Running energy-efficient ceiling fans means you can turn up the thermostat by a few degrees and still maintain a comfortable temperature. Photo courtesy of Big Ass Fans.

OVERLAND PARK, KS -- Bahram Akradi, CEO of Life Time Fitness, Chanhassen, MN, recently shared an anecdote in Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Star Tribune about a woman who stopped him during the height of the recent recession to reveal why her family was quitting its membership.

It wasn’t because of the economy, she told him, but that the pool temperature was too cold for her children to swim. Akradi subsequently found out the club had been reducing its pool temperatures in an effort to save money. He immediately ordered that the temperatures in all Life Time pools be raised to a more comfortable level.

With utility costs rising across the board, and the economy still in the doldrums, it’s logical that club owners are looking for ways to save money. But there are many ways to reduce utility costs without risking members’ comfort.

Many of the easiest ways to save don’t even require an initial financial investment, says Bruce Buckbee, the former owner of a chain of large Boston fitness clubs and now managing partner of Leisure Green, a Plymouth, MA-based sustainability consultancy that specializes in the leisure industry.

For example, when Buckbee worked with Town Sports International (TSI), New York, to help rein in its utility costs, they contracted an energy broker to bid out the chain’s electricity needs.

“There are 23 states where electricity is deregulated,” Buckbee says. “That means you don’t have to buy your electricity from the local utility company. You can bid it out through an energy broker and get competitive rates from many different suppliers. Any club can do it, and it costs nothing.”

TSI, which operates around 160 clubs in eight states—all deregulated—saved more than $1.5 million for the year in energy costs.

In terms of other ways to save, Buckbee says a lot of it is common sense.

Two of the simplest things you can do is to make sure your scheduled maintenances are up to date and to keep up energy-saving procedures at the close of business, such as turning out all the lights and computers, turning off the steam and adjusting the thermostat.

“It’s just the typical stuff your mother and father told you to do when you were a kid, but these are very common-sense things that can yield you maybe 3 to 5 percent energy savings over the course of a year,” Buckbee says.

NEXT PAGE: MORE WAYS TO SAVE

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2012 Penton Media Inc.