It's so hot — how hot is it? — that even thermometers might be tempted to melt.
But Utah Power and the Utah Energy Office want people in this big frying pan of a state to think about energy conservation during the heat wave, and they have suggestions to help people simultaneously keep cool and save some cold, hard cash.
"Everybody doing a little bit will have an effect," said Margaret Kesler, a Utah Power spokeswoman. "If you start making a little shift in your habits, it may not individually have a big impact, but if a lot of people start to do it, it can have very beneficial effects."
Summertime is the normal peak demand season for power, and reducing demand can alleviate stress on the power system, reduce the need for utilities to buy high-priced power on the wholesale market to meet demand and simply cut customer bills through the use of less electricity.
The call for conservation is heaviest during peak-demand hours, 2 to 8 p.m. weekdays.
Many of the suggested activities are of the common-sense variety, and most are relatively small actions that can add up to savings.
"It depends on the individual, but it's always on my mind," said Gina Fleischer, information specialist with the Utah Energy Office. "When I saw my dishwasher this morning it was full, but I won't run it until 9 o'clock. It's one of the things that can be done to reduce a lot of the energy load from 2 to 8. That's always at the forefront for me — what time it is."
During "normal" conservation times, the state's PowerForward program suggests turning off all lights, televisions, VCRs and computers not in use; using compact fluorescent light bulbs in fixtures that remain on three or more hours per day; using light dimmers, motion sensors or timers; setting thermostats at 78 degrees or higher, health permitting; using "air dry" instead of "heat dry" cycles on dishwashers; and doing laundry after 8 p.m. or on weekends.
When extra conservation is sought, the program also suggests using a portable fan instead of an air conditioner and cooking in a microwave oven or on an outdoor grill instead of using electric ovens.
"You can reduce a lot of energy by unplugging unnecessary electronics," Fleischer said. "That's a constant draw. If you're using your computer and you step away from it for a while, you can always turn off just the monitor."
She suggested that for meal preparation avoid the oven altogether by putting sandwiches, green salads or pasta salad on the menu.
People using rangetops should avoid constant use of the "high" setting, Kesler said. "The 'high' setting keeps the element on the entire time. With every other setting, including 'medium high,' it cycles on and off and uses much less energy. It's a very simple thing, but it does cut energy use by reducing the cooking temperature on the rangetop."
People away from home during the day should not turn their air conditioners off, she noted. Instead, setting the thermostat at 85 degrees, then adjusting it to 78 or 80 degrees when returning later, will use less power than switching on an air conditioner after having it off most of the day.
Other tips to cut energy use and/or aid energy efficiency include checking filters on air conditioning systems and coils on refrigerators and freezers; keeping a refrigerator or freezer door open as briefly as possible; using ceiling fans to help circulate cool air throughout the home, or using open windows, perhaps with fans, to draw cool air into the home at night and in the morning; and putting water levels in dishwashers and clothes washers at the appropriate setting for the size of the load.
The U.S. Department of Energy suggests using cold water for laundry cleaning, because 80 to 85 percent of energy used for washing clothes is for heating the water.
"When drying clothing, it's good to set it for a certain level of dryness rather than a timed setting," Kesler said. "The machine is more accurate at sensing dryness levels of clothes than we are figuring out the time it will take."
Fleischer noted that while natural light can be used instead of electricity-powered lights during the daytime, closed blinds can help reduce heating rooms, especially on the south and west sides of homes.
"By repeating the conservation messages throughout the entire time frame, however long the heat lasts, it will eventually become habit to us," Kesler said. "Conservation is an ethic. It's a set of habits we form that make us efficient folks in the way we use energy."
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com