Car Insurance for High Risk Drivers / SR-22 Insurance

High-risk car insurance has been the topic of debate for quite a while. People who are considered higher risk believe that costs are extremely high while car insurance companies think that these customers make up the largest expenditures and therefore have to foot the largest portion of the bill. While each side have an argument, you actually only worry about getting quality coverage at the cheapest. Often It is possible to get the cheapest rate so long as you understand the basics of high-risk car insurance.

High-risk car Insurance: What’s a High-risk Driver

Understanding how you’re looked at by auto insurers companies could help you get a better deal. Many auto insurers consider any person with the following to be of a highest risk.

* 3 convictions or guilty pleas for traffic violations in a year

* Driving under the influence or Driving while intoxicated conviction

Managing Energy Costs in Limited-Service Motels Hotels and motels in the U.S. use an average of 12 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity and 41 cubic feet of natural gas per square foot (ft²) annually. In a typical hotel or motel, space heating, lighting, and water heating represent about 60 percent of total use (Figure 1), making those systems the best targets for energy savings. In order to better manage your building’s energy costs, it helps to understand how you are charged for those costs. Most utilities charge commercial buildings for their natural gas based on the amount of energy delivered. Electricity, on the other hand, can be charged based on two measures—consumption and demand (Figure 2, next page). The consumption component of the bill is based on the amount of electricity, in kWh, that the building consumes during a month. The demand component is the peak demand (in kilowatts) occurring within the month or, for some utilities, during the previous 12 months. Demand charges can range from a few dollars per kilowatt-month to upwards of $20 per kilowatt-month. Because it can be a considerable percentage of your bill, you should take care to reduce peak demand whenever possible.

As you read the following energy cost-management recommendations, keep in mind how each one will affect both your consumption and demand. The Bottom Line All of the conservation measures discussed for the short and longer term represent good investments. Most will not only save money but also ensure the comfort of your facility’s guests and staff. Figure 1: End use energy consumption data Commercial Energy Advisor Copyright © 2006 E Source Companies LLC. All rights reserved. Space heating 31% Water heating 17% Cooling 15% Lighting 12% Other 9% Cooking 5% Office equipment 4% Ventilation 4% Refrigeration 3% Note: Data is for all lodging. Source: E SOURCE Commercial Energy Advisor Copyright © 2006 E Source Companies LLC. All rights reserved. Figure 2: Diagram of a hypothetical daily load shape Quick Fixes Many limited-service motels can benefit from quick, low-cost or no-cost solutions for saving energy. Turning Things Off Although it may seem like a simple measure to take, remember that every 1,000 kWh that you save by turning things off equals $100 off your utility bill (assuming average electricity costs of 10 cents per kWh). Computers and office equipment. The typical desktop computer, monitor, and shared printer draw about 200 watts. Most of the equipment sold today goes into a low-power sleep mode after a period of inactivity.

Unfortunately, most users don’t take advantage of this feature. Making sure that these energy-saving modes are enabled can produce significant energy savings. A single monitor that draws about 100 watts, left on unnecessarily overnight and on weekends, could add $30 or more to the annual energy bill. Turning Things Down Some equipment cannot be turned off entirely, but turning it down to minimum levels where possible can save energy. Hallway lighting. If hallways have skylights or other natural light and your lighting has dimming capabilities, dim those lights by 30 percent during daytime hours. Peripheral and back rooms. Make sure that HVAC settings in lobbies, offices, and other such peripheral rooms are at minimum settings during hours of low use. Employee and Guest Education Guest service options. Some lodging facilities offer guests the option of forgoing daily linen changes or nightly turndown service. Some guests may not perceive a need for daily sheet and towel replacement or for lights, radios, or televisions to be turned on for them when they are not in the room. 24-hour period kW Monthly peak demand sets the demand charge Total area inside the curve represents the total kWh for the day 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 Notes: kW = kilowatt; kWh = kilowatt-hour. Source: E SOURCE Commercial Energy Advisor Copyright © 2006 E Source Companies LLC. All rights reserved. Housekeeping procedures. Encourage housekeepers to turn off all lights and set temperatures to minimum levels after cleaning each room. Pools and hot tubs.

