We’re near the tail end (pun intended) of the “Dog Days of Summer”; that time of the season, usually between July 3rd and August 11th, where the heat and the humidity are out in full force. Once upon a time it was considered “the period following the heliacal rising of the star Sirius, which Greek and Roman astrology connected with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs and bad luck.”
In New Jersey, we just call it: summer!
Unlike the ancient Greeks and Romans, New Jersey businesses don’t have to take the heat lying down like a dog. We’ve come up with ideas to help encourage your business and employees to beat the heat during these remaining weeks of summer.
1. Play with the thermostat!
Plan a team meeting to play with the temperatures on the thermostat! Set the temperature as high as it’s comfortably possible for everyone. There may (ok, will) be some back and forth dialogue, but think of it as a way to open up the conversation with your employees on better sustainability practices!
There’s a good reason you’re playing with the thermostats. The smaller the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your overall cooling bill will be. Then when your business is closed, set the thermostat to 80.
A programmable thermostat can make it easy to adjust your temperature (and you can schedule adjustments, too!). Adjusting the temperature by a few degrees can help drop your cooling costs by a few percent.
2. Turn off or unplug!
Another great business practice your team can do: turning off electronics at the end of the work day (i.e. computers, monitors, printers, copiers).
Turning off non-essential appliances can help conserve energy and reduce internal heat gain. An easy way to do this is by plugging said work tech into power strips, and then turning off the strips come closing time.
Don’t forget to avoid placing electronics near air conditioning thermostats; they can detect the heat from the appliances and cause the ACs to run longer than necessary.
3. Buy ENERGY STAR
Does your office equipment have a blue and white label on it, with the word “energy” and then a star? If not, then it’s not an ENERGY STAR product.
When purchasing new office equipment, look for the ENERGY STAR logo, which promotes energy-efficient items like computers, printers, etc. that will automatically power down when there’s extensive inactivity or downtime. You can save a significant amount of energy by buying more energy efficient office equipment.
4. Maintenance
See Jared Wall’s “clean your AC” plea here.
How do you plan on beating the heat this summer? Send us an e-mail and we’ll add it to the list!
