Want to stretch your dollar? Follow our easy energy-saving tips

Even if you have an Energy Star qualified HVAC system, you’ll still need annual maintenance to keep your system running as efficiently as possible. Just as a car requires regular servicing, so does your HVAC system. Fortunately, we make it easy with our annual contracts that include pre-season tune-ups before each cooling and heating season. You save energy and money, and your system may last years longer.

In addition to setting up an annual maintenance contract, follow these easy tips to keep your system running as efficiently as possible:

• Replace Filters. Regularly change (or clean if reusable) HVAC filters every month during peak cooling or heating season. New filters usually only cost a few dollars, so they essentially pay for themselves. Dirty filters cost more to use, overwork the equipment, and result in lower indoor air quality.
• Install an ENERGY STAR qualified programmable thermostat to automate your HVAC system. This solid-state, electronic device optimizes HVAC operation “24/7” based on your schedule, and it can be “overridden” as needed for unscheduled events. This “smart thermostat” can turn on the HVAC one hour before arrival instead of heating or cooling unoccupied space so that the building gets up to the correct temperature before consumers or staff enter the building.
• Control direct sun through windows depending on the season and local climate. During cooling season, block direct heat gain from the sun shining through glass on the east and west sides of the facility. Depending on your facility, options such as solar screens, solar films, awnings, and vegetation can help. Over time, trees can attractively shade the facility and help clean the air. Interior curtains or drapes can help, but it’s best to prevent the summer heat from getting past the glass and inside. During heating season, with the sun low in the south, unobstructed southern windows can contribute to solar heat gain during the day.
• Use fans. Comfort is a function of temperature, humidity, and air movement. Moving air can make a somewhat higher temperature and/or humidity feel comfortable. Fans can help delay or reduce the need for air conditioning, and a temperature setting of only 3 to 5 degrees higher can feel as comfortable with fans. Each degree of higher temperature can save about 3% on cooling costs. When the temperature outside is more comfortable than inside, a “box fan” in the window, or large “whole facility” fan in the attic can push air out of the facility and pull in comfortable outside air. Fans can improve comfort and save energy year-round.
• Plug leaks with weather stripping and caulking. Caulking and weather stripping let you manage your ventilation, which is the deliberate controlled exchange of stuffy inside air for fresher outdoor air.