Office heating – for you average person we have no control of the buildings heating system. Your heating system may be 30 years old or a state of art geothermal heat pump system. What you care about is your personal work station.

            In the commercial heating office buildings work on the 80-20 rule. On average you can only please 80% of the people. Why so few? One person will come to work a suite and have a window office. This person in the sports coat has control of you’re your heaters thermostat. Know they have a choice they can make your work space comfortable or “you see me point.” Even the best heating system is the work isn’t going to please everyone all the time.

            So you have to look out for your self when it comes to heating. If you work in a cubical sound can be a big problem. Ceramic heaters are safe & pretty quiet with a large heating radius. But they may use up to much power for your small work space. If your computer, fax, calculator etc, etc. are all on at the same time as your heater the breaker may trip off. This is because the standard 120 volt outlet can only handle 15 amps of currant. If your plug in a 12 ½ amp heater you could have a problem.

            Try looking for a smaller heater that fits near or under the desk. Radiant panel heaters are totally silent and the use very little power. Most of them of them go on floor and come with a 6 to 7 foot power cord. So if you find that you’re only person who is cold, take control of your office heating problems. Look for an electric under the desk heater.

If your remodeling a corner rooms outside wall and the room is curved in dust anyway, keep going onto the other wall. Even if you only plan on change out one window insulated the whole room. Many oldder home have little to no insulation in the walls. With the cost of a little more insulation and sheetrock you will get your money back in heat bill.

With a well insulated room now you can buy a larger window or two without worring about if your heater will keep up. Spend the money on materials with an higher efficiency rating and you should  be saving money for years to come.

Always keep your energy savings in mind, in the long run you’ll be happy you did.

You can energy & money just on making some changes on how you run your dishwasher. New models use less energy and have more control options. Like the energy saver cycle use this button when every possible.

If your dishwasher has a booster heater you can save energy by turning your home water heater down to 120F. The booster heater option will raise the water temp at least 20F warmer. It will take a little longer for the water to heat up but unless you’re washing multiply loads back to back in the long run you will save energy.

Use the No-heat air dry button for your drying cycle. If the option isn’t available open the door after the rinse cycle and let it air dry. You may get spotting give it a try and see how it works with your system. If you have the time air drying takes longer so try running your system before work or bedtime.

Don’t pre rinse your dishes with warm water before your load your dishwasher. Scarp the food and give it a quick rinse with cold water. The dishwasher is designed to clean even heavily soiled plates. So why run the hot water twice to clean the same plate.

Try to fill the dishwasher with a full load. It’s going to use the same amount of water to clean one plate or a full load. Half loads are just a waste of energy, do you best to reduce water and energy.

How can I save money with reheating last nights dinner? By using your microwave over your over you can save energy. As you know a microwave works with very high-frequency radio waves. Unlike an oven that needs to heat up to 350 Deg before it’s ready to be used. Just the energy used to pre-heat the oven is a big waster of power. Than after your food is warmed up the oven turns into a big radiator. Now your kitchen is hot and your air conditioner kicks on, then the refrigerator needs to work harder to keep cool.

            So know you have 1 heater making 2 cooling devices work harder to get back to the temperature before you even sit down to eat. The microwave only heats the food and not the room around it. If you’re cooking a full meal you will need your oven but for heating up a single portion use the microwave.  Even your toaster oven is uses more power than the microwave. Not to mention the heating the room air temperature like the oven did.

Tips for an existing whole house ducted air conditioner. Make a point to keep annual tune-ups on your existing air handler. If you have an efficient system treat it like your car, keep clean and tuned up you will be saving money for years to come.

For a few extra dollars this year have all your duct work checked for air leaks. Losing 55F air in your attic or crawl space is a big waste of money. Make sure all your ductwork is well insulated. Poorly installed ductwork can cost you in many ways. Air leaks will decrease your cooling output to that room. Poor insulation will increase your leaving air temperature. Bad duct elbows will cause unneeded air resistances on your blower motor. If the cold air never gets to the room the unit will keep running and running. Don’t assume that all air handlers are installed well. If you’re just moving and this is your first summer you will never know that it never going to work well. You will just think it always runs for 14 hrs a day.

After you’re sure that the system is installed correctly. Things you the home owner can do. Prune the plants and shrubs away from the outdoor condenser. If your air doesn’t flow freely you’re loosing money. Change your filters as needed; during high pollen months keep an eye on your filters. Keep future away from your supply and return grilles. The better the air moves around the room the soon your system will stop running.

Making the most out of what we have is out first step to a smart consumer of valuable energy. Start by pulling the shades and closing your curtains when using a room air conditioner. By blocking the direct sunlight will reduce the solar gain; this alone can be a big reduction in your air conditioners power consumption.

Regular air conditioner cleanings is by changing filters as needed you will keep you system room smooth. Plus your ductwork and room air will be free of dust and pollen. Not only will your air be cleaner but the dusting and vacuuming will be reduced. This will save your time and energy. Try increasing your thermostat temperature to reduce your electric bill.

With a clean unit and a shaded room you can save money without buy any new cooling equipment.

     Quick energy savings tip. A way to save energy is picking a good spot for your kitchen refrigerator. Find a spot in the room that’s not is the direct sunlight or near other warm appliances. The heat from your range and dishwasher will cause your refrigerator to work harder. Direct sunlight can have the same effect of warming the area around your refrigerator. Most standard refrigerators reject the heat into the back of the unit. The better the air can flow to the back coils the more energy you will save.

If you condenser coils have to work twice as hard to reject heat the more power it will use to do its job. Just keep you area behind your refrigerator clean for proper air flow. A clean and cool system will save your money in the long run.

Programmable Thermostats.

If you have already wall thermostat and you want to upgrade to a programmable thermostat. You have some homework to do first.

What voltage is it running on? Thermostats come 2 ways, line voltage and low voltage. Line voltage is comes in 120 to 240 volts. Low voltage is 24 volts which is a smaller wire you can tell just by looking at it.

Not all thermostats can control every HVAC system. Is you have a water boiler for you baseboard don’t confuse this with an electric heater baseboard thermostat. Heat pumps run on different thermostats then standard Spit systems. It’s sounds   confusing but if you know what type of system your trying to control someone can point you down the correct path.

Programmable unit can save you energy, but you have to leave the house for longs periods for it to payoff. If someone is home everyday than you seldom have the change to drop the temperature. You will only use it for sleeping at night. 

The true purpose of a programmable thermostat is it never forgets. You can control you temperatures your self. But every time you forget to drop the temp during the day your wasting fuel. And don’t forget your always waking up and coming home to a cold room.

To learn more on about this topic go to Energy Star.