14 Common Misconceptions About Energy Efficiency

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14 Common Misconceptions About Energy Efficiency
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Common Misconceptions About Energy Efficiency

• Energy efficiency allows home and business owners
  to reduce energy bills significantly, and savings
  of over 50 percent are possible in many cases.
• However, the market is flooded with products and
  services that promise energy savings. And not all
  information on energy efficiency found online is
  reliable.
• When implementing energy efficiency, it is
  important to tell apart myth from reality this
  article will uncover 14 Common Misconceptions
  About Energy Efficiency.

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1) Energy Efficiency is Expensive

• There is a sliver of truth in this idea. Energy
  efficiency involves a higher upfront expense
  compared with conventional lighting and
  equipment.
• However, when the lifetime energy cost is
  factored in, energy efficient devices are the
  cheapest to own and operate by a wide margin.
• LED lighting is a clear example of this a
  typical LED bulb may have 6 to 10 times the cost
  of a conventional incandescent bulb, but it
  consumes over 80 less energy and last 25 times
  longer. To be fair, you would have to compare the
  price of one LED bulb with that of 25
  incandescent lamps.

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2) The Lighting Produced by LED Lamps and
Fixtures is Ugly

• You have probably heard of cases where the
  lighting in a home is upgraded to LED, but the
  owner decides to go back to halogen or
  incandescent bulbs because the color of LED
  lighting was intolerable. However, this is really
  caused by using products with a poor color
  rendering index or an inadequate color
  temperature it is not a defect of LED lighting
  itself.
• There are now LED products that can replicate the
  warm and natural lighting color of incandescent
  and halogen bulbs just look for a color
  temperature of around 2700K and a CRI value above
  80.

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3) Solar Panels are an Energy Efficiency Measure

• Solar panels reduce your energy bills, but that
  is because they generate energy on-site, lowering
  the total amount drawn from the power grid.
  Strictly speaking, they are not an energy
  efficiency measure because your consumption stays
  the same the difference is that you are
  generating a portion of it by yourself.
• Of course, solar power is a cost-effective
  investment to reduce power bills, but does not
  count as energy efficiency, which brings us to
  another common misconception.

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4) Solar Power Is a Better Investment Than Energy
Efficiency

• Many home and business owners install solar PV
  systems without making their buildings more
  efficient, but this is not the best approach. If
  you invest in energy efficiency first, your total
  consumption will be reduced and if you decide to
  install solar panels later, they will be able to
  cover a higher percentage of your energy
  consumption.

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5) You Should Replace Your Windows to Make Your
Home or Office Energy Efficient

• High-performance windows are a great option for
  new construction, but in existing buildings their
  replacement cost far outweighs the benefits, and
  their payback period may be decades long. A
  better option is to use caulking and
  weather-stripping to improve air sealing, and you
  can install storm windows on top of the normal
  ones to trap a layer of air and provide
  insulation.

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6) Electronic Devices Consume a Lot of Power,
Even When Turned Off

• There is some truth to this. Electronic devices
  consume some power in standby mode, but it pales
  in comparison to the energy drawn by air
  conditioners, boilers, space heaters and
  incandescent lighting.
• Disconnecting electronic devices not in use makes
  you environmentally friendly, since the total
  load adds up when you consider thousands of
  households however, it does not represent a
  significant portion of energy expenses in an
  individual building.

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7) Energy Conservation and Energy Efficiency Are
the Same

• Both have the same effect, which is reducing the
  total energy consumption, but there is an
  important difference between them
• Energy efficiency means providing the same
  service with less energy. For example, a 16-W LED
  bulb can provide the same amount of light as a
  100-W incandescent bulb.
• Energy conservation means reducing usage to
  achieve energy savings. If an office building
  reduces the operating schedule of lighting
  fixtures by one hour, it counts as energy
  conservation.

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8) Oversized Air Conditioners are More Energy
Efficient

• Oversized air conditioners have a reduced
  compressor runtime, but this is simply because
  the unit has a higher capacity and can reach the
  required temperature faster. However, the total
  cooling output stays the same, as well as energy
  consumption.
• In fact, oversized air conditioners come with
  several issues they do not remove humidity
  effectively, stimulating mold growth and they
  tend to have a shorter service life due to how
  frequently their compressor cycles on and off.

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9) Oversized Boilers and Furnaces Are More Energy
Efficient

• Just like with air conditioners, there is a
  common misconception that oversized heating
  equipment saves energy by reducing runtime.
  However, total energy output stays the same, and
  maintenance issues are common due to the short
  operating cycles.

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10) LED Lighting is Fragile and Requires Frequent
Replacements

• The opposite is true LED products are sturdier
  than incandescent, halogen and fluorescent lamps.
  Instead of using glass, LED products can use
  impact-resistant housings, and they do not depend
  on fragile filaments or electrodes to generate
  light.
• The average LED bulb lasts 25,000 hours, and many
  LED fixtures last more than 100,000 hours, while
  CFL bulbs are limited to around 10,000 hours and
  incandescent bulbs rarely last more than 1,000
  hours.

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11) Lighting is the Top Energy Expense in Homes
and Commercial Buildings

• Lighting expenses are significant. But heating
  and cooling devices generally consume far more
  energy in the typical US household or commercial
  building.
• Energy consultants often prioritize lighting
  retrofits over other energy efficiency upgrades.
  But that is because they are easy to implement
  and have a relatively short payback period. Its
  wise to consider improvements in this area,
  including the use of energy management systems
  designed to control temperatures and on/off
  schedules more effectively.

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12) Tankless Electric Heaters Offer a Higher
Energy Efficiency than Storage Heaters

• This is true when both types of heaters use
  electric resistance heating, since the tankless
  option eliminates standby losses. However, if a
  storage heater uses heat pump technology, its
  energy efficiency is far superior to that of a
  tankless electric heater.

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13) Energy Efficiency Upgrades Require Cash
Availability

• Many states in the USA have introduced rebate
  programs for energy efficiency upgrades. And they
  can cover a significant portion of your upfront
  investment. If you have access to a low-interest
  loan, it can also be a great option you can pay
  it off completely with the energy savings
  achieved, never spending a single dollar from
  your pocket.

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14) Expensive Energy Efficiency Upgrades are the
Most Effective

• The cost of an energy efficiency measure has
  nothing to do with its effectiveness. For
  example, caulking and weather-stripping are much
  more affordable than high-performance windows.
  But they generally provide a higher percentage
  reduction of your heating and cooling expenses.

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14) Expensive Energy Efficiency Upgrades are the
Most Effective

• Concluding Remarks
• Getting a professional energy assessment or
  energy audit is the best way to determine the
  most effective energy efficiency measures for
  your home or commercial building.
• When dealing with energy efficiency, following
  rules of thumb or word of mouth generally results
  in wasting money without obtaining a significant
  return.

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Thank You!