping the benefits of efficient products, systems, and procedures - actions that can save hoteliers upwards of 20 to 40 percent in operating costs.
Those in the hospitality industry implementing smart strategies to save energy will be the first to validate the worth of these programs. "It's just a day-to-day thing here. We have a mantra, 'energy management is good business' all the time - period," says John L. Lembo, director of energy, North American Hotel Operations, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., White Plains, NY.
No effective energy management plan can begin until a thorough analysis of energy usage has been conducted. A daily record of energy use and hotel activities will help you arrive at this point. According to the Washington, D.C.-based American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), it is important to record the following each day: a reading of electric, gas, and water meters; occupancy and count of guests; meal covers; weather conditions; laundry usage; and estimated usage and hours of operation for exercise equipment. Analyze the findings by cross-referencing the data with the monthly statement received from utilities.
An analysis can become the springboard for discussion with representatives from your local utilities. "I'll bet you that more than half of the hotels in America are on the wrong utility rate," Sprague says. With almost 30 years of experience advising the hospitality industry in ways to reduce energy, Sprague suggests that, when possible, hotels should be on the time-of-day rate because about 65 to 70 percent of energy consumed in hotels is during off-peak periods. "By simply asking your utility to change your rate, you can save three to five percent on energy costs," he adds.
Implementing an effective energy management program might take time and effort but it doesn't have to take a huge budget. "As far as best practices are concerned, there are a thousand things that one can look into to save money that make sense and are generally not realized because they are so simple," explains Edwin Figueroa, director, engineering operations, Hilton Hotels Corp., Beverly Hills. Setting thermostats to cool to 85 degrees F. in unoccupied rooms, renting guestrooms affected by climate (top floor, end of corridors, facing west or facing east) only as necessary, and cleaning or replacing HVAC filters are just a few suggestions from the AH&LA's Energy Management and Conservation Guide. "Operations and maintenance is a key factor in any hotel energy conservation program," Sprague adds.
One initiative in the four-part energy management plan implemented by Hilton Hotels Corp. specifically seeks out these types of best practices, posting them on the company Intranet to share. "Believe it or not, our team members were the ones that came up with the greatest majority of these suggestions. And when we implemented them in our first year, we found that just on best practices alone, we were able to reduce as a company (in the managed and owned brand) approximately five percent in savings - just on common sense items," says Figueroa about changes in lighting, guestroom temperature, and food preparation.
SOURCE: AMERICAN HOTEL & LODGING ASSOCIATION
If housekeeping services turn on fewer lights while cleaning, savings are imminent. However, if the lights they turn on are incandescent lamps, the potential to increase these savings is vast. "If you replace a 100-watt [incandescent] light with an 18-watt or 23-watt compact fluorescent, you've reduced energy consumption by 50 percent - multiply that by an average of about 10 lights in a guestroom, multiplied by over 1,000 guestrooms, [and] a good retrofit program saves a huge amount of energy," Figueroa explains.
Lighting retrofits are just one way that energy consumption is reduced without compromising the quality of the product. "Energy management can and should be invisible to the guest," says Sprague. Other products worthy of investigation and possible investment include: low-flow showerheads, energy-efficient chillers, reflective window film, exit sign retrofit kits, and variable frequency drives on pump motor controllers. Check with your utilities about the availability of rebates to offset the expense of new equipment.
Computerized energy management (EMS) and building automation systems can regulate lighting and HVAC controls, as well as help with load-shedding and equipment cycling. According to the AH&LA's Guide, these systems (with proper installation) will result in optimistic savings of 20 to 25 percent.
To combat wasteful guests, guestroom controls that utilize infrared, sound, or ultrasonic occupancy sensors can reduce wasted energy from lighting in unoccupied rooms.
While most energy management strategies can result in a three-year or less payback, investments in alternative energy sources provide a much longer return on investment (sometimes 10 to 15 years). However, funding from utilities and state or local agencies can minimize the costs substantially. "We're putting two fuel cells [in hotels] in the state of New Jersey. We received $1.6 million from the New Jersey Clean Energy Fund for these units. Now we're going to get some additional energy efficiency [and] we're going to be to 'clean and green,'" says Lembo.
Cogeneration, or combined heat and power as it's often called, is another means to reduce peak-load demand rates. "It's a much more efficient way of generating power because you are using waste heat," Lembo explains. As noted by AH&LA, another advantage of cogeneration is the increased reliability of your energy supply.
