Energy: From Common Sense Rules to
New Technology; Whatever Helps
Energy-hogging factories and power-hungry technology companies aren’t the only ones in a quandary because of California’s power crunch.
Managers of big office buildings are using everything from common-sense conservation to sophisticated monitoring systems to reduce energy use and lower utility costs.
Photocopiers, computers and coffeepots may pale in comparison to heavy factory machinery, but little things add up, property managers say. Multiplied hundreds of times, office electronics eat lots of energy. And that’s not even considering the power it takes to cool, heat and light workspaces.
“This is a unique situation,” said Kris Kimble, business development manager of Lighting Technology Services Inc., a Costa Mesa company that services office buildings. “Demand for power is outstripping supply. You either can increase supply by building more power plants, which takes two to three years, or you can handle the demand side by conserving.”
Some big office buildings can rank just behind factories in their power use. Property managers say they are doing things such as tinting windows, cleaning refrigeration coils, changing out old lighting and monitoring overall energy use.
Beyond that, it comes down to three things, according to Dave Rock, senior vice president of management services for Transwestern Commercial Services: “Focusing with tenants, educating our managers and keeping clients up to speed with ongoing changes.”
Simple Things Help
Rock said he does things like making sure lights are turned off when rooms are empty and having cleaning crews work a floor at a time rather than scattering throughout the building.
“The more efficiently a building runs, the less demand it requires for power,” said Lighting Technology’s Kimble.
About a third of a typical office building’s energy use is for lighting. Another third goes to office electronics, while the balance goes to heating, cooling and ventilation.
For most tenants, energy education means finding a note tacked to the office bulletin board outlining conservation methods. At the Citicorp tower on Michelson Drive in Irvine, a flier from Spieker Properties encourages tenants to do basics such as “powering down computers and equipment during non-working hours.”
Education on a larger scale means bringing together real estate officials to address the energy issue.
The National Association of Industrial and Office Properties is organizing a June educational program on the electrical and utility crisis.
The energy forum “will feature an in-depth discussion on the energy crisis and what it means to someone who owns or is developing a property,” according to Cynthia Fusco, the association’s executive director. “We will also talk about the industry’s response to the crisis, and how some developers are addressing the problem in their projects.”
Decisions To Face
Property managers face decisions over bringing their costs down while keeping juice flowing to their tenants.
“I know our management can only do so much,” said Lee Redmond, a principal with Aliso Viejo-based Parker Properties LP. “Clearly, we have options to make available to our tenants. We’ve looked at putting in back-up generators, allowing for them to not lose data. And we’re looking at different natural gas turbines, basically to take the edge off of peak demands and save energy. But there’s only so much you can do outside of cycling down power.”
Redmond has the luxury of working with new buildings at the company’s Summit Office Campus in Aliso Viejo. For older buildings, the quickest way to lower electrical costs is to retrofit lighting.
Under a state program, Southern California Edison and other utilities offer rebates to replace older, outdated lighting fixtures. But companies first need an audit to show the need for replacement before the utilities will pay up.
“Normally, at this time of year, we would be scheduling audits six to seven days out,” Kimble said. “Now, we’re scrambling to hire auditors in order to meet appointments four to five weeks out.”
Still, property managers say they can do more to use energy efficiently. As much as half the time, there’s nobody in a given office, they say. One way to control lighting is to use occupancy sensors, according to Kimble.
Automated Lighting
“We have taken the responsibility of turning lights on and off out of their hands,” he said.
The sensors turn off the lights after 12 minutes of no movement in an office. They remain off until someone returns.
“If you’re able to save half of your lighting bill, that’s a 15 percent reduction in overall usage,” Kimble said. “Saving 20 percent to 25 percent of total electricity load is significant, especially when the cost per unit is going crazy.”
Keeping a building cool can be a big driver of energy costs.
Walking through the Transwestern building at Koll Center Irvine, Rock beams when talking of his building’s thermal energy system.
“The unique aspect of this system is that it cools the water 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.,” Rock said.
Most high-rise buildings have chiller systems, but lack a thermal tank, according to Rock. The thermal unit saves Transwestern up to $15,000 a month in energy costs, he said.
So why doesn’t everyone have a thermal unit? It’s huge and expensive. The system is 29 feet deep, 117 feet long and 36 feet wide , with a 610,000-gallon tank for cooling the building’s water.
At the end of the day, the water comes back at 50 degrees and is cooled down overnight to 39 degrees.
“The smarter we can make a building, the less waste there will be,” Rock said.
Williams is a reporter for the Orange County Business Journal.
