Business Energy Waste
I usually don’t work long hours or weekends, but this past week was an exception for me. I had to work long hours and a weekend day to meet an important deadline. You may conclude from the title that I found out just how much energy my business is really wasting. The company I work for is not alone. Many major companies across America leave their lights on during all hours of the night, even though when nobody is occupying the building.
Photo by poYang.
The average office building in America leaves their lighting on for more than 20% of their typical operating hours. Even though many offices use a high percentage of energy efficient lighting, there is still no need to waste that much energy. I understand that certain businesses like health care organizations need to keep their lighting on almost all the time, but why the need in office buildings? Offices throughout America are losing approximately $5 – $10 billion every year because of this excess use of energy.
Lighting is only part of the problem. Computer and monitors are left on at all hours of the night. I previously discussed how much energy computers waste and is contributing to the high energy cost that busineses face every year. There is no reason that most people cannot turn of their computers every night even when no applications are running on their machines.
If you work at a business where you see these types of things happening, it’s time to make a difference. There are various items that you can propose to someone at the top of your company or to the office management company.
- Lesson Lighting Hours – As described above, offices are lighting their buildings for many more hours than necessary. Show that a large amount of money can be saved by either turning off the majority or at least some of the lights during non-business hours.
- Efficient Lighting – Another way to get your company to reduce their energy use is to propose buying more energy efficient lighting. Fluorescent and CFL lighting are two alternatives to traditional incandescent bulbs and are another way they can save money. This doesn’t have to apply to just overhead lighting, but also office desk lighting as well.
- Turn Off Computers – Try to get an email sent by somebody in upper management to urge employees to turn off or put their computers to sleep at times they are not present in the office. At minimum, manybe even urge employees to turn off computer monitors and lighting at the desks.
I really hope that more businesses across America begin to see how much energy they are wasting by allowing lights and computers to remain on during off-hours. Even if they don’t care about the energy waste, at least seeing how much money they could save should be a motivating factor.
Comments
I really can’t stand fluorescent lighting of any kind, and even CFL lights bother my eyes. I wish there were other alternatives. I know some workplaces are embracing natural lighting as much as possible, but in large office buildings this is less likely to be a manageable solution. I like the idea of at least being able to adjust how bright the lighting is in each individual work space.
My office has been trying to get people to be more energy efficient recently, mainly to try and cut costs. We were told to shut off our computers each night (after being told explicitly NOT to for years, on the off chance the IT department would need to log in remotely at night…), and I’m constantly switching off the office kitchen light when no one is in the kitchen.
I have a similar blog post focused on management taking charge and making sure employees turn off computers each night.
http://blog.mapawatt.com/2009/03/28/turn_off_computers/
Without management stepping up and demanding it, employees wont make it a priority. We need energy conservation leaders!
@Ave Natura: There actually are alternatives. One alternative is to buy CFLs and fluorescent tubes that oscillate at a higher frequency. The regular models oscillate at 50Hz (I think), which is too slow for sensitive people. Models that oscillate at 100Hz are available – although they’re not quite as energy efficient as their 50Hz counterparts.
Another alternative that is emerging, is LED lamps. While not quite ready for prime time in all circumstances yet, they’ll almost certainly improve a lot over the next few years.
I recently wrote a post about their status quo at the moment, and a few scenarios they could be put to use at the moment (showing manufacturers there’s a demand for LED bulbs):
http://www.renewablesathome.com/energy-conservation/led-light-bulbs-test-run
Also, Evolux has a series of high-end LED bulbs that are supposed to be good – I haven’t tried them myself.
this is real a lot of people is wasting energy and they even think about the big damage that this cost to our planet is really sad
Thanks Thomas for your great link. I have heard good things about LED bulbs as well that are even more efficient than CFLs.
@Pays to Live Green: My pleasure
I’ve been trying to get my hands on one of the Evolux bulbs so I can test it properly, but I’m having a hard time finding it available for shipping to Europe. So far I’ve only been able to get the cheap, low quality LED bulbs.
Me and my family try to turn off all our computers in our house to conserve electricity. Its a small thing we can all do to help stop the waste of energy.
Thanks for the interesting post. It is a pity that so few people think about what we are causing enormous harm to the planet.
Most business will not take the necessary steps to change from the current lighting systems in order up grade to LED lighting without tax breaks
Great article. I found a great way to save energy and money at my office just by changing my lighting. I used a great tool called Energy Efficient Lighting Calculator
Energy Efficient Lighting Calculator
. I was also able to find a company for installation through this company as well! Loved it!