Energy@Work’s 6th annual challenge presents an opportunity for friendly competition!
The past few years have seen major changes in building occupancy. Keeping energy efficiency in mind when shutting down for the night looks very different in the office vs. working from home. With building occupancy increasing since the pandemic, this is a great opportunity to remind workers who have been working from home to consider energy efficiency when they’ve finished for the day.
The challenge aims to help raise awareness of, and mitigate, how much electricity is wasted over the holidays due to:
plug load or what is commonly called “Phantom Power” is a huge opportunity!
systems continuing to run when not needed,
lighting remaining on, particularly accent and interior lobby lighting,
TV screens and monitors have off switches which are rarely used in lieu of standby mode,
exercise equipment “in the ready mode’ but sitting idle
This year’s challenge will occur between 6:00 PM Friday, December 22nd, 2023 - 6:00 AM Tuesday, January 2nd, 2024.
- we look forward to your participation!
Watch our quick video and find out what the Holiday Challenge is all about!
Previous challenges were a bit hit. Annually, over 30 commercial buildings achieved an average kWh reduction of 9% during the challenge period with no capital!
Recommended Next Steps:
i) Reach out to Energy@Work if you would like to participate: holidaychallenge@energy-efficiency.com
ii) Alert Operations Team of participation
iii) Review existing Holiday Sequence of Operations and develop a challenge period schedule (considering tenant comfort, equipment safety and energy efficiency)
iv) Encourage tenants to participate by eliminating phantom power (switch off monitors, TV screens, coffee makers, etc.)
Feel free to share our above video
Energy@Work has posters/marketing materials available to help engage tenants
v) Collaborate with tenants to consider "Hibernation mode adjustments" for unoccupied spaces
Upon receipt of your approval to participate, a participant toolkit will be shared including ‘tips and tricks’ to reduce ‘phantom power’. The property with the greatest percentage kWh reduction during the challenge period compared to the baseline (6:00 PM Friday December 8th, 2023 - 6:00 AM Tuesday, December 19th, 2023) will be the Champion of the 6th Annual Holiday Challenge (prize to follow)!
Last year, NRCan released the Energy Efficiency Checklist for closed or partially vacant offices- Click here to download!
We look forward to another great challenge and your participation for the chance to be the greatest reducer!
Any questions/comments can be directed to: holidaychallenge@energy-efficiency.com