SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Approximately 50% of the U.S. Government’s energy budget is used to heat, cool and move AIR! Windows in leased and owned government offices all around the country are already equipped with simple Levelor-brand and other brand venetian blinds. In almost all cases, these taxpayer-supported blinds are rarely used and just hover silently in their hoisted position at the top of the windowsill year in and out. I suggest a simple... more »

If you check on your closest thermostat in your office, you would find the temperature to be around low 70s. Looking around you would see many of your colleagues wearing knitted sweaters while some even have their personal heaters trying to keep themselves warm, but glancing at the calendar in front of you, you then realize it is actually in the middle of summer!

Simply raising the temperature by 2 to 3 degrees can reduce... more »

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 »

The government should look into channeling the heat from data centers and server rooms into heating for government buildings and providing hot water.

Initiatives to do this are already underway overseas in in Finland and Switzerland.

Systems like this would pay for themselves and are better for the environment.

It might also be good policy to consider locating data centers in colder climate locations to maximize the... more »