Common Energy Management Conservation Opportunities
Sources of building energy savings
There are a number of low cost / no cost options to
save energy in buildings by helping occupants
becone more aware of how they are using energy
and providing information and guidance on what to
do in situations. The list below has some of the
most common suggestions.*
Instructions and signage
Put up signs wherever there is manual control of
an energy using device. For example, place a sign
at the entrance to a room, near the switches and
on the inside of the door that tells the last user of
the room to turn the lights off.
For equipment that is harder to use without
instruction, like room air conditioning, create a
simple guide placed near the wall controls or taped
to the remote explaining exactly what to do.
Controls
Ensure all controls are labelled to indicate their
function and, if appropriate, their new lower set-
tings. Establish responsibilities for control setting,
review and adjustment.
Heating
Turn heating down, replace inefficient boilers,
install de-stratification fans (fans used in commer-
cial/industrial buildings with high ceilings), shorten
hours of operation.
Where possible, heat only areas that are occupied
and that heating is off or reduced in non-working
hours.
Ventilation
Specify higher efficiency motors, consider variable
speed fans, review time settings and turn off when
not in use.
*Adapted from BEIS good practice guidance
-1-
Ensure that the main ventilation plant and toilet
extractor fans are switched off outside occupancy
hours and are not kept running and that kitchen
fans are switched off when no cookign is taking
place.
Check that windows are not being opened to avoid
overheating during winter.
Air-conditioning
Review temperature controls, consider variable
speed drives, free cooling coils (using external air
as a source of cooling)
Lighting
Install occupancy sensors, install daylight sensors,
review and improve the maintenance plan (more
regular maintenance), replace inefficient incandes-
cent bulbs with high efficiency LED lighting or
energy saving fluorescent lighting (e.g. T5 light-
ing).
Ensure that someone is responsible for switching
off lights in each room or area when not in use.
Make the best use of daylight by keeping window
and roof lights clean and bu using working areas
near windows where possible. Encourage staff to
turn off lights when daylight is good.
Install ’task’ lighting where this means that back-
ground artificial lighting levels or hours of use can
be reduced.
Avoid excessive lighting levels and hours of use in
corridors. Remove lamps or replace with efficient
fittings to appropriate lighting levels.
Building fabric
Install cavity wall and roof insulation, install high
efficiency windows and glazing, draught proofing.
 COMMON ENERGY MANAGEMENT CONSERVATION OPPORTUNITIES
Building control
Install a computer-based building management
system, ensure control systems are set correctly
for different weather conditions and occupancy lev-
els, install variable-speed drives
Sources of process energy savings
*Process energy savings in industrial facilities can
be intricate and complex, depending on the kind of
operations being carried out. A number of energy
conservation opportunities tend to appear time
after time. The list below summarises the most
common opportunities that arise and include
process modifications, lighting and space condi-
tioning strategies.
The entire process system must be understood
before changes are made, and the selection of a
given strategy will depend on how it ranks in fre-
quency, savings and investment metrics. This list
acts as a starting point to investigate low and no-
cost energy savings options.
Energy efficient lighting
Lighting is the most visible form of energy usage in
many organisations, although often not the highest
consumer of energy. The options for energy reduc-
tion include:
• Delamping: removing lamps while maintaining
illumination levels
• Switch to energy efficient lamps: Move to T8 or
T5 fluorescent lamps or install LED panels. LEDs
now come in tube fashion as well.
Use night setback-setup
Review all controls to check that lights and temper-
atures are set back at night when demand is
reduced. Temperatures may be turned up or down
depending on the kind of equipment in operation
such as ovens that must be kept running, large
refrigeration units and space conditioning.
*Adapted from Capehart, W.B, Turner, C.W and Kennedy, W.J.
“Guide to Energy Management (International Version). Fifth
Edition. 2008.
-2-
Turn off equipment
Turn off all exhaust fans, ovens, motors, computers
and other equipment when not needed.
Move air compressor intake to cooler locations
Air intakes should be moved from hot rooms with
equipment to cooler locations, often outside. This
can result in large efficiencies and attractive pay-
backs.
Air and steam leaks
Eliminate leaks in steam and compressed air sys-
tems. Steam and compressed air leaks are expen-
sive and should be fixed as soon as possible.
Repairs can sometimes be done without shut-
downs. Night audits, when the background noise is
less, often turns up large numbers of leaks.
