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How energy-efficiency can help cut your costs
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Cutting back on energy use can boost your savings as well as aiding the environment, writes Dick O’Brien.

With the growing acceptance that global warming has man-made causes and that fossil fuels are an exhaustible resource, there has been a growing movement in recent years towards a more energy-efficient lifestyle.

This has coincided with a boom in the number of electrical appliances in the typical home or business, and record numbers of new cars on the roads in recent years.

Cutting back on energy use is not merely about sacrificing your comforts to save the earth. It means reducing your outgoings and keeping more money in your pocket. Now that the economy has taken a turn for the worse, there is probably no better time to review your energy use.

Most energy-saving measures don’t cost any money, but simply involve changing your habits. Where an investment is required, that cost – and more - can often be recouped over time through lower energy bills.

HOME

1 Lighting
Although individual bulbs may not consume massive amounts of electricity, lighting is so ubiquitous in the modern home that significant cost savings can be made. Simply turning off lights when a room isn’t in use - which many people don’t do - will result in savings. Regularly cleaning light fittings will maximise the amount of light available, so that higher powered ones won’t be needed. Finally, switching over to CFL light bulbs will also yield savings. Although they cost more than traditional bulbs, they use only 20 per cent of the energy and last up to 15 times as long.

2 Insulation
Many new houses are built with high insulation standards, but older homes can often be improved. Insulating your attic will save up to 20 per cent of your home heating bill, according to Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI), the state agency charged with promoting responsible energy use. A lagging jacket on your water boiler will keep water warmer for longer and pay for itself in two to three months. Even closing the curtains in all rooms at night can help retain heat.

3 Electronic equipment
Televisions, DVD players, computers and a host of other electronic gadgets now consume more power than they used to because many now feature a stand-by mode. Leaving the television on stand-by may seem convenient, but it can consume up to half the electricity it does when switched on. Even mobile phone chargers left plugged into the wall consume small amounts of power.

4 Energy-rated appliances
Most new household appliances are now required to carry an energy-rating label which outlines how efficient they are in terms of electricity use The ratings run from A to G, with A being the most efficient. If a more expensive appliance is more energy efficient, the lower cost of running it may offset the higher price.

5 Fridges and freezers
These appliances are relatively energy-hungry, so it makes sense to try and cut down on the bills they generate. Letting frost build up in your freezer compartment doesn’t just mean that there is less room for the frozen peas. It also increases energy consumption.
Try and defrost the compartment at least once every six months. Placing a fridge or a freezer near a cooker or boiler will also increase the bills as the appliance has to work harder to stay cool. Another useful tip is not to put hot food straight into the freezer. Cooling it down to room temperature means the freezer doesn’t have to work as hard to freeze it.

6 Cooking
Simple measures include putting the lids on saucepans to keep the heat in, and turning down the heat once water starts to boil. When food has almost finished cooking, turn off the rings and use the residual heat to finish the job. Deep fat fryers, pressure cookers, slow casseroles and microwaves are all more energy-efficient than traditional forms of cooking. If using a microwave, periodically stir or turn the item to speed up cooking time.

7 Tumble dryers
Tumble dryers are heavy energy users, so small efficiencies can result in big savings. The biggest inefficiency can result from letting the dryer run for longer than necessary to dry clothes. Try and separate light and heavy items for drying, as the former will dry more quickly. A washing line, of course, uses zero energy.

8 Washing machines
While most washing machines come with an array of preset washing cycles, many homeowners rely on only a few. Clothes should be washed at the lowest appropriate temperature for the fabric type. Always try to fill the machine, as a full load is more energy-efficient than several smaller ones. Selecting a cold rinse will also reduce electricity consumption.

9 Dishwashers
Most modern dishwashers come with an economy setting that should be used if you want to keep energy usage to a minimum. You could also consider stopping the dishwasher before the drying cycle kicks in and opening the door to allow the dishes to dry naturally.

10 Hot water
According to Sustainable Energy Ireland, heating water can account for 64 per cent of the energy consumption in an average home. Using a timer switch on an immersion heater should ensure you heat only the amount of water you need.

11 Electric heating
If you rely on electric heating in the home, avoid using conventional electric heaters if at all possible. Although convenient, they consume much more electricity than storage heaters, which use cheaper night time electricity to generate heat which is released during the day. Don’t forget to turn them off if leaving for more than a day.

