Module 3: Energy Conservation
Overview
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This module is designed as an overview of energy and electricity production and to guide you through how to reduce your energy use and costs. If you’d like to skip straight to a list of things you can do to conserve energy, see EnergyStar’s 12 Sure Savers.
Energy 101
Energy is needed to heat and cool office buildings, provide light, and power the computer, copier, refrigerator and other equipment you use on a daily basis. Most of the energy used in office buildings is in the form of electricity. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1 – Site Energy Use in Office Buildings
Electricity is generated at power plants and then distributed through transmission lines to the points of use, including office buildings. Power plants must generate electricity from one or more sources, including various fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil), nuclear energy, or a variety of renewable sources such as wind, water, geothermal, the sun, and biomass (plants and other organic material).
About 75% of U.S. office building energy use is in the form of electricity. [1] In Georgia, about 95% of the electricity generated comes from coal-fired and nuclear-powered facilities. (See Figure 2.) This is higher than the national average of 79% from coal and nuclear.
Figure 2 – Electricity Generation by Energy Source, 2000 (data from US D.O.E.)
For more information on the generation and distribution of electricity, please see:
Electricity Sources:
- http://www.masstech.org/cleanenergy/energy/sources.htm
- http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/renewable_energy_basics/offmen-the-sources-of-energy.html
Electric Power Plants, The Electric Grid, Electricity Demand and Measurement:
Figure 3 – Site Electricity Use in Office Buildings
Energy Conservation and Efficiency
Energy conservation is the reduction in the use of energy by avoiding its use. Energy efficiency is performing the same process or task with less energy. (For example, replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, which have the same light output but use less energy.) Both concepts are ways to achieve energy savings. By definition, however, energy efficiency creates “savings” only when higher-efficiency equipment is running. For a short article on this topic, see http://www.greenbiz.com/news/columns_third.cfm?NewsID=34440.
Why should energy be a concern for owners and operators of office buildings? Because the use of energy has both economic and environmental implications.
References
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