Is Your UPS Energy Efficient?
Energy efficiency is an important factor to consider in today’s backup power infrastructure, as it’s one of the leading causes of excessive energy cost. The national average for commercial businesses energy costs is $2.29 per square foot, per year and for some facilities may be much higher. This figure is based on estimates from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Buildings Energy Data Book.
Do you know if your UPS is as energy efficient as it should be? Just because your equipment is being properly maintained and routinely serviced doesn’t mean that you have the most energy efficient system. If you aren’t sure how efficient your system is, download the Quality Power Solution Energy Savings Calculator now and find out.
Once you’ve used our Energy Savings Calculator, you may have found out that your UPS system is not as efficient as you thought. To resolve this issue, the best solution may be to invest in a more efficient, or properly sized system, which will give you the latest in energy efficient technology.
4 tips to know when considering a more energy-efficient UPS system
1. Review your UPS requirements
This is the time to review your power requirements, equipment and your organizational growth plans, to ensure that the replacement UPS will be appropriately sized for your mission-critical loads. For help understanding your current infrastructure, see our ebook: 12 Things Facility Managers Need to Know about Critical Power System Installation
2. Review the purpose of your UPS system
If your facility is like most, your infrastructure changes frequently. The critical equipment that is supported by your UPS system may have experienced significant change since the electrical infrastructure was first built. Now is a great time to review your power requirements, equipment, and your organizational growth plans, to ensure that the replacement UPS will be appropriately sized for your mission-critical loads. Many facilities that we’ve worked with actually have oversized UPS systems, and are able to significantly reduce costs by reducing the size of their UPS.
3. Budget for replacement
Once you’ve worked with your UPS service provider to determine your current and future UPS system requirements, it is important to properly budget for the replacement project. Be sure to include the cost of the UPS equipment and batteries as well as the cost to install, remove and dispose of the old system and batteries.
During replacement of your UPS system, look for other areas that need attention. Your generator, power distribution and surge suppression devices should be inspected and fully operational. This is also a good time to determine if your facility is fully compliant with any Arc Flash requirements.
4. Plan for ongoing maintenance
System maintenance is not optional. The number one way to keep your UPS up and running is to schedule regular UPS maintenance checks.
Quality Power Solutions is dedicated to improving efficiency, and we have made it our mission to ensure that energy conservation is a top consideration in everything we do. We’ve partnered with groups like Wisconsin’s Focus On Energy to provide even further savings and incentives to reducing waste.
Please contact us if you have any questions about the Energy Savings Calculator or your analysis. We can also provide UPS System efficiency statistics for most of the major UPS brands, including APC, Emerson/Liebert, Eaton/Powerware, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Gamatronic and GE.
This tool is meant to provide an estimate. For a more accurate assessment, please contact one of our team members today.
Published on Oct 12 2016
Last Updated on Oct 17 2023