HVAC settings
The key to savings is in your thermostat
| Action | Cost | Saving |
|---|---|---|
|
Review HVAC set points and night time temperature adjustments
|
No-cost | Up to 10% on heating and cooling costs |
Why take action?
Setting back your thermostat, by 10-15 degrees for 8 hours each night, could save you up to 10% on heating and cooling energy use.
Over heating or cooling wastes energy and makes the workplace environment less pleasant.
What actions to take?
- After-hours settings. When your facility is closed, program your thermostat 10 to 15 degrees lower in the winter and higher in the summer. Making small adjustments is an easy way to save energy and costs.
- Weekend and holiday settings. Set up your thermostat to adjust the space temperature according to your 7-day occupancy schedule and check settings for holidays and/or when your business is closed.
- Your thermostats should be checked periodically to verify the correct settings are in place (e.g., no override settings).
- Seasonal settings. Program thermostats at the beginning of each heating season and cooling season:
- Occupied hours. Consider setting at 68°F through the heating season and 76°F through the cooling season during occupied hours. This provides an 8°F band where you would be neither heating nor cooling the building, thus saving energy.
- Unoccupied hours. During off-hours and weekends, the temperatures can be adjusted to be as low as 55°F during winter and as high as 82°F during summer. The central fan systems may be shut off or cycled on and off to maintain these adjusted setback temperatures and conserve energy.
Each building is unique as to the time required to bring a building back to the occupied hours’ set point. Get input from the occupants and adjust in order to maintain comfort levels. While talking to the occupants, encourage them to wear seasonally appropriate or layered clothing.
- Seasonal adjustments. When it’s time to switch from one HVAC system to the next, or it’s time to not run it so frequently, then it’s time to check the programming on your building’s thermostats to ensure they still fit your needs and the same zone/controlled areas are still in regular use.
- During transitional periods or between heating and cooling seasons, there will be days when set points struggle to balance between heating and cooling.
- Consider making and displaying a simple chart like the one below so everyone understands what the target ranges are:
| occupied comfort heating setpoint |
occupied comfort cooling setpoint |
unoccupied heating setpoint |
unoccupied cooling setpoint |
|---|---|---|---|
|
68°F
|
76°F | 55°F | 82°F |
Other ideas for reducing HVAC energy costs
- Use blinds and screens to minimize overheating from the sun, which can make work areas uncomfortable.
- I.T. equipment and kitchens generate heat that increases the energy use on HVAC. Consider lower cost ways to cool these areas, such as vents to let in fresh air, ducting heat out of the building.
- Occupant comfort is a helpful guide to how well your HVAC systems are working. If there are complaints, or staff are using personal fans and heaters, then check and adjust your systems and programming.
- Keep thermostats away any heat generating equipment (lamps, computers, coffee makers, etc.) as well as open doors, so that they sense the actual inside temperature.