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Helpful Tips.....
For every degree below 78 you set your thermostat during the summer, your cooling costs may increase by 9 percent (imagine what this means for an organization as large as Pasadena ISD).
Close window coverings (blinds and drapes) during the day, especially on the east and west sides of a building.
Blocking the sunlight from entering reduces heat gain. Sunlight can increase the demand on the air conditioner by as much as 30 percent.
Turn blinds up instead of down.
White blinds can reduce solar heat gain through windows by up to 50 percent.
To make it easier to “shut down” your computer equipment each day, try plugging the computer, printer, scanner, etc. into a surge protector/power strip. Then at the end of the day, after you shut down the computer, simply turn the power strip off and that will takecare of everything else that is plugged into it.
If the computers and their monitors were left on 24-hours-a-day in this district, it would cost approximately $168,900 per month in utility costs. If they are shut down daily, the cost drops to $37,050 or a savings of $131,850 per month in utility costs.
The number of portable classrooms in the district is approximately the equivalent of two intermediate campuses. This equates to about $30,000-$40,000 per month in electricity costs.
If one-half of the 274,000 teachers in Texas turned out the lights everyday on their way to lunch, it would save $3.4 million each year.
One of the strongest conservations tips for today's technology is simply this: When you're not using it, turn it off. Even if the equipment is only off for brief periods,
such as during lunches, meetings, or breaks, you'll see a reduction in energy costs.
Alternatively, the next best solution is to enable the power-saving features of your
particular system so it goes into "sleep mode" when it's not being used. According
to the EPA, nearly 44 percent of computer users do not use the power-saving features of their computer. New computers that have this feature will power down to as little as 15 watts or less while remaining connected to the network. Using this feature alone can reduce the overall electrical consumption of a given computer by up to 50 percent. (If you're using a screen saver on your monitor, be aware that these normally don't save any power.)
To enable the power down feature:
On older machines that do not have the power down feature, simply turn the monitor off when it is not in use.
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