Decreasing Energy Use Intensity

Battle of the Buildings

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says commercial buildings account for 18 percent of the nation’s energy use and spend more than $100 billion annually on energy cost.  On average, 30 percent of the energy used in commercial buildings is wasted.

In May, this year’s second annual EPA Energy Star “Battle of the Buildings” national building competition started, where buildings are evaluated according to their Energy Use Intensity (EUI).  This is calculated by dividing the amount of energy a building consumes in one year by its total floor space and the building with the greatest one-year reduction in EUI between Aug 31st, 2010 & Aug 31st, 2011 is declared the winner.

Florida proves their energy awareness by doing their part to trim the world’s waste lines. In order of number of competitors (buildings being measured), Florida shows up #3 on the list of leading states with 21 competitors!

Ways to improve your energy efficiency:

• Check weather-stripping and replace worn or missing weather-stripping to stop air filtration.
• Install occupancy sensors in conference rooms, store rooms, or any area not continuously occupied.
• Check night lighting to identify lights that are on that shouldn’t be.
• Plant trees along west-facing windows to provide shade from the summer sun.