Energy efficiency helps relieve strain on power grids and infrastructure, reduce your energy costs, and enhance comfort.
Implementation of cost-effective energy efficiency standards and incentives is vital to meeting greenhouse gas reduction goals, so we need to speed up implementation.
Buildings
Energy efficiency begins in the design phase and encompasses materials, systems and operations in buildings. Energy efficiency reduces a building’s energy use while still offering the same services and comfort – examples include installing smart air conditioning systems and appliances and using renewable energy sources like solar.
Financial Incentives
Government incentives and rebates help make building upgrades cost-effective for commercial buildings, as well as supporting renewable energy solutions to power them.
Benchmarking – Benchmarking is a process used to compare energy performance of buildings of similar sizes and types, such as energy efficient upgrades that meet benchmarking criteria can earn the property an ENERGY STAR rating.
Investment in energy efficient windows and lighting can reduce a building’s energy costs by up to 25%, with selecting office equipment certified as ENERGY STAR further cutting energy usage. When combined with renewable energy sources such as solar PV panels or wind turbines, such upgrades could allow it to offset all or most of its energy use.
Transportation
While overall energy efficiency in the economy has improved over time, transportation remains one of the primary consumers. Energy consumption per kilometer provides an accurate measure of its efficiency.
Fuel efficiency for passenger cars has shown notable gains due to changes in vehicle fleet composition (more powerful and heavier vehicles) as well as declining occupancy rates. Air transportation energy efficiency remains poor despite improvements in aircraft technology and faster flight speeds.
Enhancing energy efficiency of vehicles, shipping, and air travel requires technological progress, policy changes, and personal behavior shifts from individuals. Such changes might include driving less often, using public transit more often, carpooling with colleagues instead of driving alone, telecommuting from home more often, living in higher density areas and purchasing more energy efficient cars. It is also vital that sustainable aviation fuels be promoted so as to decrease air travel demand as well as freight modal shift.
Industrial
Industrial settings that employ energy conservation practices can cut operational costs while simultaneously decreasing emissions, which benefits both the planet and their image and brand.
Energy efficiency doesn’t just mean buying new tech; it involves building an energy saving culture within an organization, including educating teams, constantly searching for ways to enhance processes, and monitoring how much power is consumed – in other words, making sure everyone from C-suite executives down to custodians knows how they can conserve energy.
Real-time monitoring and data-driven decision making are vital tools for creating sustainable industrial processes. Advanced software solutions like dataPARC allow companies to accurately track energy use while benchmarking against industry standards or past performances – providing insights and actions that lead to significant cost savings, for example one participant reduced air temperatures in their paint shop by two degrees, leading to savings exceeding one million SEK per year (P12). This was only made possible through developing specific strategies tailored for each process while decreasing non-value-adding energy use.
Residential
Energy efficiency in residential settings is an integral component of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and conserving natural resources. Energy-efficient homes reduce energy consumption, decreasing dependence on fossil fuels for power, thereby decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.
Energy-efficient homes not only improve home comfort and reduce energy costs, but they can also improve indoor air quality (IAQ) by lowering pollutant levels inside.
Residential settings typically take the approach of conducting an energy assessment or energy audit to increase energy efficiency in their house. Such assessments identify effective strategies to lower both energy use and costs while potentially installing energy saving upgrades such as ENERGY STAR certified appliances or upgrades that improve home energy performance.
Behavioral economics has revealed that residents will consider various factors when making decisions to purchase or install energy efficient technologies for their homes: