Today, facilities managers, business operators, and engineers are feeling increasing pressure to build and maintain high and low performance buildings. The challenges people face involve reducing energy consumption, lowering its operating costs, and improving equipment.

Funding for such retrofits and improvements can also be costly. And therefore, such measures have been a low priority to many businesses. Today, however, adequate funding in the form of rebates, incentives, grants, low-interest loans, and other financial programs are helping businesses decrease its energy consumption. This in return helps businesses decrease operational costs, increase its savings and profits, and begin to establish a more sustainable/environmentally responsible business perception that tailors to an upswing in consumer demand for Hawaii’s future market.

LIGHTING

Use natural or energy-efficient lighting and eliminate unnecessary lighting.

• For desk lamps and decorative lighting, install energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), which typically use 75% less energy for the same amount of light and last 10 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs.
• Turn off lights in unoccupied offices, conference rooms, break rooms, and bathrooms. Using timers or occupancy sensors in restrooms and conference rooms also reduces the time lights are on in little-used places.
• Use abundant, free sunlight where possible.
• Dust light bulbs and fixtures regularly for consistently bright light.
• Make sure all lights are turned out when the last person leaves at night.

CHILLERS

Improve building operations through a systematic approach of installing critical metering, performing retro-commissioning activities to identify and optimize system operations, and then measuring and sharing the results and lessons learned.

LIGHTING

Hawaii offers commercial and industrial rebates, anywhere from low-wattage T8 lamps with electronic ballasts, reflectors, CFLs, LED Exit signs, induction lighting, high pressure sodium lamps, pulse-smart metal halide lamps, occupancy sensors, and other types of LEDs.

OTHERS

Hawaii Energy also offers State Tax Rebates and Incentives for retrofits to HVAC systems, booster pumps, chillers, motors, AC systems, Solar Water Heaters, and Window Films.

The agency offers assistance to master-metered condominiums and their associations to reduce energy consumption and implement sub-metering proposals.

The agency also offers design assistance to building owners and design teams, or Energy Studies to any company in order to show which energy conservation and efficiency measures will work best for your facility, as well as its cost effectiveness.