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Earth Day is usually the time when corporations focus in on new ways to be a more energy efficient organization. Being energy efficient has a great impact on a company’s utility rates, as well as reduce its ecological footprint. Hunton Services helps businesses maximize energy resources by providing a complete suite of cost-effective, integrated energy solutions that achieve significant cost savings. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, HVAC accounts for approximately 40% of energy consumption in commercial buildings, and another 10% is used for lighting. These consumptions are critical for any business, so we are going to discuss how to make them more efficient, which helps both your organization and the environment.

Enhance Your Building’s Lighting

Your building’s lighting is a major factor in your building’s energy consumption. Knowing this, there are several easy solutions that you can begin implementing that will reduce the amount of energy you are consuming. The first is to not rely on ceiling lighting fixtures that are common in most buildings, but also to utilize your natural light that comes into your building. You can also include lighting controls that will automatically brighten or dim the rooms as needed. Lighting controls will also turn off building lights automatically – so there is no need to keep reminding building residents to turn off the lights when they leave a room. Switching to LED lighting is another great way to reduce your lighting energy consumption. LED lights run more efficiently, last longer, produce less heat, and they don’t contain harmful chemicals found in fluorescent bulbs.

Schedule Preventative Maintenance Visits

Having a preventative maintenance (PM) schedule on your HVAC equipment is the best way to ensure equipment efficiency. Preventive maintenance is regular, planned maintenance that is scheduled according to usage or time-based triggers. This maintenance includes, but is not limited to; adjustments, cleaning, lubrication, repairs, and parts replacements. Ideally, a preventive maintenance schedule will prevent all equipment failure before it occurs. It will save time, increase energy savings, provide better indoor air quality, and keep an operation running efficiently and productively.

Upgrade Your Building With A Building Automation System (BAS)

Building Automation Systems allow you to enact many energy-saving measures in your facility.  Simple solutions such as setting building schedules or temperature set point limits can greatly reduce your building’s energy profile. Taking advantage of economizing, or “free-cooling/heating”, reduces the need for mechanical cooling and heating by using outside air. You can also implement Supply Air Temperature Reset or Hot/Chilled Water Reset. These programs are designed to measure the necessary demand and adjust to meet that load, instead of running a system at high capacity when it is not needed.  Installing and maintaining a building automation system can be a key factor in reducing the environmental impact of your facility.

Utilize Your Data To Provide Better Insight

Our Hunton SMART Services team utilizes industry-leading data mining capabilities to provide greater insight into a system’s operations. Using HVAC analytics software to identify performance issues and inefficiencies, they are able to provide actionable recommendations to our field technicians. Being proactive onsite allows us to use our resources efficiently and effectively. In fact, our Facility Analysts can resolve many of our customer’s issues remotely, avoiding a truck roll altogether, and reducing our carbon footprint.  Hunton Services is committed to creating a safe, sustainable, and comfortable environment for our customers.  Learn more about our connected service and let us help your organization in reaching your sustainability goals.