How to Improve Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency comes up constantly in board meetings, sustainability reports, equipment specs, and utility bills. But as the team at Energy Performance Solutions often hears from facility managers in the field, talking about it and acting on it are two different things. Without a clear starting point, the goal stays aspirational.

So here is a practical framework for getting there, grounded in the reality of what facility managers work with every day.

Start With What You Already Have

The most cost-effective energy-efficiency move most facilities can make isn't a technology upgrade. It's getting existing equipment to perform as designed. Degraded performance is invisible until you look for it, and it costs real money every day.

As our team puts it: dirty light bulbs don't provide as much light; dirty air conditioners don't provide as much cooling capacity and consume more power for longer periods. The same physics applies to every energy-consuming system in your facility. Maintenance isn't just an operational checkbox. It's an energy efficiency strategy.

The numbers reinforce this idea. HVAC systems account for 40–50% of total energy consumption in commercial buildings. That’s according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The EPA estimates that U.S. commercial buildings waste about 30% of their energy annually. A significant portion of that waste reportedly comes from poorly maintained or degraded equipment, not outdated technology.

Before budgeting for new equipment, facility managers should confirm that existing systems run at their rated efficiency. In most facilities, they aren't.

Step 1: Conduct an Energy Audit

You can't improve what you haven't measured. An energy audit reviews how energy flows through your building, HVAC, lighting, equipment, and the building envelope, and identifies where it's being wasted. Benchmarking your building's energy use against comparable properties sets a realistic baseline and helps you prioritize investments that deliver the highest return.

Think of the energy audit as your roadmap for moving forward. Without it, your efficiency improvements are basically guesswork. With the audit, every dollar you spend goes further.

Step 2: Prioritize HVAC

HVAC optimization delivers the biggest energy-efficiency gains for many facilities. Research from the Department of Energy indicates potential for a 10–30% energy reduction through HVAC system optimization alone. That’s without even replacing the equipment itself.

The key maintenance items that can directly affect your HVAC efficiency include:

• Air filters: Dirty filters restrict airflow, and they force your HVAC system to work harder for the same output. Filter condition should be checked monthly during peak seasons and replaced on a schedule appropriate to the facility's environment

• Condenser and evaporator coils: A moderately dirty condenser coil can increase your electricity consumption by 39% on a 3-ton unit and 47% on a 5-ton system, according to DOE research. Coil cleaning should be part of every seasonal maintenance cycle

• Thermostat and controls calibration: Miscalibrated HVAC controls cause inefficient cycling and temperature overshoot. Reviewing your setpoints, economizer settings, and scheduling for heating and cooling seasons is a low-cost, high-return task

• Ductwork integrity: Duct leakage wastes 15–30% of your conditioned air before it even reaches occupied spaces. Sealing duct penetrations and verifying your airflow balance pays back quickly

Step 3: Read the Fine Print on New Equipment

When it is time to invest in new or replacement equipment, efficiency ratings deserve scrutiny. Read the fine print to understand the environment in which the equipment is designed to operate efficiently.

This is a real and underappreciated issue. Standard AHRI efficiency ratings for air conditioning equipment are calculated at a test condition of 95°F outdoor ambient temperature. If your facility routinely experiences temperatures above that, as is increasingly common across much of the U.S., the rated efficiency will not reflect actual field performance. A unit with an impressive SEER2 rating operating in 105°F ambient conditions will consume significantly more energy and deliver meaningfully less cooling than its label suggests.

Ask your equipment manufacturers for performance curves across the full ambient temperature range relevant to your location. Not just the standard test point. The gap between rated and real-world performance can be bigger than you think. It should also factor into every purchasing decision.

As of January 2025, federal SEER2 and EER2 standards use updated test procedures that better reflect real-world conditions we commonly experience. These test procedures include ductwork resistance and filter restrictions, which is an improvement over prior ratings. However, they’re still based on standardized conditions that may not match your facility's environment.

Step 4: Bundle Improvements for Greater Impact

Single-measure upgrades rarely deliver the same savings as coordinated improvements. Research strongly indicates that combining HVAC optimization with lighting and controls upgrades can achieve over 20% energy savings. An energy-efficient building also carries financial benefits beyond utility bills. Buildings with ENERGY STAR certification have been shown to command rental premiums of 3–16% and secure better financing terms than comparable uncertified properties. It’s like those insurance commercials say, bundling really does help you save!

Step 5: Protect the Energy Efficiency You've Built

Unfortunately, improving your energy efficiency isn't a one-time event. Efficiency degrades over time as your equipment ages, coils corrode, and environmental exposure takes its toll. Energy Performance Solutions offers a range of HVAC coating products specifically designed to preserve efficiency longer and extend your equipment’s life between those degradation points.

CoilSafe forms a thin, covalently bonded, glass-like protective layer on HVAC coils that guards against corrosion, a common cause of heat-transfer loss in aging equipment. It acts without reducing the coil's ability to exchange heat. The coating is UV-stable, self-cleaning, and validated through 6,000+ hours of ASTM B117 salt fog testing. Cleaner, protected coils stay closer to factory efficiency ratings longer, reducing energy use and maintenance frequency.

ThermalBlock works on HVAC cabinets, ductwork, rooftops, and other building surfaces. It reflects 89% of visible light and rejects 87% of external heat gain. This directly reduces the solar heat load added to rooftop equipment and building surfaces. For facilities in hot climates where ambient conditions already push systems beyond their rated efficiency range, reducing that additional thermal load is one of the most practical interventions available.

Together, these coatings help maintain the efficiency gains your maintenance program creates, i.e., protecting both the equipment investment and the energy savings that come with it.

Want to learn more about how EPS coatings can improve the energy efficiency of your facility's HVAC systems? Call our experts at 713-931-2735 or send us a message.

Citation List

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6. U.S. Department of Energy, Section 179D Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings Tax Deduction. energy.gov

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9. Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), AHRI Standard 210/240-2026 (I-P). ahrinet.org