Let’s get straight -doing your part in using less energy is like having your own power generation plant right in your home or business.
Consider this; adding photovoltaic panels (solar energy panels) to your facility might be able to contribute up to 10% of your overall consumption. Given the number of variables, we will have to just assume some facts. This 10% “contributor” to your usage will come at a very high price with your initial cost being about $5 – $8 USD per Watt. Yes, per Watt. This initial expense would cost thousands of dollars. This type of device can take decades before they pay for themselves.
Now lets consider some basic steps to reduce our consumption through behavior changes, conservation and load-side (power reducing) technologies. Simple behavior changes can produce immediate results. Studies have shown that when there is an effective energy management strategy in place, a user can save between 8 – 12% of their consumption. This can be achieved without the outlay of thousands of dollars.
Now you get to decide:
Would simple behavior changes toward energy efficiency be a better path?
Is it better to generate more or consume less?
If consuming less is your choice, here is the path to start upon:
An energy audit is a good “first step” to assess how much energy your home or business consumes and to evaluate what measures you can take to to become more energy efficient.
An audit will show you problems that may, when corrected, save you significant amounts of money over time. During the audit, you can pinpoint where you are losing energy and where saving can be attained.
Audits can determine the efficiency of the heating and cooling systems, lighting and processing equipment. With proper equipment, you may be able to perform a simple energy audit yourself, or have a professional energy auditor carry out a more thorough audit.
Enigin’s Eniscope monitoring package will allow you monitor your entire premise giving you access to data that would not have been easily available, if at all, before. Once you can see a developed trend, it is quite simple to begin your energy conservation initiative and to start seeing immediate results.
Generate your power is the other option and you get the drift of the challenges and the costs above. A very long return on investment would be involved, compared to a very short ROI on energy efficiency. In fact your first steps to behavior change would require no monetary investment at all, just your thoughts and action.
The choice is yours but seems to be no-brainer to me!
This reminds me of a couple of quotes I saw recently: -
‘Climate solutions are not costly but profitable, because saving (energy) costs less than buying (energy).’ Amory B. Lovins, CEO, Rocky Mountain Institute
‘Anywhere companies have pursued energy efficiency, they have ended up making money, even if money wasn’t their initial goal’ David Goldstein, The End of Oil page 225
A No Brainer? I think so too!
The thing about energy efficiency is that it is cumulative. If you are saving say 20% of your costs, the sooner you implement it the sooner you begin to recoup the expenditure on the amount spent to refine your use.
Once you make the decision to audit your energy, the sonner you do it the better.
This is a really good read for me, Thanks for posting this informative article.
Energy conservation begins with energy efficiency the two goes hand in hand.
The purpose would be defeated if on one hand you are trying to conserve but not being efficient in using that which is being produced.