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Companies will gain an average of $141 / month for each
office with with Ols Controls, including an average of $25 / month Cost
Savings (which includes $22 Energy Savings).
In Dickens’ Christmas Carol, the vilified Scrooge
was too cheap to make his employee comfortable. Ever since, businesses
have been reticent to reduce the flow of expensive conditioned air to
employees. However, this can be reduced when areas are unoccupied,
and should be reduced in areas where it is oversupplied (e.g.,
freezing workers who bring in coats and space heaters when air conditioning
is overused).
The case below describes example Energy Savings, but please
work with your Facilities group on our Whitepaper OR online Benefit
Estimator to estimate the actual benefits your company can expect.
| Expensive conditioned air is
oversupplied to empty areas far more often than most businesses realize
– often twice what is needed |
Percentage Waste |
| Over conditioning some employees' work
areas due to temp preferences is offset by other employees who prefer
more air |
0% |
| Offices with Flextime: HVAC
is turned-on mornings before most employees arrive (often 6am or 7am),
and turned off after most leave (often 6pm or 7pm): ~11-13 hours of
HVAC / day. However, employees typically are present for only 9-10
hours. So a 12hr HVAC cycle with a 9.5hr workday results in 26% waste |
26% |
Out of the office: Some
employees spend hours each day at meetings, sales calls, production
lines, laboratories, others’ offices, 2nd offices, etc. 3 hours
away from the office/ 9.5 hour workday results in another 31% waste
in conditioned air
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31% |
| Discretionary Vacations: 1 to 4 weeks/year
vacations |
2-8% |
| Lunch: A 1hr lunch results in 10% waste |
10% |
| Business Travel, PTO & Sick Days,
Off-sites, etc: 3 weeks/year is another 6% waste |
6% |
| Offices/etc. always unoccupied + Conference
rooms/etc. sometimes unoccupied: another 5-25% waste |
5-25% |
| Total Oversupplied air |
60-70% |
To be conservative, assume savings are reduced 25% by the need to add
more conditioned air at other times or places(*), giving a savings of
~45% instead of 60-70%. Assuming a 75 square foot office means companies
will be wasting $16.90 per month per office(**): more than the cost of
independent office / area temperature control, even without the Comfort
and Productivity benefits.
(*) e.g., reducing airflow in one office
might require add’l air in adjoining offices, reducing airflow while
gone may require more airflow when back in the office, etc.
(**) US national average HVAC energy cost $0.5016 /mo /sqft. 2004 Platts
Research & Consulting Division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
"Energy efficiency implies meeting occupant requirements
for comfort and productivity as well as reducing energy consuption."
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