Control excess air
Carefully controlling the air used in combustion
can result in savings.
Optimise plant power factor
Reducing reactive losses through power factor cor-
rection or more efficient equipment can result in
both energy reductions and cost savings depend-
ing on how supply contracts are structured.
Process insulation
Insulate bare tanks, vessels, lines and process
equipment. Insulation of process lines and tanks
can result in good savings. Condensate return
lines and tanks are often not insulated.
Air infiltration
Install storm windows, doors and weather strip-
ping. It is difficult to justify replacing old windows
on an energy savings basis unless they are miss-
ing glass or severely leaking. Cheaper options
such as storm windows can reduce air flow while
doors and weather stripping to seal air leaks can
retain heat energy longer.
Use energy efficient motors
When motors need to be replaced consider
 COMMON ENERGY MANAGEMENT CONSERVATION OPPORTUNITIES
energy-efficient motors instead of standard as they
can usually be justified.
Preheat combustion air
Recuperators save large amounts of energy and
can be highly cost effective.
Pressure reductions
Reduce the pressure of compressed air and
steam. If pressures have been overdesigned
reductions will not harm the process and large
savings are possible.
Insulate walls, ceilings, roofs and doors
Industrial plants are frequently poorly insulated.
Install insulation in dropped ceilings, on roofs or
walls and doors.
Recover heat from air compressor
Large air compressors reject large amounts of
heat through air or water cooling. This can be used
for space conditioning during cold weather and
exhausted during warm weather and can have
attractive paybacks.
Insulate dock doors
Plastic strips, dock bumpers, vestibules and air
screens can help block airflow and heat losses
through large dock doors. If spaces are heated
and/or air-conditioned paybacks can be attractive.
Install economizers on air conditioners
Using outside air optimally can reduce how often
air conditioning is required and can be an attrac-
tive source of savings.
Use radiant heat
Infrared heaters can be used to provide targeted
heating rather than heating large areas. Infrared
heating works like the sun, warming people and
objects but not space and can have attractive pay-
backs.
Return steam condensate to boilers
Returning hot condensate can reduce energy,
-3-
water and water conditioning costs and return
lines should be insulated.
Product design
Change product design to reduce energy require-
ments. Product redesign can often reduce the
amount of process energy required for heat treat-
ment, cleaning, coating, painting and so on.
Heat recovery
Consider waste heat recovery for space exhaust
systems. Exhaust air from buildings that are
heated or air conditioned may offer the potential
for heat recovery.
Heat transfer
Install devices to improve heat transfer in boilers.
Turbulators and other devices that optimise com-
bustion processes can reduce the amount of
energy required per unit of product.
Optimise operations
Reschedule operations to reduce peak demand.
This may not reduce consumption, but depending
on the supply contract in place savings can be
made by optimising operational work patterns.
Cover open heated tanks
Open tanks should be covered using rubber flaps,
cantilevered tops and other mechanisms to keep
heat in the tanks.
Spot-ventilate or use air filters
In processes such as welding spot ventilation can
reduce the amount needed while electrostatic or
other such air filters can allow the air to be reused.
Large heated or air-conditioned spaces see the
largest benefits.
Refrigeration
Reduce the heat loads on systems through
reduced air infiltration, free cooling, raise process
temperatures, improve control of auxiliary equip-
ment (pumps/fans), install better temperature con-
trol, keep doors closed, donât overfill units, ensure
 COMMON ENERGY MANAGEMENT CONSERVATION OPPORTUNITIES

lights are off inside units when not in use, regular

cleaning of the condenser.

Motors and drives

Install high efficiency motors, install variable speed
drives, implement automatic switch off controls/
procedures, install time switches, interlocks or sen-
sors, monitor motor output to identify energy
wastage

Transport

Fuel consumption
Monitor fuel consumption, monitor driver fuel per-
formance, under taking fuel efficiency driver train-
ing, invest in telematics systems that can identify
areas for improvement.

Driver fuel performance

Can be enhanced by: switching off the engine
when safe to do so, minimising idling, shifting to
higher gears earlier, accelerating and braking gen-
tly and smoothly, avoiding excessive speeds, use
of cruise controls and, closing windows at higher
speeds. This could be supported by linking to
driver incentives.

Routing and scheduling

Review logistics routes, reduce empty running,
maximise loads

Maintenance and vehicle improvements

Tyre management, implement fleet renewal pro-
gramme, aerodynamic improvements, improved
maintenance schedules

Employees

Awareness campaigns
Employee engagement, communications on
energy efficiency, targeted incentives

-4-