Tips for saving energy during the summer at work and at home:
- Optimize building schedules: The building should be on when occupied and turned off when empty. Optimize your building’s schedule by turning the systems on shortly before your tenants arrive and turning it off as they leave, so you’re not cooling an empty building. And if possible, schedule programming within certain zones, and only cool those zones. This offers the biggest saving opportunity.
- Raise your thermostat temperature: Turn your thermostats up to 76 degrees. Is your office too cold? We bet it is. Some research has shown that people are more productive in an office that is 74-76 degrees than one that is 70-72 degrees. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) suggests a setpoint between 76-80 degrees, will keep more than 80% of the occupants comfortable, the benchmark for comfort.
- Block direct sunlight: Is the sun baking your workspace like an oven? Close the blinds! Direct summer sunlight can make a room feel like an oven and overwhelm HVAC systems. The CEC estimates that 40% of a typical building’s cooling requirements are due to solar heat gain through windows. Close blinds or curtains on windows that get direct sunlight (install blinds or low-e film on south facing windows, if necessary). And when the sun moves to the other side of the building, you may open blinds and turn off lights to utilize daylight.
- Check your HVAC equipment and building envelope: Leaking hoses, unsealed ducts, cracked windows and open doors are seemingly small problems that cause big problems. As many dads have suggested, lets stop cooling the whole neighborhood.
Want to learn more? Check out DOE’s ENERGY STAR website for more tips.