Research shows that Lighting and office equipment account
for around 90% of all energy consumption in most commercial buildings. Since we
spend an estimated 40 hours a week at work, asides the obvious cost benefit to
saving energy for the company, its simply responsible. A lot of green office
tips are simply common sense: Make sure computer monitors are off when they’re
not needed; shut down photocopiers at night and making sure computers are set
to power saving mode. Chances are, you’ve done all this already simply to cut
expenses. There are some less obvious tips which can yield significant
benefits.
Here are three simple practicable energy saving tips.
1. Flip a Switch
Lighting consumes
about 18 percent of generated electricity; another 4 to 5 percent of our
electricity bill goes toward counteracting the heat these lights generate. If
your office always feels just a little bit too stuffy, those light bulbs may be
to blame. And because lighting generally makes up the highest portion of your company's
monthly electric bill, it makes sense to attack the electrical inefficiencies
first.
Shut off the lights at
the end of the work day and as the weekend begins.
2. Say Goodbye to
Screen Savers
While they might be
fun or pretty to look at, screen savers don't save energy; they require full
power from your monitor and the same amount of energy from your computer as
when you're working away on a spreadsheet. Additionally, a 2009 study found
that nearly half of American workers who use a computer at work fail to even
shut it down before they head home for the night. This bad habit ends eats up
about $2.8 billion in unnecessary energy costs every year.
So, before you step
away for your lunch hour or coffee break, turn off your computer's monitor, or
put it in "sleep" mode. Either of these actions significantly reduces
the amount of energy consumed by the computer. If you're going to be away from
your computer for longer, just shut it down.
3. Determine the peak
electric hours in your city
There are usually two
peaks for electric rates: one in the morning from around 7 A.M. to 10 A.M., and
one in the afternoon and early evening from about 3 P.M. until 7 or 8 P.M. Peak
hours vary in different cities. Try to schedule heavy electric use – large copy
or print jobs, for instance, or major IT maintenance projects – outside of
these peak hours.
