Do you have an idea about what energy management is? Let’s state the obvious ‘energy’ and ‘management’ this should be easily understood, right?
Google says it is the process of monitoring, controlling, and conserving energy in a building or organization, but from a layman to a layman I will tell you energy management is saving energy in your homes, businesses, and public-sector/government organizations; and this process starts with you.
You can manage energy by following these few steps below
- Open up your curtains and let the sun shine in! Using natural light whenever possible instead of relying on artificial light can greatly reduce the amount of electricity you use during the day. Exposure to natural light also increases happiness I didn’t say this.
- Buy energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs for your most-used lights. Although they cost more initially, they save money in the long run by using only 1/4 the energy of an ordinary incandescent bulb and lasting 8-12 times longer. They provide an equivalent amount of bright, attractive light. Only 10% of the energy consumed by a normal light bulb generates light. The rest just makes the bulb hot.
- Clean or replace air filters as recommended. Energy is lost when air conditioners and hot-air furnaces have to work harder to draw air through dirty filters. Cleaning a dirty air conditioner filter can save 5 percent of the energy used.
- Insulate your walls and ceilings. This can save 20 to 30 percent of home heating bills and reduce Carbondioxide emissions by 140 to 2100 pounds per year.
- Modernize your windows. Replacing all your ordinary windows with argon filled, a double-glazed window saves 2.4 tons of CO2 per year for homes with gas heat, 3.9 tons of oil heat, and 9.8 tons for electric heat.
- Plant shade trees and paint your house a light color if you live in a warm climate or a dark color if you live in a cold climate. Reductions in energy use resulting from shade trees and appropriate painting can save up to 2.4 tons of CO2 emissions per year. (Each tree also directly absorbs about 25 pounds of CO2 from the air annually.)
When you monitor and control your energy, you will gain;
- Reduced costs – this is becoming increasingly important as energy costs rise.
- Reduced carbon emissions and the environmental damage that they cause – as well as the cost-related implications of carbon taxes and the like, your organization may be keen to reduce its carbon footprint to promote a green, sustainable image. Not least because promoting such an image is often good for the bottom line.
- Reduced risk – the more energy you consume, the greater the risk that energy price increases or supply shortages could seriously affect your profitability, or even make it impossible for your business/organization to continue. With energy management you can reduce this risk by reducing your demand for energy and by controlling it so as to make it more predictable.
At the end we all intend to achieve the following;
- Reduce the damage that we’re doing to our planet, Earth. As a human race we would probably find things rather difficult without the Earth, so it makes good sense to try to make it last.
- Reduce our dependence on the fossil fuels that are becoming increasingly limited in supply.
Remember! Whenever you save energy, you are not save money but also reducing the demand for such fossil fuels as coal, oil and natural gas. Apparently, less burning of fossil fuels also means lower emissions of carbon dioxide, which is the primary contributor to global warming and other pollutants. #Staygreen #instantenergy
I hope this article was very helpful!
Content/image credits: ecomall.com, energylens.com, google.com, renovoenergy.com, theenergycollective, thetelegraph.com,