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AC & HEAT
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Use your thermostat wisely.
- Save up to 20% by installing a programmable or smart thermostat.
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Summer:
- Set your AC at 78° or higher when people are in the building.
- Set it at 85° at night and on weekends.
- Each degree below 78° can increase your energy bill by 6-8%.
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Winter:
- Set your heat to 68° or lower when people are in the building.
- Set it to 55-60° at night and on weekends.
- Consider a locking cover over the thermostat so employees cannot change your settings.
- Use fans. They can make a room feel 4-6° cooler.
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Shut out the sun and hot air.
- Keep exterior and freight doors closed as often as possible.
- Close blinds or drapes on windows that get direct sunlight.
- Shade your outside AC units or condensers.
- Remove under-desk space heaters. They use a lot of power. Instead, adjust your thermostat to be warmer. And explain to employees why space heaters are a problem.
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LIGHTING
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Cut lighting use 30-60% with occupancy sensors and controls.
- These turn lights on only when someone is in the room, reducing unnecessary energy use.
- Install in offices, restrooms, supply rooms, and any sporadically-used areas.
- Make sure outdoor lighting is off during the day.
- Replace incandescent and compact fluorescent light bulbs with ENERGY STAR certified LED lightbulbs.
- Replace fluorescent tubes or fixtures with LED tubes or new fixtures. 100 to 1000 Watt fixtures replaced by LED fixtures consumes 30% to 80% less energy than T8 fluorescent lighting.
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COMPUTERS & ELECTRONICS
- Unplug anything that’s not in use and turn off power strips. You’ll save up to 10 watts of energy for every device.
- Set computers and monitor to sleep when idle for more than a few minutes.
- Don't use screen savers. They prevent computers and monitors from going into power-saver mode.
- Make sure equipment is turned off overnight and on weekends.
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ELECTRONIC WATER HEATERS
- Set the water heater to 120°.
- Repair leaks on warm-water faucets. These leaks just drain your water heater, which means it has to heat more water. That process costs you more.