With gas prices parked over four dollars a gallon and record breaking temperatures looming this summer, workplaces of every stripe are looking for ways to save money, stay cool, and, hopefully, remain good environmental citizens in the process.

“Fortunately, some of the best ways to reduce an office or business’s water, electric, and maintenance costs help reduce energy consumption and save money, too,” says David Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of EnerLume Energy Management, makers of an energy savings lighting device. Mr. Murphy offers the following suggestions to businesses:

• Bulbs: Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. Although CFL bulbs cost more money, over the course of each bulb’s lifetime, businesses should save over $90 per bulb in energy costs.
• Heating and Air Conditioning: The best option here is for workplaces to install a high efficiency furnace and cooling system with a programmable thermostat. Set the thermostat for 68% in the winter and 78% in the summer; then program the thermostat a couple of degrees for extended times away from the workplace such as evenings and weekends.
• Inspection: A simple fix that can reduce any business’s energy bill by up to 10% is an inspection of your workplace to determine drafts and other leaks. Check windows and doors for drafts and caulk where necessary; inspect the electrical outlets, and if drafty install gaskets behind the outlets. Make sure heating/cooling ducts are wrapped in insulation and make any other repairs that allows outside air in or inside air to escape.
• Major Appliances: The best time to use major appliances such as industrial strength dishwashers, washing machine, and dryers are in the evening when demands on the power grid are the least.
• Regulatory Devices: Lighting accounts for between 40% and 80% of a typical commercial building’s electric bill. Small, self-contained, easily installed devices, such as the EnerLume | EM, can provide timing direction to ballasts to determine when to draw power. These regulatory devices ensure ballasts draw power only when it is most efficient to do so, increasing lighting systems’ efficiency and providing more foot-candles of light per watt consumed.

“As more and more people are becoming environmentally conscious at home and in their personal lives, it is important for workplaces and businesses to follow suit,” says Mr. Murphy.