12 Radiators
Whether using storage heaters or conventional radiators, the position of units can make a big difference to the energy consumed. Avoid positioning a radiator beneath a window, because heat can be lost through it. If you already have a radiator beneath a window, you can reduce the heat loss by positioning a shelf above the radiator.

13 Central heating
According to Sustainable Energy Ireland, 20 degrees Celsius is the ideal room temperature. Turning down your thermostat by as little as 1 degree can reduce your annual central heating energy bill by as much as 10 per cent. Bedroom areas usually require a temperature of only 18 degrees, so regulate temperatures in individual rooms if you can. Proper use and regular maintenance of your heating system can reduce fuel consumption by between 10 and 20 per cent.

14 Showers and baths
Don’t be fooled by the constant flow of water in a shower. A bath actually uses far more hot water than the average shower, so try and make baths an occasional treat, rather than a regular event.

15 Solar energy
While many energy-saving measures cost little or nothing, some require a degree of investment before the rewards can be reaped. Solar energy, or power reaped from the sun’s heat, is free but requires the necessary equipment to capture it. Around five million households use this technology throughout Europe, but only 3,000 of those homes are in Ireland. Sustainable Energy Ireland believes that a correct-sized solar water heating system can provide 50 to 60 per cent of water heating requirements.

16 Passive solar energy
Anyone building a new house or refurbishing an older one should consider passive solar design, that is maximising solar heat gain through the house’s position, layout and glazing, and avoiding heat loss through high levels of insulation and making the building as airtight as possible. Heating bills can be reduced by as much as 80 per cent as a result.

17 Geothermal heating
Geothermal heating involves extracting heat from the ground and bringing it into a building. Although more costly to install than traditional home heating systems, it will repay the investment over time since the energy is free and you are only paying for the equipment.

18 Wood burning
Wood-burning stoves are making a comeback now that environmental concerns are back on the agenda. A tree only takes between three and 70 years to grow, whereas fossil fuels such as oil and gas take thousands of years to develop. The increasing costs of fossil fuels and the government’s shift towards taxing them heavily may make wood a more affordable option in the long run.

19 Avoiding peak hours
Most electricity is used between 5pm and 7pm,when people come home from school or work and put the dinner on. This puts a strain on the national grid, which requires the capacity to deal with high demand for a relatively short period. This can result in inefficiencies at other hours of the day. Avoiding peak times contributes to lowering costs for power companies - which, hopefully, may be passed back in your bill.

20 Christmas lighting
Christmas is on the way and a growing number of Irish households have been splashing out on elaborate lighting displays in recent years. Investing in energy-efficient lights can cut the bill, as LED Christmas lights use up to 90 per cent less energy than traditional bulbs and last up to 100,000 hours when used indoors.

BUSINESS

1 Lighting
If people are careless about leaving the lights on at home, they can often be doubly so at work. The fact that they aren’t paying the bill or that they may be unsure whether they are the last person leaving in the evening means lights are often left on long after people leave, or even all night. Staff need not be hectored. A simple policy of reminding people to switch off the lights if they are leaving may be more than enough.

2 Turning off computers
Some office computers can stay running for weeks on end. Remembering to switch off at the end of the day can save around 25 per cent of the machine’s annual energy bill, according to Power Of One, the government’s energy-saving campaign. Most employers should only have to issue regular reminders for people to do this. If that approach doesn’t work, nominating the last person out at night to check computers may be an alternative.

3 Energy-efficient computers
Even when a computer is running during the day, measures can be taken to ensure that it uses less electricity. Most office computers can be configured to adopt an energy-saving mode if the computer is idle for a pre-defined period. Automatic hibernation means it will power itself down but save open applications for a quick restart. On Windows PCs, the setting can be found in the control panel under the display heading.

4 Screen savers
There is a common misconception that a computer’s screen saver reduces energy consumption. Screen savers were actually introduced to prolong the lives of monitors, as early models were prone to damage if an image on the display remained unchanged for too long. The only way to save energy on a PC is to keep it powered down when not in use.

5Peripherals
Even if employees remember to turn off their own computers when leaving in the evening, other equipment may be overlooked, such as printers, photocopiers and scanners. Since these are shared resources, employees often won’t see them as their responsibility. Once again, a system whereby the last people leaving should check that they are turned off might work best.

