Spring Clean Your Way to Energy Savings

It’s the time of year when many people stash away winter gear and prep their businesses and homes for the warm summer months. It’s also a good opportunity to make sure a business or home is running as energy efficiently as possible.

Here’s a checklist of ways to turn your spring cleaning into an energy-saving event:

Redirect ceiling fans. Air conditioning often produces the highest electricity bill in a business or home, especially when it’s used consistently during the summer months. So a worthy goal is limiting your air conditioning use as much as possible. One way to avoid A/C use is using ceiling fans. In the winter months, ceiling fans should go clockwise to push rising warm air downward. In the summer, however, the fans should circulate counterclockwise for the opposite effect. It’s usually as easy as flipping a switch in the center of the fan.

Change air-conditioning filters. Keeping your air filters clean will not only improve air quality, but will ensure your system is working as efficiently as possible.

Dust off electronics, light bulbs and vents. Dust prevents electronics and other infrastructure from running at maximum capacity. Make sure to dust off all light bulbs, office equipment and electronics. Also make sure to clear dust off vents to prevent air circulation obstruction.

Seal air leaks. Just like warm air seeps out of buildings or homes in the winter, it seeps in during the summer. It’s estimated that 30% of heating and cooling bills are consumed by air leakage. You can buy weather stripping and duct tape and specialty kits to seal up air leaks you encounter.

Use a programmable thermostat. One good way to control cooling costs is to use a thermostat that allows you to program the temperature throughout the day, thereby using less cooling when rooms or homes are unoccupied. You might, for instance, keep the setting at 72 degrees in the summer when the space is occupied but raise the temp to 78 when after closing.

Vacuum refrigerator coils. Dust that builds up on refrigerator coils can force the fridge to work harder to keep things cold. So remove it.

Tune up the AC. Even if your filters are new, there are other issues such as low coolant levels that may be taxing your air-conditioning system. Getting a professional maintenance check before summer can ensure your system is working efficiently.

Any other ways you make sure your business is energy efficient in the summer?