How to Save $100 a Year on a Vending Machine

Vending machines that chill foods and beverages can cost a business nearly $250 each per year on energy costs. A new program is helping Minnesota businesses and other organizations cut those costs in half.

Minnesota’s Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs), in collaboration with Energy Smart and EnergyMisers LLC, just unveiled a new campaign aiming to place 200 VendingMiser sensors on cold-drink vending machines in the state. The VendingMiser Bulk-Buy Program will inform businesses, schools and local governments of the energy- and money-saving benefits of installing these devices and help them learn about rebates they might be eligible for installing one. The price for VendingMisers will also likely be discounted, since CERTs is buying them in bulk.

Any business or organization in Minnesota is eligible to participate in the new program, which runs through May 1.

VendingMisers reduce the power consumption of vending machines by using a small infrared sensor to detect when the area surrounding the vending machine is unoccupied. It powers down the machine when then there’s nobody around and then automatically repowers it when it senses someone nearby.

VendingMisers typically cost $179 each, but CERTs expects to get a bulk rate to reduce the cost for participating organizations to $164. Moreover, businesses that purchase VendingMisers can expect a payback time of less than 1.5 years. Here’s how: The sensors are estimated to reduce a cold-drink vending machine’s cooling needs by about 46%, saving about $100 annually on electric energy costs. What’s more, many utility companies provide rebates for installing VendingMisers that generally range from $50 to $75. (Read a list of Minnesota utilities offering VendingMiser rebates and the rebate amounts.)

VendingMiser sensors will also reduce the maintenance costs and extend the life of vending machines by significantly reducing the number of compressor cycles that are run.

If you’re interested in participating in the VendingMiser program or want to know if your utility offers a rebate, contact Energy Smart at (651)292-3652 or info@mnenergysmart.com.

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Four Ways to Save Water (and Money)

You might not think of water as one of your biggest utility bills. Think again.

Water usage is one of the largest utility costs some businesses such as a restaurants or health clubs incur. (It’s also a substantial cost for homeowners: The U.S. Department of Energy says that up to 25% of a home’s energy bill comes from the cost of heating water.) And remember, water usage generally gets paid for in three separate bills: Water utility bills, gas or electric bills (for the cost of heating it) and sewer bills. So reducing your water usage by, say, 30%, could produce nice savings on all three bills.

There's another reason to care about water: Fresh water preservation is becoming an important national topic as more U.S. communities face water shortages.Water costs will likely rise over time if such shortages persist.

So, what can you do to keep your water usage and costs in check? Here are four things to look at:

1. Make no-cost behavioral changes. Many hot-water-saving strategies require no upfront cost at all. Consider things like only running your break-room dishwasher when you have a full load and turning down the temp on the water heater to 125 or 130 degrees, or the minimum needed in your industry. Here’s a list of simple tips homeowners and businesses can reduce their usage.

2. Fix drips and leaks. According to the Department of Energy, a leak of one drip per second can cost $1 per month. (If a water heater’s tank is leaking, however, you need a new water heater.) You can find some good information on repairing leaks here.

3. Make low-cost upgrades. Some very affordable gadgets can help a homeowner or business dramatically lower their hot water use. Installing low-flow fixtures in bathrooms and kitchens, such as low-flow showerheads, faucet aerators and pre-rinse spray valves, can reduce water use by 25% to 60% -- again, reducing three of your utility bills. (Make sure the low-flow showerheads you install have a gallon-per-minute (gpm) rater of 2.0 or lower; aerators should have a 1.5 gpm or lower and pre-rinse valves should have a 1.6 gpm or lower.) Aerators often cost $2 or less and many low-flow gadgets can be purchased for under $30.

4. Buy energy-efficient equipment. If you’re willing to make a small investment in order to produce long-term water-heating savings, there are numerous types of equipment that can help you save water and money. Consider tankless water heaters and sensored faucets on your sinks rather than manually knobs. Also consider purchasing Energy Star or solar-powered water heaters, which often qualify for rebates from your utility or state government.

How have you reduced your water usage? (Energy Smart helps businesses reduce their water usage. If you need ideas or want us to help you identify water-conservation strategies at your business, give us a call at (651)292-4652.)

- by Chelsey M. Johnson

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How to Find a Reliable Energy Efficiency Contractor

An often-perplexing step of making an energy upgrade is hiring a contractor to do the job. As many businesses and homeowners discover, contractor bids and energy-saving estimates can be worlds apart. Not to mention every contractor conducts business differently, making it challenging to compare.

