Chapter 6: Energy Conservation

Introduction

Energy efficiency is an issue that affects all projects. Whether you are considering a renewable energy system for supplying electricity to your home or business, or just want to save money with your current electrical service supplier, the suggestions given in this chapter will help you reduce the amount of energy that you use.

If you are planning to invest in a renewable energy system, such as solar or wind, and your electricity is currently supplied from a local utility, increasing the energy efficiency of the project will help to conserve valuable nonrenewable resources and reduce the size and cost of the solar or wind energy system needed.

There are many ways to incorporate energy efficiency into a design. Most aspects of energy consumption, within a building, have more efficient options than traditional methods. In this chapter we will review the basic concepts of conventional electric power generation and distribution losses and provide some basic recommendations and suggestions about energy conservation measures, which could significantly increase the efficiency of energy use.

In addition to providing energy-saving suggestions, we will review automated lighting design and California Energy Commission Title 24 design compliance. In view of recent green building design measures and raised consciousness about energy conservation, we will review the U.S. Green Building Council s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

General Energy-Saving Measures

The following recommendations involve simple yet very effective means of increasing energy use. By following the recommendations, energy use can be minimized noticeably without resorting to...