IMPROVE ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN VACANT BUILDINGS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

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 If you own or manage a building that will be sitting vacant during the upcoming holiday season, you’re likely concerned about its energy efficiency. Especially, how it can be improved since you won’t have any occupants to worry about during this brief period. While empty buildings often mean lower heating costs during the cold winter months, it doesn’t mean you allow your HVAC system to be inactive for the duration of the holiday season. Here’s how to safely improve energy efficiency in your vacant building over the coming months. 

Energy Strategy for Vacant Office Buildings and Retail Spaces

If you have a vacant office building or retail space, here are four questions to answer that will help you develop your energy strategy:

  1. Do we have an “unoccupied policy,” and are we planning to implement it? When your building is vacant, there is no need to run the heating system as if there are occupants in your building. Creating and using an “unoccupied mode” for your HVAC system will increase your building’s energy efficiency, and it can be done using automated control systems.
  2. Are all of our lights turned off? If you’ve ever walked through a downtown area late at night, you’ve likely seen buildings with their lights still on. This is unnecessary and a huge waste of energy. 
  3. What equipment is still turned on that we can turn off? You may need to speak with your IT team about this, but things like servers, copiers, and monitors should all be switched off when your building is vacant. 
  4. Have people left personal devices at their desks? Check for space heaters, fans, phone chargers, and other personal equipment that might have been left plugged in.

Utilizing HVAC Automation

Heating control systems allow you to automate your HVAC system and adjust it accordingly when your building is vacant. A heating control system is made up of four main components:

  1. A room thermostat
  2. A boiler programmer
  3. A hot water thermostat
  4. Thermostatic radiator valves

There’s no reason your lights, your heating system, and your hot water should be fully active during the holiday season. Using an automated heating control system, you can monitor your building’s conditions, as well as its energy consumption, and make adjustments as necessary. The best part is that you can usually make these changes remotely through a smartphone, tablet or desktop computer. 

Heat Control Systems for Vacant Buildings

If you know your commercial building will be vacant over the coming months, now is the time to invest in a heat control system with internet capability. Whether it’s a large office building, a retail space, or a university building, our technicians at Tri-Tech can discuss your options and help you transform your building into being its most energy efficient. And what’s better, you can control the lighting and temperature of your building remotely from a convenient app, meaning you never have to leave the comfort of home.

Don’t waste money on expensive winter electric bills when you don’t need to. We have solutions that can reduce your emissions while helping you cut costs when it matters most.

Originally published at: https://www.tritechenergy.com/blog/commercial-hvac/heating-control-systems/

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