SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Can we have designated temperature zones at work places: These are real distractors at work. Ever noticed the space heaters at office.. and resulting double drain on power -one to run the AC and the other to keep the personal heater running.

With the cold air from the air conditioning running full blast, comes the misery for a few with genuine body temperature regulation issues. Some may have hypothyroidism. They usually... more »

The autoflush toilets waste a tremendous amount of water. The toilets will flush before it needs to and sometimes several times on its own. This is extremely wasteful and inefficient. We should be able to manage to push a handle down by ourselves. Also, the settings for the AC & heat are way too cold in the summer and too warm in the winter, which is extremely wasteful. Each building needs to be looked at separately... more »

Every gov't bldg I've been in is very cold in the summer (for work, museums, etc). People are wearing sweaters, plugging in heaters, and even walking outside in this very hot weater to warm up. My hands are freezing right now. Turning up the thermostat in all the buildings would save a lot of $ and be better for the environment.

DOE turns off the a/c in the building every night at 5:45pm, and all day on the weekends and holidays. How about leaving it on, but increasing the temp? Experts agree that it takes more energy to cool and dry air after shutting off the system than operating it with a higher temp setting. Leave the a/c 24 hours/day, but adjust temps for work and non/work hours.

My concern is primarily with the waste of over-air-conditioning in the summer and similarly, over-heating in winter. As my mother used to say whenever we kids complained about the house being cold in winter: you need to put on a sweater! The point is you should dress appropriately to match the weather (whether that's light clothes in summer or warm in winter). One of the most wasteful practices I have observed by several... more »

At the Kennedy Space Center as with many Government facilities, there are many buildings with spaces that must be kept cool for sensitive equipment and hardware. These facilities include laboratories, workshops, hangars, spacecraft assembly buildings, etc. that tends to be large buildings with much air leakage and high rates of solar heat gain. The air conditioning demands can easily account for 50% or more of the power... more »