# Got a small ($1K) grant for "energy efficiency/enviromental" stuff



## JLNorthGA (Jun 15, 2012)

The local Lions club president (who is a "green believer") got the local Lions to give us a $1K grant to "improve energy efficiency".

Works for me - now I have to figure out how to spend the money.

I can replace all of my work light bulbs (11) with large CFL bulbs. That is actually a bit of change - probably on the order of $200. I've got CFL bulbs in the lobby fixtures (can lights with CFL bulbs). I have tube fluorescent fixtures just about everywhere else. I can go through the building and replace a few bulbs here and there, but that (with the work lights) probably only spends about 1/3 of the money. 

I could replace the bathroom fixtures with fixtures which use T8 style bulbs.

Any other thoughts? There isn't enough money to replace the back bay door with something more energy efficient. I could replace one or two of the side doors. There isn't enough money to do LED lights and fixtures.


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## cpf (Jun 15, 2012)

Additional weather sealing on all the exterior man doors? Motion-sensing light switches in bathrooms, etc? Professional tuneup of the heating/cooling controls?


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## gafftaper (Jun 15, 2012)

-Automatic faucets/hand dryers in the rest rooms. 

-New high efficiency hot water tank, Fridge/Freezer, or instant hot water in the concessions area

-No CFL's in the house! You will hate the results! There are some high quality LED replacement lamps out there that dim pretty well and could be used in the house.  However they are $50+ each. So if you need more than 20 lamps you are over the budget.

I think your most likely target will be ways to save, water, heat, or electricity in non-stage areas. You don't have enough money to do anything major on stage.


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## FACTplayers (Jun 15, 2012)

gafftaper said:


> -Automatic faucets/hand dryers in the rest rooms.
> 
> -New high efficiency hot water tank, Fridge/Freezer, or instant hot water in the concessions area
> 
> ...



Re-circulation pumps, aka instant hot water, are great, but they will cost you a noticeable amount on your electric bill. You could, however, have it on a timer. That way it only turns on around the time you need a lot of hot water.

I second the automatic faucets/hand dryers. Great way to reduce paper waste and wasted water. Although they will put you over budget very quickly. 


You could simply switch your light bulbs to the energy star bulbs. I don't mean the bulbs in the house, but the ones backstage and in any rooms. Another idea you might be able to do (I did this at my house, not sure if a business qualifies) is to have an energy star representative come out and do an inspection on your building. The rep will then give you a list of things that you could improve to make the building more energy efficient. The government was re-imbursing home owners for the costs of the improvements (which wasn't much). But this way you know you are improving the areas that are costing you the most each month.

Edit: check out the Energy Star website for more details. http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=business.bus_bldgs


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## museav (Jun 18, 2012)

JLNorthGA said:


> The local Lions club president (who is a "green believer") got the local Lions to give us a $1K grant to "improve energy efficiency".


They apparently didn't limit it to the building energy efficiency so how about $1,000 worth of coffee, Red Bull and 5 Hour Energy! 

There may be some simple areas like sealing leaky ductwork, cleaning or replacing dirty air filters (and saving some funds for ongoing replacement). insulating hot water pipes, repairing or adding exterior door seals and so on. Maybe a low volume toilet or two.


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## DrPinto (Jun 18, 2012)

gafftaper said:


> -Automatic faucets/hand dryers in the rest rooms.



Electric hand dryers? Nooooooooo! 

Automatic faucets are OK, but many people (including myself) can't stand the automatic electric hand dryers. I know that the dryers are more environmentally friendly (even though most use more energy than 3 source 4s), but they do a lousy job drying hands. And did you ever wash your face and try drying it with an electric hand dryer? Not fun.

Use recycled paper and dispensers that only give you one sheet of paper at a time, but I beg you... don't get electric hand dryers!


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## techieman33 (Jun 18, 2012)

DrPinto said:


> Electric hand dryers? Nooooooooo!
> 
> Automatic faucets are OK, but many people (including myself) can't stand the automatic electric hand dryers. I know that the dryers are more environmentally friendly (even though most use more energy than 3 source 4s), but they do a lousy job drying hands. And did you ever wash your face and try drying it with an electric hand dryer? Not fun.
> 
> Use recycled paper and dispensers that only give you one sheet of paper at a time, but I beg you... don't get electric hand dryers!



The Dyson Airblade is a great electric hand dryer, but just one would use up the grant money.


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## sk8rsdad (Jun 18, 2012)

One option is replacing all your exit signs with LED. There's certainly an energy saving, but the real saving is in not having to replace all those CFLs over the next 20 years.


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## marmer (Jun 18, 2012)

Dyson Airblade is far too noisy for anywhere near a performance space. And they frighten small children. I agree with sk8trsdad -- we're in the process of doing exactly that. I'd recommend considering LEDs anywhere where the lights are on most of the time if not always and dimming/color isn't important -- aisle lights, step lights, vestibule lights, etc.


