How to Reduce Your Energy Costs
 By B.J. Addington

With gasoline prices at record highs and electricity bills soaring, small-business owners watch profit margins shrink as they struggle to cover the increasing costs.

There’s not much you can do to lower the price of gasoline or electricity. But if you must pay more per gallon and per kilowatt, one solution is to use fewer gallons and kilowatts. Here are some tips to keep costs tolerable on the road and in the office.

To reduce your gasoline costs . . .

• Carpool – This evergreen solution is easy to ignore when gasoline flows like water. When it starts to cost like wine, sharing a front seat with a buddy becomes more appealing.

• Maintain – Improve your mileage by properly inflating your tires and not running your air conditioner unless it’s necessary. If you don’t think squeezing another 10 or 20 miles out of a tank of gas every week is worth the effort, calculate your latest miles per gallon cost.

• Plan your commute – Avoid rush-hour traffic. Bumper-to-bumper journeys gulp gasoline, while open roads allow your car to sip instead.

• Go public – Discover the communal joys of street cars, buses and trains. Those who travel this way swear by newfound camaraderie with other commuters and lack of road rage – and they pocket a whopping savings compared to their gasoline credit card bill.

• Telecommute – If you can accomplish the task via phone, Internet or fax at a home office, do so. Save a trip and a large chunk of gas money.

• Downsize – What better incentive do you need to trade in that eight-cylinder money-burning, gas-guzzling motor car? Even mid-sized autos today give upwards of 30 miles per gallon. If you pop for a new hybrid, you get even better mileage and a tax break to boot.

• Get the lead out – Take that stuff out of your trunk. Your car works harder and burns more gasoline lugging around extra weight.

• Hoof it – For eons men and women got from here to there this way. Enjoy the trip by walking whenever possible. You’ll even find it easier to stop and smell the roses.

To reduce your energy costs . . .

• Air it out – If it’s only moderately warm outside, and your office benefits from natural wind currents, open windows front and back and let nature do for free what your air conditioner does at great cost.

• Cover up – Walls and roofs insulate well, but windows let the sunshine in – along with its incubating effects. Invest in an awning or heat-repelling window coverings or the type of window film that reduces heat by filtering the sun’s rays. The more heat you screen out, the less cooling you need to produce inside. Shaded windows can reduce the temperature inside as much as 9 degrees.

• Get primitive – Electric fans burn less energy than air conditioners. If a fan keeps the workplace comfortable, why incur extra cost?

• Turn it off – If you are paying to cool or light an empty room or an empty office, you’re wasting money and benefiting no one. At quitting time, flip off the air conditioner and lights as well as any other appliances and equipment burning electricity.

• Descend – Hot air rises. If you work upstairs, haul your laptop downstairs. You’ll probably find it 10 degrees cooler.

• Relax –When the mercury rises, dress for comfort. Open-necked, short-sleeve shirts are cooler than vests and ties. Au naturel legs are cooler than pantyhose. And if you’re lucky enough to work out of your home (or with real good friends who won’t mind), kick off your shoes and go barefoot. Cooling the extremities has a corresponding cooling effect on body temperature.

• Automate – Rather than keeping your air conditioner’s fan to “on,” turn the setting to “auto.” It will kick in only when needed.

• Buy wisely – When replacing equipment and appliances, shop for Energy Star devices, which improve energy efficiency up to 10 percent.

• Replace – Replace incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs that use only 25 percent as much electricity.

(Posted August 2006)

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