I had an opportunity this fall to address the incoming class at the Wharton School of Business (remarks are here). As part of the event, I helped judged a competition that asked fresh MBAs to pitch ideas designed to address climate change. One surprising fact — three of the top twelve ideas, as judged by the entire school, were related to management of plug load.
Gridium has covered plug load and baseload before. We continue to find very high levels of baseload across a wide variety of building types, and teams that target these areas of energy typically find impressive savings. In fact, baseload and plug load drive so much use that most buildings consume more energy when they are closed than when they are open!
The younger generation understands this. For facilities professionals, this generation is your ally in reducing this waste. They are engaged and ready to take action. Have you asked them for help?
You can start small with a simple reminder to your tenant coordinators or sustainability team to shut down completely on Fridays before leaving for the weekend. A recent study (pdf) found 6% savings from this no-cost measure.
Why not try it today?