So how can you find a trustworthy one who has experience with energy efficiency? With the right research and due diligence, it shouldn’t be an aggravating process.

One good step is finding other businesses in your area that have performed similar types of upgrades and asking key questions: What company did you hire? Did they complete job by the promised date? Did they give you ample information on the estimated energy savings and potential utility rebates for the work they proposed? Were you satisfied with their work and the cost? Did you encounter any problems? Would you recommend them?

But not every business owner knows enough other businesses to consult. And even so, your search shouldn’t necessarily stop there.

Here are some good resources for help finding reliable contractors:

Review Sites – Web sites including Angie’s List, Yelp, CitySearch, and Google Local, offer reviews from people with real experience dealing with the businesses they’re reviewing. Some sites ask reviewers to rate their experience on a 1-5 scale, so you can get a sense of overall impressions, as well as offering anecdotal reviews. Be wary of relying too heavily on one glowing review. It’s a good idea to collect references from at least four or five people and preferably from different sources. Some review sites are free; others, like Angie’s List, charge subscriptions but may offer more reliable data. It’s also good to check with the Better Business Bureau to see whether the contractor has any generated any consumer complaints.

Contractor Lists – Some utilities and energy-related organizations provide lists of contractors so you can locate ones in your area. Xcel Energy, for instance, posts lists of various types of "participating contractors" in Minnesota. The Energy Star program also offers a list of “Energy Service & Product Providers” that you can search by state. ServiceMagic also keeps a list of “pre-screened” contractors. Keep in mind that some lists are simply directories of contractors and not necessarily vetted by the organization. And some Web sites may even charge contractors a listing fee. So it’s wise to find out what qualifications the organization uses for putting a contractor on the list.

Search Engines – Before choosing any one contractor, make sure you do a thorough search of the business name on Google or another major search engine. If it’s a common name (think “Smith Enterprises”), make sure you’re not confusing results with another business of the same name.

Professional Associations – Web sites for professional organizations often post lists of their members. Some of these groups “certify” their members; others do not. Again, it’s good to know how the organization determines who makes the cut. One association you might try in Minnesota, for instance, is the Minnesota Mechanical Contractors Association.

Need help in finding a contractor in your area? Energy Smart can point you in the right direction. Call us at (651)292-4652.

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Looking For Energy-Saving Opportunities? Get an Energy Audit.

With many new financial incentives available for energy efficiency, now is a good time to evaluate energy-saving opportunities for your business. A helpful first step: Getting an energy audit.

An energy audit is when a professional (usually a certified energy auditor) walks through a business’s facility to identify energy savings opportunities. These opportunities range from no- to low-cost opportunities – such as recommending a business install a motion sensor in a break room or turn off lights at night – to more costly upgrades, such as replacing lights, heating systems or motors with more-efficient equipment.

There are a couple kinds of energy audits (online and on-site) and several levels (walk-through "level 1" audits to detailed engineering analysis). Some utilities generously subsidize the cost of these audits, or offer them to customers at no charge. (Xcel Energy, for instance, charges $500 or less for an energy analysis valued at more than $1,500.)

Here’s how energy audits offered by utilities generally work: An energy auditor starts by analyzing a full year of energy bills for the building and uses the information gathered as a benchmark. The auditor will then do a fairly detailed survey of the building, checking the building envelope, lighting, HVAC systems, motors, pumps -- they’ll look at pretty much any equipment or system that consumes energy. A business should make sure to have an employee at the audit who best knows the building and operating procedures.

Once an audit is complete, the auditor will plug the information into a customer energy audit report. These reports take on a lot of different forms but typically include energy improvement recommendations, cost and savings estimates, utility rebate information and payback time frames. The audit report will help a business prioritize its energy upgrades and conservation strategies so it gets the best bang for the buck. (See a sample report from Xcel Energy here.)

Before you get a comprehensive audit by your electric or gas utility, you may be interested in focusing on no- and low-cost ways your business can save energy and money. Energy Smart provides complimentary business site visits and customized reports to help a business reduce its energy usage. Call Energy Smart at (651)292-4652 if you’re interested in arranging a site visit.

-- by Chelsey M. Johnson

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5 Ways to Engage Employees in Energy Savings

Here’s a low-cost way businesses can lower their energy bills: Get employees to chip in.

Simple steps such as turning off lights when rooms are unoccupied, or turning off and unplugging office equipment such as computers, printers and copiers at night can help a business save hundreds of dollars annually on their energy bills. Yet, many employees don’t do it.