If the idea of implementing a program seems daunting, remember the following of Sprague's comments: "The real bottom line is there is no logical reason why any hotelier can't implement one of these programs - it's just bad business judgment [if they don't]."
Start with an energy audit. An independent company or consultant can look at your facility's historic energy profile, diagnose effective energy conservation methods, and recommend changes to systems and procedures.
Make sure your consumption and goals are measurable. "Energy accounting is the foundation of any energy program," Sprague advises.
Educate yourself. Contact associations such as the AH&LA, use the Internet, learn how to read your monthly utility statements, and find out about rebate opportunities.
Scrutinize operations. Evaluate all processes from food preparation to laundry services and ask your team to provide suggestions for improvement.
Invest appropriate capital. When building products and systems need upgrading, align capital to deliver energy-efficient alternatives.
Whether you own or manage one hotel or an entire portfolio, the quest for energy management must be ongoing. Says Figueroa, "You can always do better - as long as you stay in pursuit
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HVAC
Energy Savings Tips for Your Business
Check out these no cost solutions that can help your business become more cost-effective by saving on energy costs.
HVAC
• Check your HVAC manual for easy maintenance you can perform yourself for free. You could save as much as 5% on energy costs with regular check ups.
• Use your HVAC economizers and take advantage of free cool outside air. During winter, make sure your economizer is working properly, an economizer that has stuck open can dramatically increase heating costs.
• In the summer, keep the shades closed to block the hot afternoon sunlight. You won't have to use as much air conditioning. During winter, open shades on the South exposure, during the day, to let the warmth of the sun in. Close shades during the night to keep heat in.
• Fans are a great way to create your own wind chill. Ceiling fans work particularly well in areas with high ceilings. Ceiling fans work equally well in the winter to circulate warm air from the ceiling back down to the occupied space.
• Keep all registers or vents clear of drapes, desks, plants, or boxes. This will keep the conditioned air moving freely.
• Set thermostat at 76°F in summer and 68°F in winter. Set back temperatures to 85°F in summer and 60°F in winter, during unoccupied hours.
Turn it off!
• Turn off unnecessary lights to save electricity and cut down on the heat lights produce.
• Turn off or lower cooking equipment during slower hours.
• You can consolidate many perishable items into fewer cooling units - then unplug the extra refrigerator or freezers!
• Turn off machines that you don't run very often. You may have to wait an extra minute for it to warm up when you do use it, but the savings sure help.
• Turn off computers, printers and fax machines every night before leaving.
Keep things clean
• Clean the dust and dirt off of light fixtures. Periodic cleaning of dusty bulbs and fixtures can save up to $1 in lost illumination per four-lamp fixture per month.
• Clean the dust off of refrigerator coils by vacuuming underneath and in back.
• Clean your air conditioner filters. Window units have filters that should be cleaned with soap and water and air dried monthly while in use.
• Clean grease and food particles from exhaust hoods. Clean filters regularly. Grease build-up can increase ventilation energy costs and the potential for fires.
Building Maintenance
• As part of your regular maintenance schedule, be sure to check your facility's caulking and weather-stripping. These simple, cost-effective projects can actually save a substantial amount on your heating and cooling bills without requiring outside help.
ENERGY SAVING TIPS
ENERGY SAVING TIPS
As do you now the prices of crude oil per barrel is higher and higher as the situation politic in the world unstable. TDL was increase by Government in order PLN will not loose due to high operating cost.
Energy expenses are part of cost of doing business. Total amount of these expenses is 10 to 30 percents of revenue.
Saving energy makes good business sense .Following some tip of saving energy.
Lighting
• Use compact fluorescent light bulb and energy saving bulbs instead of incandescent. They last up to 10 times longer and can reduce lighting costs by 75%.
• Replaced coil ballast with electronic ballast able to save consumption of reactive power.
• Consider removing excess fluorescent bulbs and installing reflectors
• The simplest way to reduce light levels is remove unnecessary lamps.
• Install motion detectors in frequently unoccupied areas such as bathrooms, copy rooms and warehouses.
• Use photocells or astronomical clocks with outdoor lighting to prevent unnecessary light usage during daylight hours.
• A change as simple as replacing the incandescent lamps in exit lights with fluorescents can lower your energy cost.
• Turn off unnecessary lights to save electricity and cut down on the heat lights produce.
Building Maintenance
• The first thing is to make sure that you have sufficient insulation in the ceiling floor. Ceiling insulation can save up to 30 percent of your cooling bill.
