Key Points
- Misconceptions about energy use can lead to widespread practices that lower efficiency and cause unnecessary maintenance.
- Myths often arise from a lack of understanding of the relationship between energy and commonly used equipment.
- Common energy myths involve turning equipment on and off, screen savers, and surge protection equipment.
Some ideas are so widely held that they appear to bear little scrutiny or even a second thought. While often factual, such common wisdom can also be based on outdated or erroneous information—old wives' tales or urban legends. Widespread misconceptions about energy use—often taken as fact—can cost facilities on their energy bills and lead to unnecessary maintenance, lower productivity, and reduced comfort.
The following are some common energy myths that may be costing you.
Energy efficiency and energy conservation are the same thing.
Efficiency refers to using less to perform a specific task. Examples include replacing traditional lighting with energy-saving fluorescent or LED technology, or installing ENERGY STAR®-rated equipment. Conservation refers to reducing your need for energy through changes in behavior, such as turning off office computers or riding a bike to work.
Leaving lights, computers, and equipment on uses less energy than turning them on and off.
Many employees leave office lights on when they go off to lunch, thinking that it will use more energy to turn it back on than to just leave it on. In most cases, the small surge of power needed to start a device is much less than the power that is wasted by leaving it on when it is not needed.
A heating and cooling system works harder to reach a comfortable temperature after it is set back or set forward.
Thermostats are often not adjusted at night or on weekends while the facility is unoccupied because of the common misconception that the heating or cooling system must work harder or use more energy to reheat or re-cool the building. This is not how a thermostat works. The system activates to reach a set level and then shuts off when that level is reached. It can be likened more to a switch that shuts on and off, rather than a gas pedal that accelerates faster the more you step on it.
When a device is turned off, it is off.
Many appliances and electronic devices in the office—such as coffee makers and fax machines—continue to use power after they have been switched off. Sometimes as much as if they were on! This is known as standby power or phantom load. The only way to stop the drain of power from these devices is by unplugging them.
Screen savers save energy.
Screen savers do not save energy. They were designed to prevent any specific image from being displayed on your computer monitor while it is dormant—thus avoiding burn-in. Burn-in is a ghostly image that can begin to occur on a monitor after it has been displayed on screen for an extended period of time. Essentially, it takes as much energy to display a screen saver as any other image on your computer. To save energy, simply turn off the monitor when not in use or adjust your settings so that the monitor shuts down after a specified period of idle time.
Switching computers and other equipment on and off causes damage.
Many people, including IT personnel, believe that switching off PCs and other equipment during the day and at night causes damage to internal components. It is thought that the change in temperature resulting from turning equipment on and off harms the circuitry. Modern electronic equipment is specifically designed to minimize these effects. The reduced running time resulting from power-saving features can actually increase the life expectancy of equipment.
Surge protection equipment saves energy.
Some makers of surge suppressors have claimed energy-saving benefits for their technology, even though there is no reliable evidence to back up these claims. In reality, surge protection equipment is dormant more than 99% of the time, becoming active only in the event of a voltage spike. Surge suppressors are an effective method for protecting electronic equipment, but they do not have any demonstrated energy-saving benefits.
Installing an energy-efficient HVAC or boiler system will automatically reduce energy costs.
This is true to some extent, but optimal savings will not be achieved unless the system is sized and installed correctly. Installing an efficient but oversized system can negate much of the potential savings. A poorly designed duct or piping system can also have an impact on efficiency and comfort.