Going Green at GA Telesis / By Dr. Andreas Bauer

Author: gatelesis

GA Telesis headquarters is a large consumer of electricity by virtue of air conditioning and lighting a 140,000 square foot multi-story HQ building. A few years ago, our former head of global operations and now VP of Turbine Solutions, Alex Tuttle, started these green initiatives by initiating a plan to change classic warehouse lighting to T5 lights with motion sensors. I was amazed to see the huge impact that this lighting initiative had on monthly utility cost, but furthermore the resulting impact it would have on our environment.

This initial step taken by Alex, led to our installing motioned sensor lights to the whole HQ building. We took the human element out with the lights turning on and off when someone walks in or out of an area.  A lot of energy is being saved between volt, ampere, watt and lumen that we are continuously calculating the benefits and looking for future energy efficiencies.

Adding to our green initiative, we have learned that by providing program maintenance and monthly inspections to our 20+ HVAC units, we can fix inefficiencies before they start to cost us money. We have also changed all of our thermostats to Wi-Fi control units that can now be accessed via the network and adjusted at the touch of a finger. We ensure that the temperature is adjusted for nights, weekends and holidays and if it happens to go out of range, we receive alerts to assure that it is fixed.

Electrical consumption is now being monitored weekly with our utility company website. We review monthly, daily, hourly and 15-minute usages to make sure we are accomplishing our green initiative to save energy. The results of these simple implementations are amazing!  Over the last 2 years, we have cut our electrical bill nearly in half. Based on EPA’s emission calculator, our initiative has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by one million pounds per year. To put it in perspective, that is equal to about 500 acres of forest.  I am happy to say that our green initiative to reduce our environmental footprint is working. Imagine a world where every major company did this.

At GA Telesis we always strive to be better than what is expected of us.  We have a responsibility to future generations and we will always continue to look for more ways to provide innovative and creative ways to better our green initiatives.  Let’s not forget that these lower costs are resulting in higher profits for the company.  Talk about a win-win!