Is Your Business Ready for Summer?

Top 5 Ways to Cool Your World with help from EPA's ENERGY STAR® Program

Rising energy costs as well as high summer temperatures and humidity can place a strain on finances as well as the environment. These few simple steps from EPA can help curb energy use in the buildings where we work, shop, play, and learn and help businesses become more energy-efficient and fight global warming.

Use programmable thermostats or facility controls properly

Automate your air-conditioning system and save energy. It's usually not necessary for businesses to operate cooling systems 24 hours a day. Program your system to scale back on cooling while buildings are unoccupied. Learn more about programmable thermostats.

Inspect and maintain cooling system equipment

Cooling and ventilation use about 20% of the energy in buildings nationwide. As summer approaches, “tune-up” your air conditioning and ventilation system and continue with monthly maintenance. More information on inspecting and maintaining equipment as well as proper use is available in EPA's Building Upgrade Manual.

Use ENERGY STAR qualified office products

Next time you purchase a computer, printer, copier, or appliance your business may need - look for the ENERGY STAR. ENERGY STAR qualified products are more efficient and give off less heat, which can help reduce your air conditioning load during the summer months. Learn more about ENERGY STAR qualified products.

Involve co-workers and employees

We can all make many of the same green choices at work that we make at home with help from EPA's ENERGY STAR program. Use the power management features on computers and monitors, unplug power adapters when not in use, and turn off equipment at the end of the day. And don't forget the lights – turn off lights when leaving a room and replace incandescent bulbs with ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL). Learn more about what you can do to Bring Your Green to Work with ENERGY STAR.

Measure and manage energy use

Understanding how and where energy is used as well as what drives energy use is a key step in identifying opportunities to increase profitability by lowering energy and operating costs. EPA offers free tools to help track, measure, and analyze energy use as well as prioritize areas for improvement. Get started today.