Office lighting is down, but office equipment swallows the energy savings
During the energy crises of the 1970s, commercial/office space lighting was an easy target for energy conservation. The first energy conservation measures consisted of turning off the lights when the building was closed for business, but this was not easy for some since many newer buildings were designed without convenient light switches or, for that matter, any switches. Alternative lighting technologies were quickly placed into service; they provided energy savings but usually at a loss of quality and quantity (such as the low-pressure sodium lamps). When the energy crises were over, lighting energy use rose again, but not to its pre-crises level: everyone had at least learned to turn out the lights at night. Eventually, improved lighting fixtures and lamps were developed, T-8s for example, which provide increased quality and quantity with decreased energy use, and now generally less energy is used to illuminate office and commercial spaces. So, since less energy is used for lighting, why is energy use in the commercial sector growing? One answer is the current explosion in the application of electronic office equipment technologies. Energy consumption by `information` equipment in the commercial segment, including large computer systems, has tripled in the last 10 years and could easily double in the next 10. While there are no driving crises as in the 1970s, there are still some lessons to be learned from lighting, such as: (1) Teaching everyone to turn off his/her PC when it`s not in use. This won`t ruin the hard drive, but it might make the computer last longer and it will save energy. (2) Encouraging the development of energy saving features, including Energy Star compliance. Fortunately, this is not too difficult, and is consistent with existing trends in the industry. (3) Teaching people to buy and use the energy-saving features. This could be harder than one might think, since some Energy Star-compliant devices still have a few `bugs.`
- Research Organization:
- Electric Power Research Inst. (EPRI), Palo Alto, CA (United States); Policy Research Associates, Inc., Reston, VA (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 254570
- Report Number(s):
- EPRI-TR-105549; CONF-9410439-; TRN: 96:002543-0002
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Energy-efficient office technology 1994: and international seminar, New York, NY (United States), 17-19 Oct 1994; Other Information: PBD: Dec 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings: Energy-efficient office technology 1994, an international seminar; PB: 313 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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