Winter is Coming! Here’s How to Keep Your Business Warm

Along with holidays, snow days and hot cocoa, winter brings colder temperatures which can impact your business. If you’re not on a fixed rate electricity or natural gas plan, cold temperatures can increase your energy rate. Regardless, making sure your business is energy efficient keeps customers and employees warm, and avoid hazards like frozen pipes. Here are five energy efficiency tips to help your business get through winter:

1. Check your window seals. Make sure your windows are sealed correctly to ensure that warm air doesn’t escape, or cold air doesn’t sneak in. If you don’t have the time or resources to fix faulty sealing, you can insulate your windows by using clear plastic window coverings that prevent drafts.
2. Turn fan blades the other way. Did you know that if you have a ceiling fan in your building, you can change the direction of your fan blades to redistribute heat? In the winter, turn your blades to rotate in a clockwise direction on a low speed. This pulls the warm air up to the ceiling and pushes it back down again, which could in turn help you lower your thermostat.
3. Let natural light in. Open the blinds on your business’ south-facing windows to allow sunlight to stream in throughout the day. Make sure to close the blinds at night to reduce cool air you might feel coming from cold windows.
4. Leave the heat on when you close your doors. When closing up shop for the weekend or for a holiday break it might be tempting to turn off the heat to save some money. However, if temperatures inside your building get too low, pipes can begin to freeze and burst, which could cause costly repairs.
5. Be conservative when using space heaters. Space heaters are convenient, but can eat up a lot of energy costs. To determine if it’s more cost-effective for you to use a space heater or turn up the thermostat, use this simple calculation from Consumer Reports:
   1. Multiply 1500W by X hours of use = A
   2. Multiply A by your electricity rate per kilowatt hour = B
   3. Divide B by 1000

Compare the calculated price it would cost to run a space heater per hour to the hourly kWh rate you pay for your business’ electricity or natural gas for heating. Whichever method is lower will tell you which heating method is more cost-effective for your business.
Stay warm this winter by practicing these winter energy efficiency tips! If you’re interested in learning more about how AEP Energy can help you control your business’ energy costs during the colder months, fill out our contact form and a member of our team will be in touch.

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