Going green...Lights Out!!

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.