6 Choose laptops
While a laptop may be seen as a pricey indulgence, it actually uses around 80 per cent less power than its bigger desktop cousin. If employees ask for laptops as their primary computers, the additional price may be offset by the energy savings at the office.

7 Heating
As with the home, 20 degrees Celsius is usually regarded as the most comfortable temperature. If your heating is running above this, you may be able to turn it down without discomfiting too many people. Watch out for employees using their own plug-in heaters, which are very inefficient in terms of energy usage. If particular employees are feeling the cold then moving them to a warmer area, rather than letting them use their own heaters, will cut electricity bills.

8 Servers
Even small firms now have a battery of servers on their premises, which can add to the overall electricity costs. Some servers are more energy-efficient than others, and multinational PC firm HP recently won the backing of the ESB for its latest generation of blade servers.
The ESB is now promoting the servers to small and medium-sized businesses because of their low power usage. HP reckoned that using the new blade servers would cut the IT energy bill for a typical SME running eight servers by around 48 per cent. The ESB said it would promote energy-efficient equipment from other manufacturers once it came on the market.

9 Air conditioning
According to wind-powered electricity firm Airtricity, inefficient use of air conditioning can add up to 30 per cent to air conditioning bills. The most common problem is poor coordination between heating and air conditioning, resulting in a situation when both are running simultaneously.
Ideally, air conditioning should only kick in at 24 degrees celsius, as cooling below this results in much higher costs. Heating, meanwhile, should only be activated when room temperatures drop below 19 degrees. Air filters, coils, inlet screens and heat exchange surfaces should be cleaned regularly to avoid the build-up of dirt.

10 Sunlight
The government’s Power of One campaign advises all businesses to make the most of available sunlight to minimise their heating needs. Opening blinds on a cold but sunny day can reduce the burden on a heating system On the other hand, closing blinds can help retain heat when is not bright outside.

11 Review your bills
Electricity bills can often be taken for granted, but the ESB advises all business customers regularly to review what tariff they are on to ensure it is the most suitable. Alternative energy provider Airtricity has estimated that businesses can save between 5 and 10 per cent by moving to the most suitable tariff for them.

12 Involve staff
Motivating staff to help reduce energy consumption can sometimes be difficult, as the bills aren’t coming out of their own pockets. Insurance firm Irish Life adopted a novel approach to motivate its staff to achieve a 5 per cent reduction in energy use at its head office. For every kilowatt hour saved, the company offered to donating 10c to the Irish Life staff charities organisation. By the end of May, the first target was hit with a saving of 50,000 kWh and a payment of €5,000 to charity.

13 Organise
While piecemeal measures can help reduce bills, maximum savings are probably only possible if you adopt a co-ordinated approach. After all, it is impossible to plan on how much energy you really need unless you know what your requirements are and how much you are using at present. Doing a full energy audit should provide a clearer picture. If sufficient expertise isn’t available in-house, contact an expert energy auditor. While the cost of an energy audit may run to 1 per cent of your energy bill, the investment should pay dividends in the long run.

14 Seek advice
If you run a small to medium-sized business, getting expert advice may be prohibitively costly. However, Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) is offering a new service to provide businesses with a qualified energy advisor. SEI doesn’t charge for this service; all it asks is that a business provide information to the advisor, follow up with meetings and actively consider the recommendations. For further information, visit www.sei.ie/business.

15 Train
While SEI is happy to send its own experts out to you, the organisation also conducts training courses for businesses to enhance their own knowledge of energy-efficiency issues. Details about upcoming courses can be found on the SEI website or from the organisation on 01-8369080.

16 Combined heat and power
Combined Heat and Power (CHP) technology involves producing electricity and heating from a single source. This involves having a localised power station, usually powered by some sort of renewable fuel, such as wood or biomass.
A relatively new concept to Ireland, the government is making efforts to promote it to the business sector, since it typically saves around 25 per cent of the energy needed to produce electricity in an ordinary power station and heat in separate boilers. SEI is overseeing a grant aid scheme, whereby it may provide up to 40 per cent funding for approved feasibility studies and 30 per cent grant support for approved construction projects.
Not all companies may be suitable, and grants are only provided to firms with energy requirements within defined thresholds. Further details can be obtained by contacting SEI.

