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Competition winners share energy saving tips

Winners were announced last week in the "Every Watt Counts" energy competition for the second quarter. The Director’s Office was named the winning PAD with a 1.08 percent savings.

Members of the winning team include PAD energy champion Brad Thomson and team leaders Kate Snyder (core Director’s Office); Ray Ancira (Security Organization); Doug Pirone (ESH&Q); Al Moser (CFO); Veronica Duenas (Office of Laboratory Counsel); and Karin King (LSO).

"Many energy savings tips, if considered individually, have little impact. But, when implemented Lab-wide, they can have a significant impact," Thomson said.

Below are some energy savings tips the Director’s Office team promotes:

  1. Turn off personal printers and other equipment except when needed.
  2. Turn off computer monitors when leaving at the end of the day.
  3. Turn off computer(s) when leaving for the weekend (leave on during the week for random back-up).
  4. Reduce number of hall and common area lights (contact the ES&H Team for minimum lighting standards for safety).
  5. Turn off office lights and use ambient light from windows.
  6. Turn off kitchen and bathroom lights except when occupied.
  7. Install motion sensor switches for lighting.
  8. Unplug equipment that uses standby power (e.g., TVs) when switched off.
  9. Turn office thermostats down a few degrees in the winter and wear warm clothes to compensate, and up a few degrees in the summer.
  10. Send documents via e-mail as PDFs instead of printing them. This saves paper and toner (toner costs $1.2 million/yr) as well as time.
  11. Close window blinds in the summer to keep solar heat out.
  12. Open window blinds in the winter to let solar heat in.
  13. Keep exterior windows/doors closed when the heating or air conditioning is on.
  14. Keeping interior office doors open allows for more efficient distribution of air to cool offices in the summer and heat them in the winter.
  15. Do not use personal space heaters, dress warmly instead. A 1500-watt space heater uses the same energy as 15 100-watt light bulbs and costs approximately 10 cents per hour to operate. That may not seem like much but 1,000 heaters at LLNL operating three hours per day costs about $155,000 per year.
  16. Reduce water heaters to 110 degrees Fahrenheit for hand washing.
  17. Remove personal refrigerators when there are community units nearby.
  18. Walk, ride a bike or take a taxi instead of government or personal vehicles.
  19. Notify your facility management staff when:
  • heating or air conditioning isn’t working properly;
  • you see a leaking faucet;
  • you notice outside lighting on during the day;
  • you have energy/resource saving ideas.

Do you have a bright idea for saving energy? Submit it on this form . The next group of winners for the third quarter (April–June) will be announced in July.

May 9, 2008

Contact

Linda Lucchetti
[email protected]