Business Energy Tips

No Cost

• Disconnect or remove lamps in multiple lamp fixtures. Use task lighting where needed. Use up to 50% less in lighting energy.
• Make sure you are getting the best possible light by cleaning fixtures and replacing any yellowed or hazy lenses and diffusers twice a year.
• Open blinds and shades. Turn off lights in unoccupied areas or in spaces with sufficient natural lighting.
• Turn off the lights when not needed. It is a myth that leaving them on uses less energy than turning them off. Turn off signage and other lights not necessary for security and safety.

Low Cost

• Buy fixtures that have a dimmer, which allow you to manually adjust the intensity of light in a room. Because most lights use less electricity at lower settings, you do not need to pay for more light than you need. Dimmers can be used with incandescent lights, including low-voltage systems, but only with new-screw-based dimmable fluorescent bulbs. Other fluorescent lights must have their own dimmable ballasts.

Good Investment

• Install energy management system (EMS) technology to control lighting systems automatically. Energy savings can range from 10 to 15% of total lighting energy use.
• Install exit signs with Light Emitting Diodes (LED). A new LED exit sign fixture will save about 90% over an incandescent bulb’s operating costs.
• Install occupancy sensors in the proper locations to automatically turn off lighting when no one is present, and back on when they return. Use sensors in rooms with high traffic (break rooms, restrooms, conference rooms) for reduced lighting costs of up to 40%. But don’t install the sensor behind a coat rack, door or book case. It must be able to “see” the motion of occupant approaching an unlit area to turn on the light before, or as they enter.
• Replace red-signal traffic lights. Red-signal lights consume the most energy, followed by green-signal lights.
• Replace standard flourescents. T8s and matched electronic ballasts provide an estimated savings of 35 to 45% of electricity operating costs.
• Retrofit hallway and security lighting. Convert hallway and non-public security lighting to energy saving 25-Watt T12 bulbs.
• Rewire restroom fans to operate when lights are turned on and turn off when the restroom is unoccupied.