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Grid Condition for December 5
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ENERGY SAVING TIPS
FOR HOMES
Quick Savings
Peak Tips
Long Term Savings
FOR BUSINESSES
Quick Savings
Long Term Savings
Utility-Provided Energy Efficiency Programs
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Tips for Businesses
AC & HEAT
Use your thermostat wisely.
Save up to 20% by installing a programmable or smart thermostat.
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%.
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.
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.
LIGHTING
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.
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.
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.