17 Go solar
While solar power is being promoted to home users, it also has its applications in the business community, especially those that have high water heating bills. Bewleys Hotel in Dublin Airport spent about half of its total energy bill on water heating. The hotel installed solar panels on its roof as an alternative. While the installation cost €210,000, it has resulted in energy savings of €15,000 per annum, which means the system will eventually pay for itself.

18 Claim tax relief
If buying energy-efficient equipment seems too much of a capital outlay, don’t forget that your business can claim tax relief on the purchase. The 2008 Finance Act introduced accelerated capital allowances on a range of environmentally-friendly equipment. Capital allowances of 100 per cent will be available in the first year of expenditure on the equipment, so the entire cost of eligible equipment can be written off against tax in the year it is bought. A list of approved providers can be found on www.sei.ie.

19 Rate your building
If you are buying or renting new premises, you should be aware that a building energy rating (BER) and advisory report has to be supplied by the owner to a prospective buyer or tenant whenever a building constructed, sold or rented. A BER rates the energy efficiency of a building on a scale from A1 to G, and should be an important negotiation tool since a lower rated building is likely to increase the cost of owning or renting a building.

20 Monitor
If you are just getting one bill at the end of the month, it can be hard to know where the money is going. Installing monitoring equipment on your premises does involve some investment, but can yield dividends in the long run by providing a clearer picture on where energy is being used. According to SEI, firms that use energy monitoring have typically achieved savings of between 5 and 25per cent of their annual energy bill.

MOTORING

1 Unnecessary trips
With oil prices spiking periodically over the last few years and the recent budget adding 8 cent of excise duty to a litre of fuel, driving a car is rapidly becoming a very expensive mode of transport. The most obvious way of cutting your fuel bills is simply not to use your car. Cutting out short trips when walking is more feasible is the best place to start. A cold engine also uses more fuel than a warm one, so the trip is doubly inefficient. If the car really is needed for such trips, consider combining a number of tasks in one trip.

2 Driving style
According to Sustainable Energy Ireland, an aggressive driving style can increase fuel consumption by between 10 and 12 per cent. This includes driving at speeds of over 80kph, and especially over 100kph.By contrast, a more energy-aware driving style can save up to 13 per cent on fuel bills.

3 Turn off your engine
While it might sound daft, turning off your engine at traffic lights can reduce fuel consumption. Even if you only have to wait ten seconds, the design of new cars means that it means it is more economical to switch off the engine and start it again when necessary.

4 Tyre pressure
Even if your tyres are only half a bar below the manufacturer’s recommended pressure, the amount of wear is increased, and fuel consumption will rise by between 2 and 3 per cent.

5 Turn off your demister
The demister on the rear window of a car increases fuel consumption by between 3 and 5 per cent when it is turned on. Once the windows are clear on cold mornings, don’t forget to turn it off.

6 Reduce drag
The more aerodynamic a vehicle is, the less fuel it needs to burn to achieve a certain speed, so remove roof racks, bike racks and any other attachments when not in use. Depending on the size of the rack, fuel consumption can increase by up to 40 per cent when it is attached.

7 Use your vents
While the most common way of getting fresh air into the car is opening the window or the sun roof, it also adds to the drag on the car and increases fuel consumption. If you opt to use the car’s own vents to let cool air in, you could reduce fuel consumption by a further 3 to 5 per cent.

8 Keep your distance
Maintaining the proper distance between you and the vehicle in front -10 metres for every 15 kph of speed - will cut down on fuel use. If you are any closer, you will find yourself braking and accelerating suddenly, which tends to consume more fuel. Similarly, when entering a bend, reducing speed gradually and accelerating smoothly out of it will use less fuel.

9 Car share
If colleagues live near you, consider a car-sharing arrangement, whereby people take it in turns to drive the others into work. A possible minor increase in journey time will result in massive fuel savings for all concerned.

10 Consider alternatives
Public transport networks are steadily improving in urban areas, bringing more commuters into their net. The government now offers tax relief to commuters who buy annual public transport tickets, adding to the savings available. A new initiative in the latest budget also promises tax relief on the purchase of bikes and related safety equipment for commuting purposes.

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