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## avkid (Jun 18, 2012)

DrPinto said:


> Electric hand dryers? Nooooooooo!
> Automatic faucets are OK, but many people (including myself) can't stand the automatic electric hand dryers. I know that the dryers are more environmentally friendly (even though most use more energy than 3 source 4s), but they do a lousy job drying hands.


We have these, they are the best I have ever encountered.
Hand Dryers - BluStorm Hand Dryer


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## museav (Jun 18, 2012)

You might want to consider that the hand dryers typically require a dedicated 15A to 20A, 110-120VAC circuit to the unit, so unless you already have that power availble then the asociated effort and cost may make them impractical within a $1,000 total budget.

Options such as replacing the exit signs may also have other considerations. For example, if you change the signs then you may be required to also make any other related changes necessary to comply with current code rather than just directly replacing what is there. So you might want to verify any such ideas with the local code officials and AHJ before committing to them.


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## gafftapegreenia (Jun 18, 2012)

What about buying the latest generation of efficient lamps for your PARs, ERS's and Fresnels? (Assuming your inventory isn't all Source 4)


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## JLNorthGA (Jun 18, 2012)

gafftapegreenia said:


> What about buying the latest generation of efficient lamps for your PARs, ERS's and Fresnels? (Assuming your inventory isn't all Source 4)



All of my instruments up on the catwalk are Source Fours. I have 12 Altman Fresnel instruments on the electrics above the stage. All the instruments are new.


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## marmer (Jun 19, 2012)

museav said:


> You might want to consider that the hand dryers typically require a dedicated 15A to 20A, 110-120VAC circuit to the unit, so unless you already have that power availble then the asociated effort and cost may make them impractical within a $1,000 total budget.
> 
> Options such as replacing the exit signs may also have other considerations. For example, if you change the signs then you may be required to also make any other related changes necessary to comply with current code rather than just directly replacing what is there. So you might want to verify any such ideas with the local code officials and AHJ before committing to them.



We've run into this before. Relamping with LED equivalents is generally OK but it you change the actual sign or lighting fixture it may trigger other code requirements. We have had very good luck with direct-replacement LED lamps for exit signs.


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## techieman33 (Jun 19, 2012)

marmer said:


> We've run into this before. Relamping with LED equivalents is generally OK but it you change the actual sign or lighting fixture it may trigger other code requirements. We have had very good luck with direct-replacement LED lamps for exit signs.



We've had terrible luck with our LED replacements. After about 2 years we slowly started losing them, now 5 years after the install almost all but a few of them have been replaced. I'm sure a lot of our problem is from having the city (we are attached to city hall) test the emergency generator weekly. And I'm not sure how "green" they are but if I was buying exit lights I would go for the radioactive ones.


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## marmer (Jun 19, 2012)

techieman33 said:


> We've had terrible luck with our LED replacements. After about 2 years we slowly started losing them, now 5 years after the install almost all but a few of them have been replaced. I'm sure a lot of our problem is from having the city (we are attached to city hall) test the emergency generator weekly. And I'm not sure how "green" they are but if I was buying exit lights I would go for the radioactive ones.



I have dozens of exit lights in my building, and most of them are hard to reach. Some of them require a Genie. Changing them in two to five years instead of every six months seems like a good deal to me, especially if someone else is picking up the cost. Actually, we'd be doing it anyway because the incandescents they use are being discontinued, we hear. We test the generator every week, too, we'll see how long our exit signs last. (they're new enough that none have failed yet.)


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## gafftapegreenia (Jun 19, 2012)

techieman33 said:


> We've had terrible luck with our LED replacements. After about 2 years we slowly started losing them, now 5 years after the install almost all but a few of them have been replaced. I'm sure a lot of our problem is from having the city (we are attached to city hall) test the emergency generator weekly. And I'm not sure how "green" they are but if I was buying exit lights I would go for the radioactive ones.



I'll have to see if I can find it, but recently I was reading a big report about this contractor that got fined for improperly disposing hundreds on the radioactive ones,and how many buildings are currently ditching those because of the associated disposal costs.


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## museav (Jun 19, 2012)

gafftapegreenia said:


> I'll have to see if I can find it, but recently I was reading a big report about this contractor that got fined for improperly disposing hundreds on the radioactive ones,and how many buildings are currently ditching those because of the associated disposal costs.


Of course CFLs have their own issues in regards to cleanup and disposal.


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## zmb (Jun 19, 2012)

museav said:


> Of course CFLs have their own issues in regards to cleanup and disposal.



Those can make their way to a collection bin at a hardware store instead of shipping to some nuclear waste site

And if you're going to replace existing lamps with T8, maybe look at going to T5 as long as you're doing work.


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