Technology Tuesdays: Powering Up Profits with EE Measures for Businesses
A dollar saved is a dollar earned. This is a mantra I learned, having come from two generations of small business owners.
Energy end use in the United States is measured and tracked by sector. There are four sectors: transportation, industrial, residential, and commercial. The commercial sector is the smallest energy user by comparison. However, do not be fooled by this fact; it still represents a significant amount of energy usage, which is why several energy efficiency measures are geared toward helping commercial sector customers reduce their energy usage without compromising business operations (U.S. Energy Information Administration).
There is a sizable variety of measures through which commercial customers can get an incentive or a rebate through their utility service provider. However, I will focus on a few measures that offer the biggest bang for your buck!
Before discussing measures, I would like to point out that lighting is not on this list. There are several reasons for this, the primary reason being that there have not been any significant innovations in lighting since LEDs. Utilities create incentives and rebates to influence the market to adopt new technology. Now that the market has adopted LEDs, these influences are needed to increase the adoption of other technology.
Water Heating Across the board, some of the most significant savings opportunities is in water heating. We have talked at length about heat pump water heaters recently. Below are some fun reads about heat pump water heating technology:
Pipe Insulation Pipe insulation is one of the biggest energy-saving measures available and most often overlooked. It works by reducing heat loss from hot water pipes, resulting in less work for the heating system to maintain temperature settings. Additionally, pipe insulation, where pipes are located outside, protects them from extreme cold, reducing the likelihood of damage due to freeze. This type of damage can be extensive and costly to repair.
Pipe insulation rebates are available by linear foot for hot water pipes and steam pipes as follows:
Hot Water (HW) ≤1 Inch
Hot Water (HW) >1 Inch and ≤4 Inch
Hot Water (HW) >4 Inch
Steam <15 psig ≤1 Inch
Steam <15 psig >1 Inch and ≤4 Inch
Steam <15 psig >4 Inch
Steam ≥15 psig ≤1 Inch
Steam ≥15 psig >1 Inch and ≤4 Inch
Steam ≥15 psig >4 Inch
If you would like to take a deeper dive on pipe insulation, check out these articles:
Heat Recovery Heat recovery measures yield significant energy savings by capturing waste heat for reuse in other processes. This reduces the overall energy used because the need for additional heating is reduced and sometimes eliminated. Some measures in this category include the following:
Many more measures are currently being incentivized through utility and statewide rebate programs. These opportunities are good through December 2025, so the time to take advantage of them is now. Additional measure opportunities can be found using the links below.