Water
• Install low flow showerheads, faucets, or flow restrictors.
• Insulate your hot water pipes especially if they are in unheated areas.
• Replaced washer and faucets that drip or a leaky faucet.
• Installed photo cell sensor faucet valve
• Not all water tanks need to be insulated, but do insulate water pipes so you don't lose the hot water you've already paid for.
Building Equipment
• Use a solar cover on your pool. The sun's warmth is absorbed through the cover and reduces the need for extra heating costs.
• Install auto door-closers and strip curtains on walk-in freezers or coolers.
• Electric motors and equipment operated by motors give off heat. If they are located in an air conditioned or refrigerated space they contribute to the cooling load. If possible, move this equipment to an unconditioned area. Energy savings would result since there would be a lower load on the air conditioner or refrigeration unit.
• Maintenance on a compressed air system can significantly affect the operating costs and efficiency. Delaying or ignoring maintenance can end up costing far more than the cost of labor or parts.
• Install interior or exterior shading devices you can block 65 to 95 percent of the sun's heat into your building. Insure the shades are properly sized so they will not block the sun.
• Plant deciduous trees or shrubs on the south and west sides of your building. This acts as insulation, provides shade, and blocks reflected heat from patios or driveways.
Office Equipment
• Laptop computers use 90% less energy than desktop models.
• Ink-jet printers also consume 90% less energy than laser printers.
• Turn off computers, printers and fax machines every night before leaving.
• Turn off machines that you don't run very often. You may have to wait an extra minute for it to warm up when you do use it, but the savings sure help.
• E-mail documents instead of using the fax machine.
HVAC
• If your furnace filters are dirty, you're burning money. For replaceable filters, change them every spring and fall. For washable filters, it's best to clean them monthly.
• Install a programmable thermostat. No need to cool the building if you're not at work and it's easy to forget to turn back down.
• Install locking covers on your thermostats to prevent employee tampering with temperature settings.
• Air conditioner economizers (common in packaged rooftop units) will use the cool nighttime air outside to help cool the inside of your building.
• Install fans or other re-circulating systems to create air movement. Proper air circulation improves space comfort and system efficiency.
• Check your HVAC manual for easy maintenance you can perform yourself for free. You could save as much as 5% on energy costs with regular check ups.
• Use your HVAC economizers and take advantage of free cool outside air. During winter, make sure your economizer is working properly; an economizer that has stuck open can dramatically increase heating costs.
• Fans are a great way to create your own wind chill. Ceiling fans work particularly well in areas with high ceilings. Ceiling fans work equally well in the winter to circulate warm air from the ceiling back down to the occupied space.
• Keep all registers or vents clear of drapes, desks, plants, or boxes. This will keep the conditioned air moving freely.
• Set thermostat at lower temperature at day time and higher at night time.
• Cleaning Chiller condenser, A/C split condenser, FCU and AHU filter regularly can save to 20%.
Kitchen
• Turn off or lower cooking equipment during slower hours.
• You can consolidate many perishable items into fewer cooling units - then unplug the extra refrigerator or freezers!
• Each time you open oven door you can loose 20% of the heat.
Keep things clean
• Clean the dust and dirt off of light fixtures. Periodic cleaning of dusty bulbs and fixtures can save up to $1 in lost illumination per four-lamp fixture per month.
• Clean the dust off of refrigerator coils by vacuuming underneath and in back.
• Clean your air conditioner filters. Window units have filters that should be cleaned with soap and water and air dried monthly while in use.
• Clean grease and food particles from exhaust hoods. Clean filters regularly. Grease build-up can increase ventilation energy costs and the potential for fires.
Building Maintenance
• As part of your regular maintenance schedule, be sure to check your facility's caulking and weather-stripping. These simple, cost-effective projects can actually save a substantial amount on your heating and cooling bills without requiring outside help.
Interior Design
• Choose new energy-conscious thermal curtains containing a layer of insulating material. Drapery contractors carry movable thermal insulation and you pick the fabric to match your business decor.
• Insulated decorative ceiling tiles not only add beauty to your ceiling, but insulation as well. These tiles can be found in hardware or building supply stores.
Best Regards
Muhammad Irwan
Chief Engineer
Hôtel de la Paix
Sivutha Boulevard
Siem Reap
Kingdom of Cambodia
Mobile +85512330531
Tel: +855 63 966000, Fax: +855 63 966001/2
Email:ce@hoteldelapaixangkor.com
http://www.hoteldelapaixangkor.com
