Earth Day 2022: Invest in Our Planet With Building-Efficiency Technologies

Apr 20, 2022 | Blog Posts, Insights

Earth Day 2022: Invest in Our Planet

With a theme of “Invest in Our Planet,” Earth Day 2022 seeks to bring all stakeholders together – including businesses – to support the environment. Key points this year include:

Together we must invest in our planet because a green future is a prosperous one.
Unless businesses act now, climate change will ever more deeply damage economies, increase scarcity and drain profits and job prospects.
Helping the planet pays. As such, studies show a direct correlation between sustainable business practices, share prices and business performance.
Thus, smart companies understand that it’s no longer a choice between going green and growing long-term profits – sustainability is the path to prosperity.

The theme of Earth Day 2022 is "Invest in Our Planet"

Support the Planet and Profits with Building-Efficiency Technologies

The theme of Earth Day 2022 is on the money with businesses – and profits – as a key factor for helping to save the planet. Consequently, if companies don’t follow more sustainable practices, the Earth will suffer. Therefore, emphasizing the economic benefits of supporting the planet is essential.

How are both the planet and profits safeguarded? Indeed, the answer is by implementing innovative building-efficiency technologies in as many structures as possible to achieve electrification and decarbonization. As a result, energy efficiency and cost savings are optimized. Undoubtedly, this is good news for the environment and the bottom line.

Cut Energy Costs by up to 30%

In fact, making buildings more efficient can have a major positive impact on the planet and profits. This is because the vast majority of structures are incredibly inefficient and wasteful. For example, simply improving the operations of a building’s HVAC system can significantly reduce carbon emissions and cut energy costs by up to 30%. (Source: U.S. Department of Energy)

Supporting the planet and profits goes hand in hand by making buildings more efficient

Technologies Are Available Today To Make Buildings More Efficient

We don’t have to wait for innovative technologies for improving building efficiency, electrification and decarbonization – such advanced systems are available today. These include:

Heat Pumps

Heat pumps offer an energy-efficient alternative to furnaces and air conditioners for all climates. Like a refrigerator, heat pumps use electricity to transfer heat from a cool space to a warm space, making the cool space cooler and the warm space warmer. During the heating season, heat pumps move heat from the cool outdoors into a warm interior. During the cooling season, heat pumps move heat from indoors into the outdoors. Because they transfer heat rather than generate heat, heat pumps can efficiently provide comfortable temperatures for any building. (Source: U.S. Department of Energy)

Geothermal Heat Pump Systems

Geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) use 25% to 50% less electricity than conventional heating or cooling systems. According to the EPA, geothermal heat pumps can reduce energy consumption – and corresponding emissions – up to 72% compared with electric resistance heating with standard air-conditioning equipment.
Geothermal heat pump systems for space heating and water heating allow for design flexibility and function in both new and retrofit situations. Because the hardware requires less space than that needed by a conventional HVAC system, the equipment rooms can be greatly scaled down, freeing space for productive uses. (Source: U.S. Department of Energy)

Heat-Pump Water Heaters

Conventional older water heaters can waste up to 20% of their fuel, and even newer models can waste up to 10%. This results in more money spent and more carbon emissions released into the environment.
Heat-pump water heaters (HPWHs) use the same operating principle as an air-conditioner or refrigerator. Utilizing electricity and compressors, they absorb energy from air or water, and transfer it into domestic water at useable temperatures. Heat-pump water heaters enable buildings to energy efficiently heat water to temperatures as high as 185°F in a single pass.
Heat-pump water heaters are the best alternative for conserving energy. This is because they move heat with a heat pump, rather than generating it via fossil fuels or electric resistance. Depending on the air- or water-source temperature, water is heated using 1/3-1/4 of the energy required by gas or electric resistance.

Wastewater Energy Recovery

Wastewater is a constant and inexhaustible resource that can carry ~25% of a building’s daily energy consumption and in most cases goes to waste into sewer systems.
When discharged from buildings, wastewater is higher in temperature than other regenerative energy sources, such as well water or geo-exchange, reaching an average temperature of 21°C (77°F) at the point of discharge.
Across North America and the EU alone, there is over 330 billion liters (87 billion US gallons) of wastewater discharged through the sewer systems each day. This wastewater has the potential to replace 1.5 billion MWh of the natural gas consumption used to provide space heating and domestic hot water every year.
Wastewater energy recovery systems capture the limitless supply of thermal energy from wastewater to provide sustainable heating and conditioning for a wide range of building types. This significantly reduces carbon emissions and energy costs.

Electrify and Decarbonize with Heat Pumps

Heat pumps maximize energy efficiency and support electrification, decarbonization and cost savings. Learn about the innovative heat pumps we offer by clicking below.

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