Your Facility: Energy-Saving Tips for Autumn

Autumn is here and cold weather is coming. You want to maintain a comfortable indoor environment for staff, visitors and customers. At the same time, however, space heating takes up a lot of space on your energy budget. With the following measures, you ensure comfort while keeping your energy costs at a comfortable level.

Get a checkup

Hire a qualified professional to inspect and clean your heating system. An inspection will help spot any problems and ensure your system is running efficiently.

Stay in tune

Tune your building controls or energy management system to accommodate the changing season. Poorly calibrated sensors, thermostats and other controls can increase heating system load and reduce comfort. By ensuring your building controls are properly integrated, you can save energy and improve the comfort and productivity of your staff.

Keep it fresh

Make sure registers aren't blocked by furniture or equipment and partitions or other barriers are positioned so they don't restrict airflow. Locate air supply and return air vents at a reasonable distance to ensure balanced air distribution. Poor ventilation reduces comfort and indoor air quality.

Seal and insulate ducts

Inspect accessible ductwork for leaks and seal with mastic tape. Heat radiating through ductwork can result in significant energy loss, even when ducts are properly sealed. Ductwork insulation keeps thermal energy from escaping, increasing heating system efficiency.

Weatherize

Check for and seal gaps, cracks and leaks in your building envelope (windows, doors, exterior walls and roof) with caulk or weatherstripping. If you don't, heating system performance is reduced, making your building less comfortable.

Check building insulation

Hire a qualified insulation contractor to ensure your building insulation levels meet or exceed those recommended in ASHRAE 90.1 Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings and add insulation if needed.

Examine your energy performance

Autumn is the perfect time to hire a qualified professional to perform an energy assessment of your facility. You'll received a targeted set of recommendations that, when properly implement, will save you money and improve the comfort of your facility.

By following these steps, you'll see your energy costs falling this autumn and all year long. Let LADWP’s Custom Performance Program (CPP) incentives help you save this autumn!