The average commercial building wastes 30 percent of its energy usage, totaling an estimated $32.37 billion nationwide in wasted energy costs annually, according to the Department of Energy. Reducing commercial building energy usage isn’t just about good PR and greenhouse gas emissions; it is about reducing costs, adding to the bottom line and increasing asset value, the Mechanical Contractors Association of Chicago (MCA) says in a news release.
MCA has a released a whitepaper for commercial building owners and facility managers to learn about low- and no-cost methods that can curb excessive energy consumption by up to 10 percent. The whitepaper is available at www.mca.org/service.
The whitepaper outlines four steps to improving energy efficiency: benchmarking, auditing, implementation and capital upgrades. It offers solutions facility managers can implement themselves, and recommends when tasks are best left to HVAC professionals, such as the 50 HVAC service contractors that are members of MCA.
“Today’s technology allows you to determine with great accuracy where energy is being wasted. It also allows you to estimate the payback period of the investment needed to reduce energy consumption through building maintenance and retrofit,” said Dan Bulley, a mechanical engineer and MCA’s green building expert with LEED BD+C, O+M accreditations. “This whitepaper will help building owners and facility managers realize real savings that can be applied to capital projects to deliver even greater energy efficiency and annual savings.”
To download the free whitepaper, go to www.mca.org/service.