The reasons vary. Some people simply aren’t programmed to think about energy conservation and thus forget to, say, turn off lights when they leave rooms. Others don’t see personal value in taking time to unplug equipment. It only takes a couple minutes to turn off and unplug a computer, yet that’s a minute or two they figure can be better spent doing something else (and besides, they’re not paying the energy bills). Some might even believe their employer wants them to leave the lights and equipment on.

So, then, how do you motivate them to make energy conservation part of their workday? Here are five strategies for getting employees engaged in energy savings:

1. Educate them. A big reason many people don’t take conscious effort to save energy is they don’t realize the full financial and environmental benefits. Employers can change this by providing employees with information. Managers might send emails with factoids on energy savings (such as, turning off a printer at night saves the equivalent of 1,500 photocopies.) Some businesses even host lunch seminars to help employees. (You can find some information on the cost of running office equipment here.)

2. Form a team. Some of the most effective workplace campaigns come not from managers, but other employees. Some companies start “green teams” made up of employees who encourage their colleagues to be more environmentally conscious. Such team could also tackle energy conservation and find ways to educate and motivate their colleagues to save energy.

3. Constant reminders. For many people, not turning things off is habit, and habits are hard to change. Putting signs in key places around the office, such as by the printer or by the doors, reminding people to turn off lights or turn off their computers can make a big difference. And of course, managers should be energy-saving role models: employees will only pitch in if the boss walks the walk.

4. Rewards. Businesses have shown that offering employees some financial incentive for eco-conscious moves, such as buying a hybrid vehicle or taking public transportation to work, can pay off. Companies could motivate employees to save energy by, say, giving gift cards to employees who do the most to save energy or come up with a workplace strategy for doing so.

5. Make it fun. There's growing recognition that the most successful approaches to make people voluntarily participate in environmentally conscious activities is to make them fun, positive and interesting. At a workplace, this might mean hosting an employee competition or producing a funny video about ways employees can save energy.

Any other ideas on how workplaces can encourage energy conservation among employees?

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Twin Cities Energy Innovation Corridor: A Community-Driven Model for Saving Energy

The planned 11-mile light-rail path connecting downtown Minneapolis with downtown St. Paul won’t just be a convenient and energy-efficient way to travel between the Twin Cities. Local leaders hope that stretch will become a role model for how U.S. cities and neighborhoods can come together to save energy.

That 11 miles – which crosses the centers of both cities and the University of Minnesota main campuses – is being dubbed the Energy Innovation Corridor, or EIC. Government leaders are helping businesses and homeowners along the projected light-rail path to reduce their energy usage through energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and use of public transportation. They are hosting free workshops on the benefits of energy efficiency for businesses and residents each neighborhoods along the corridor, as well as offering low-cost audits. They are also helping community members learn about financial incentives for energy efficiency upgrades available to them. (For instance, Xcel Energy -- the large electric and gas utility serving the Cities – has rolled out more and higher rebates in 2010 for customers making energy improvements or installing renewables.)

The goal is for the corridor to reap energy efficiency savings that are 50% higher than the state’s Next Generation Energy Act goals. That's the equivalent saving enough energy to power 7,100 homes, they estimate.

Already, the project boasts some success stories. The Spruce Tree Centre on University Avenue, an office complex, installed one of the largest solar panel roofs in Minnesota. The project was made possible by a $250,000 grant from Xcel Energy. This system is expected to save 49,200 KWh annually. (Read more about the Spruce Tree’s project here or view the energy output of its solar panel system.)

Community and project leaders say the EIC is an experiment in how to battle energy issues on a community level. And it’s something, they say, Minnesota must grapple with now and in the future. Demands for energy are only expected to get higher, and the state has put a ban on the construction of new coal-fired power plants and nuclear power plants. Reducing the need for traditional forms of energy may answer the question of how we will meet our future energy needs.

Project leaders say they will be keeping track of their energy savings, their carbon reduction, their renewable energy generation, and their miles saved (through car share and public transportation). They are currently working on attaining baseline data.

Have a home or business in the EIC and want to get involved? Find out about workshops in your area here. Corridor offers free energy efficiency workshops for residents of areas surrounding the corridor. Also check its Web site for more information on these events.

Businesses interested in finding out how they can get involved and increase their energy efficiency can also call Energy Smart. We can provide no-cost phone consultations, site visits to identify no- and low-cost energy conservation strategies, and help businesses find financial incentive and resources for their energy-efficiency projects.

-- by Chelsey M. Johnson

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