SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Roofing Projects for new government buildings and for Repairing existing government buildings is expensive, but it would Save a lot of money over time if we added Solar Panels at the same time as roof work is being contracted. The installation costs would be reduced greatly and the electrical savings would more than make up for the smaller construction cost over time and would lower our dependence on energy. It would... more »

Why are federal employees expected to wear suits and ties during summer? The summer dress code for all federal workers should be changed to business casual [including golf shirts] and the ambient indoor temperature of federal office buildings should be increased 5 degrees. Employees will be more comfortable at work and commuting on mass transit, no more complaints about overly air conditioned offices, and the government... more »

The federal government should track performance of the taxpayer dollars in programs and initiatives that have proven records of success and fix or end programs that do not.

The status quo within the federal government does not support this claim. Paperless filing could help move the government in that direction in the following ways:

1. Smarter data tracking- Paperless files can be pulled into databases; data can then... more »

A majority of the energy cost in my home is due to heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. I would assume that a massive amount of federal money goes to heating and cooling office space.

Current dress codes and customs suggest that a person should dress exactly the same in both winter and summer. This requires more heating/cooling costs for buildings as they try to reach 70 degrees for every work day. Instead,... more »

In buildings we often do not use energy efficient fixtures or light bulbs, in addition we often do not turn off the lights when we leave the room and let our office equipment run all night instead of being turned off. While the equipment goes into sleep mode they still have "vampire lights" on which are lights that use up energy. By having a policy for the last person leaving an office turn off lights and nonessential... more »

For warm-climate gov't offices, tint all south and west facing windows. I just did it at my house and it's great! Big savings on AC costs. Little impact in winter!

I recommend that all federal agencies would work 4 days 10 hours each. This way the government will have a total of 3 days without using the resources it takes to run the buildings, i.e. electric, water usage, cooling/heating, etc.

Most government buildings have lots of lights on all night long. This is a complete waste and so easily remedied by making each floor or section of a building responsible for turning them off in the evening. We could run "darkest building" or "darkest floor" competitions with hardly any cost at all.

In order to conserve electricity (and therefore operating costs), as many items as possible should be powered down when not in use. Office lights should have timers/motion sensors installed that turn them off after a certain period of inactivity. Printers can be powered down at the end of the day (or when they are not in use - sometimes I use my printer only a few times a week). Scanners should remain powered off and... more »

Government buildings with escalators should install sleep mode units which shut off if no one is standing on it. Saves energy

Along with the numerous requests to put LED lights in government buildings. Include requirement to have Sensor Automatic Light Switch installed in all offices/bathrooms/conference rooms/hallways. This has potential to save thousands if not more every year. I know there's been signficant studies, however they have not created enough concern to get leadership to adopt on large enough scale.

Axe the fax! Federal agencies have the ability to send and receive scanned documents via email through secure systems. Eliminate the use of the fax machine across the Federal Government! Doing so will erase all fax machine purchases and repair costs and reduce the amount agencies spend on toner, telephone lines, and long distance calls. Imagine the savings!

We may be using Fluorescent light bulbs, but we should continue to alternate bulb use like we did prior to using Fluorescent light bulbs. We should keep some lights bulbs Off while others light bulbs are On (alternating bulbs). Thus still providing enough lighting to do the job while conserving Electricity; Reducing lighting where necessary.

Turn off computer monitors at night. Computer monitors can always be turned off at night. Computer upgrades can occur with monitor screens switched off. Leaving computer monitors on at all times is a huge waste of energy and dollars. It is completely unneccessary!! Let's save those dollars! Let's save that energy! It will also cut our greenhouse gas emissions!

When vehicles are replaced, buy the most efficient vehicles that are available at a reasonable cost. This will save operating costs in vehicle fleets.