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Follow these steps to get the most use from every kiloWatt-hour of electricity.
- Build a team. Include representatives from management or administration—top-level commitment is paramount.
- Schedule a planning session and start laying the groundwork. Set realistic goals. Is saying you want to save 10 percent over two years possible? What is the base you will measure against? How and when will the measurement be made?
- Create an action plan for implementing the top priority energy-saving measures. Decide who will do what by when and within what budget. Schedule time to celebrate your successes. Instead of waiting until the end of a two-year program to announce results, create regular milestones and incentives to meet them. Make people feel they're a part of the program's success, and it will take on a life of its own.
- Look at your current energy use and costs. Understand what equipment uses the most energy. A small improvement in an area that consumes a lot of energy, like heating and cooling, water heating, or lighting, will make a larger impact on the bottom line. Visit the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network for more information.
- Consult with your electric company. Your utility energy services representative will likely have information about typical energy use in your business, utility incentive programs, discount rates, and energy-efficient equipment. If your business has locations served by more than one utility, EEI's National Accounts network will help to arrange contact between each involved utility and your facilities.
- Conduct an audit of your facilities' energy use. A walk-through audit is a simple, low-tech place to start. Pay particular attention to people's habits and procedures that can be adopted to use energy more efficiently. For more in-depth information, consider a computerized analysis audit.
An electronic energy management control (EMC) system can save 10–20 percent on electricity costs. It may be the most cost-effective measure you can take, especially to guard against needless energy waste.
- Determine how long it will take your investment to pay for itself in energy savings. Simply divide the cost of the improvement by the annual energy savings. The result is the number of years to pay back the investment. This method doesn't take into account inflation, energy cost changes, tax effects, or expected life of equipment, so you may want to use an adjusted-payback or life-cycle costing method.
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