4 Tips to keep your energy bill from haunting you
With the close of national energy month, don't forget about these tricks to go along with your Halloween treats!
October is really when fall starts to kick in; we grab our pumpkin spice lattes, pull our sweaters out of storage, and begin to plan for Halloween. But in addition to the tricks and treats of Halloween, the US Department of Energy also designates October as Energy Awareness Month. It is the perfect time to look at the foundational elements of energy-saving and make sure that you are incorporating them into your property management practices.
As the air turns a bit cooler in the fall, we start to notice air leaks, goblins that will steal conditioned air. The result is an increased use of heating to replace the lost conditioned air. It is essential to check doors and windows for air leaks, inspect weather stripping, and make sure that the envelope is sealed. One trick is to grab an infrared camera on a cool evening and look at the exterior of the building.
Also known as Thermography, an infrared scanning device allows a building professional to detect air leakage in building envelopes. Fall and winter are particularly useful for this exercise as the warmer air escaping the cooler areas of the building will light up brightly on the infrared device providing a quick check of the insulating qualities of the building envelope. A similar technique using the same tools can also be used to identify potential water intrusion.
Energy vampires are also on the prowl. In a world with an ever-increasing number of devices, and the impact of the energy consumption by these plugged-in devices, plug load has become an increasingly important topic. A Stanford study showed that, on average, 23% of household electricity consumption in Northern California was not only the result of plugged-in devices but idle plugged-in devices. These inactive plug loads can lead to more significant energy losses than you might imagine. It is estimated that the average US Household uses $165 a year in energy for devices that are always on but inactive. Think those loads are only impacting your residents? Take a look at the management office or a stroll down to the maintenance shop; chances are you have more vampire loads than you realized.
That water heater may be another scary villain, swiping energy right under your nose. For most multifamily buildings with central domestic hot water systems, the inefficiencies are more pronounced than single-family residences. These systems typically carry larger volumes of water, greater distances resulting in longer wait times, water waste, and standby thermal loss. In fact, domestic hot water represents approximately 20% of the overall energy consumption for residential homes nationally, according to the Energy Information Administration.
In many instances, the existing condition of the water heating systems is far below current efficiency standards and may have even passed the expected useful life. Fortunately, there are rebate and incentive programs in several jurisdictions that can help finance the cost of replacing those older, inefficient heaters.
Finally, it may be time for some of your older electronics or appliances to go to the graveyard; just remember to recycle them. Efficiencies continue to improve nearly every year, so it may pay to evaluate if newer, more efficient models may be more cost-effective than holding on to older, more inefficient technology. The ENERGY STAR is a great place to start; if the older device isn’t energy star labeled and a new one is ENERGY STAR labeled, it may be worth looking into. The Department of Energy has an easy-to-use online calculator to help estimate appliance and home electronic use. Also, visit EnergySaver.gov for more tricks to save energy and money.
Don’t hide from scary energy bills; there are steps that we can take to identify opportunities and improve efficiency.
I hope you have a safe Halloween, whatever that looks like for you and yours this year.
You can help reduce the impact of the built environment by sharing this blog with your peers. Together we can impact the 39% of greenhouse gasses attributed to the built environment. It starts with awareness, and we succeed with teamwork.
Stay well!
Chris Laughman is the ThirtyNine Blog author, a blog dedicated to reducing the impact of the built environment. When not blogging, Chris is helping the real estate industry minimize energy and water impact as the Vice President of Sustainability for Conservice, the Utility Experts. Whether Multifamily, Single Family, Student Housing, Commercial, or Military, we simplify utility billing and expense management by doing it for you. Our insight into your utility consumption provides an opportunity to identify risks. Leveraging innovation and experience, we ignite solutions with tangible impacts and track performance to ensure the trendline stays laser-focused on the goal. To get there, we must build relationships within our organizations and outside of our organizations building the critical mass needed to truly make a difference. We have before us a tremendous opportunity. Standing shoulder to shoulder, we will get this done. Contact me at claughman@conservice.com for more information.
Follow us at:
Twitter: @BlogThirtynine
Instragram: ThirtyNine_Blog