The dog days of summer will soon be in your rear view mirror. Even though the temperature is falling, your building and equipment will still be called upon to work hard in the coming months. And now is the time to look ahead to ensure your systems and equipment are up to the task.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as summer comes to a close.

Know your utility billing dates. If your billing cycle ends on Oct. 15, and Oct. 16 and 17 are very warm days, try to find ways to cool your building other than running the chiller for that brief window. This will help you avoid an expensive spike in demand charges for the entire month.

Use your economizer wisely. In the fall, most buildings can get by with using outside air to do most of the cooling. Make sure the economizer setpoints take advantage of the cool fall mornings, so outside air can be used to cool the building for the warmer afternoons.

Lock out the air-cooled side. This equipment comes on based on outside air temperature, which means a November or December day in the 50s — even for a few hours — may result in building cooling systems automatically engaging. If you encounter a warm fall or winter day when cooling is needed, you can always turn the system on for a short time.

As you begin to look towards fall and winter, Trane building professionals are ready to help you assess your building performance, and find ways to capitalize on opportunities for improvement. Getting a better picture of how your building is performing — and what goals you want to achieve — is the first step toward improving efficiency.