Arizonans can take a few simple steps to conserve energy in the home. The same is true as employees. By taking an active role in practicing energy conservation in the office, employees can cut business costs and help ensure an abundance of reliable electricity, especially during the peak summer months. Here are seven easy tips to save energy in the workplace:

• Turn off lights or install occupancy sensors in areas that are often unoccupied including storage areas, conference rooms and offices.
• Shut off or use energy-saver settings on non-essential computers and office equipment like copiers and scanners when not in use.
• Set office thermostats slightly higher. For every degree higher, your business will save two to three percent on cooling costs. Set office thermostats 6-8 degrees higher when unoccupied.
• Use the steps rather than the elevator. Not only will you save energy, this will be good for your health!
• Investigate energy saving measures such as high efficiency lighting that can save on your energy and where you can receive APS energy conservation incentives. (See aps.com for more information).
• Put together an employee team to brainstorm innovative ways to reduce the amount of electricity your business uses. Utilize company communication resources to spread the word about being energy smart at work and at home.
• Visit APS.com to learn more about reducing your energy usage and to perform a free energy efficiency survey for your business.

APS, Arizona's largest and longest-serving electricity utility, serves more than 1 million customers in 11 of the state's 15 counties.

Get additional information from Arizona Public Services

The Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas (HBA Dallas) and Green Mountain Energy, Texas' only green-devoted electricity provider, are sponsoring the first ever Green Built Parade of Homes in North Texas, Sept. 22 through Oct. 7. The event will be open to the public in order to better educate consumers on the benefits of a cleaner and more energy-efficient home.

Utilizing green standards in place from HBA's Green Built North Texas program, the event will feature area builders as they showcase the latest innovation in green building technology. The guidelines set forth by the HBA include improving energy efficiency, water efficiency, indoor air quality, material usage, site management, waste recycling and cleaner electricity.

Green Mountain Energy is contributing renewable energy credits to the parade homes in order to offer an alternative to carbon-dioxide emissions, widely attributed as a leading cause of global warming. Green Mountain is Texas' only electricity provider that is entirely devoted to utilizing cleaner electricity alternatives.

"Purchasing pollution-free electricity from Green Mountain Energy Company is one of the easiest ways for North Texans to make their homes greener," said Paul Markovich, senior vice president of residential services, Green Mountain Energy Company. "We hope that residents from all over the Dallas-Metropolitan area will attend the Green Built Parade of Homes to learn about simple steps they can take to make their homes more environmentally-friendly."

The Parade will be held at the Forest Hills subdivision in the town of Crossroads, Texas—just minutes east of Denton—with events from 10 am - 8 pm.

For more information on the parade and other educational events, please see the HBA web site

Not only does Commerce Energy make green power available to its consumers, it make sure that green energy powers its offices too. Commerce Energy Group, Inc. announced this past spring that it is using clean energy to power its offices in Costa Mesa, California, and Dallas, Texas.

"We're offering our customers the chance to support clean air and clear skies by using clean electricity," said Steve Boss, chief executive officer of Commerce Energy. "We wanted to underscore our support of wind energy in Texas and biomass energy in California by replacing the comparable amount of fossil fuels on the grid."

Commerce Energy leases approximately 45,000 square feet in Costa Mesa and another 11,000 square feet for its Dallas office. Together, the two offices use about 906,000 kilowatt (kWh) hours per year. The company has purchased green tags in California and renewable energy credits in Texas to cover electricity usage during 2006 and, going forward, will cover the offices' electrical usage with green-energy purchases at the end of each year.

By following simple energy-saving tips as we reach the height of summer time temperatures, you can do your part to not only keep your electricity bill down, but also help conserve energy. Some tips recently release by ComEd include:

• While at home, keep the thermostat at a constant, comfortable level such as 76 to 78 degrees. Lowering the thermostat below the desired temperature will not cool the home faster.


• Run appliances such as ovens, washing machines, dryers and dishwashers in the early morning or evening hours when it's cooler outside.


• Keep shades, blinds and curtains closed. About 40 percent of unwanted heat comes through windows. Blinds and curtains act as a layer of insulation that helps keep the home cool.


• Place window air conditioning units on the north or shady side of the home to avoid overworking the unit in the hot daytime sun.