Instruct your maintenance staff to make sure that all pools and hot tubs are covered after hours to diminish heat loss. Longer-Term Solutions Longer-term energy-saving strategies should also be considered. Although the actions covered in this section require more extensive implementation, they can dramatically increase the efficiency of your facility without compromising the hospitality environment. Ask your local utility’s representative for more information about initiating such projects. Commissioning Commissioning is a process in which engineers observe a building and perform a tune-up to ensure its systems are operating appropriately and efficiently. Studies have shown that continuously monitoring a building’s energy systems can lead to reductions of 10 to 15 percent in annual energy bills. For the typical 50,000-ft² motel, that’s equal to about $10,000 in savings per year! Savings typically result from resetting existing controls to reduce HVAC waste while maintaining or even increasing comfort levels for occupants. Commissioning usually costs between 5 and 40 cents/ft². Upgrade to More-Efficient Lighting Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) can replace incandescent lamps in many applications, reducing energy use by two-thirds and saving up to $20 per lamp per year. Special CFLs are available for three-level table lamps and dimming circuits. During renovations or when buying new table or floor lamps, consider fixtures designed to accept only CFLs so that maintenance staff cannot accidentally relamp them with incandescents.

If your facility uses T12 fluorescent lamps, relamping with modern T8 lamps and electronic ballasts can reduce your lighting energy consumption by 35 percent. Adding specular reflectors, new lenses, and occupancy sensors or timers can double the savings. Paybacks of one to three years are common. Lightemitting diode exit lights that consume only 2 watts represent a great energy savings over incandescent fixtures and are easier to maintain because of their long service life. Efficient Water Use Sink and shower controllers that automatically shut off after a certain time duration and low-flow faucets and shower heads can help conserve energy used to heat hot water. Use Smart Lighting Design in Parking Lots Most parking lots are designed with far more lighting than the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America’s Lighting Handbook (2000) recommends—that is, an average of one foot-candle or less for most applications. Using lower-wattage bulbs can actually increase the safety of your lot: An overlit lot can be dangerous to drivers if their eyes cannot adjust quickly enough in the transition from highly lit to dark areas. When designing lighting for a new parking lot, consider low-wattage metal halide lamps in fixtures that direct the light downward, instead of high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps. Even though the wattage is lower, a motel could safely use fewer lamps if this type of lighting were adopted. Metal halide is less efficient than HPS in conventional terms, but it puts out more light in the blue part of the spectrum, which happens to be easier for our eyes to see under low-light conditions. Commercial Energy Advisor Copyright © 2006 E Source Companies LLC.

All rights reserved. Occupancy Sensors Occupancy sensors can reduce energy requirements, and some can even help staff serve guests better. Some occupancy sensors control only lighting systems, some can control both lighting and HVAC, and there are even a few that go beyond equipment control. The GEM system (www.lodgingtechnology.com), for example, allows for equipment control and also provides a sensory module so that housekeeping staff can detect whether or not a room is occupied without disturbing the guests. Hot Water Motels have various options for using less hot water and heating water more efficiently: ■ Low-flow showerheads ■ Solar hot water heaters ■ Reduction of laundry hot water to 120° Fahrenheit ■ Pool and hot-tub covers Vending Machine Controls Because vending machines operate continuously, one refrigerated vending machine can consume 2,500 to 4,400 kWh annually, and this can cost up to $440 per machine per year. The VendingMiser (www.bayviewtech.com) is a control device that turns off vending-machine refrigeration and lighting when nobody is near and when temperature levels are low enough that refrigeration is not needed. VendingMiser has resulted in vending-machine energy savings ranging from 24 to 76 percent, with paybacks of less than three years.