Energy Savings
Take the following simple, responsible actions to save your business money by cutting down on needless energy consumption.
Turn Off the Lights
Artificial lighting accounts for 44 percent of the electricity use in office buildings. Make it a habit to turn off the lights when you're leaving any room for 15 minutes or more and utilize natural light when you can. Also make it a policy to buy Energy Star-rated light bulbs and fixtures, which use at least two-thirds less energy than regular lighting, and install timers or motion sensors that automatically shut off lights when they're not needed.
Turn Off Equipment
Turning off equipment when it's not being used can reduce energy consumption by 25 percent. Turning off the computers at the end of the day can save an additional 50 percent. This includes unplugging power strips at the end of the day, because they consume energy even when the equipment is shut off. Be sure to power down all equipment connected to the power strip first.
Set up Your Products to Save Energy
Enable the energy saving settings on PCs and peripherals - a feature that is enabled on most PCs running Microsoft Windows. You can find these settings in the Power Options menu in your PC's Control Panel. A computer in idle mode uses 20 to 50 times the power of a computer in standby mode.
To increase savings, reduce the time delay before your equipment reverts to a power saving mode. This can also be set in the Power Options menu in your PC's Control Panel.
Disable your screen savers to reduce energy use. Studies show that a monitor in screen saving mode uses significantly more energy than one in standby mode. Adjust your computer's data backup schedule to run during the workday so you don't have to leave your computer on at night.
Make Smart Purchasing Decisions
Buy energy efficient computer products. They can help you save energy and money. An Energy Star qualified computer, for example, uses 75 percent less electricity than computers without enabled power management features.
Consider using flat panel liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors versus conventional CRT monitors. LCD monitors provide up to 70% power savings and provides up to twice the lifespan of CRT monitors. LCD monitors also run cooler, which helps save on air conditioning costs.
Select the right-sized monitor to meet your needs. The bigger the monitor, the more energy it uses. Choose multifunction devices (MFPs) that do the work that used to require several machines. In addition to saving space and materials, these MFPs save energy compared to several products working in parallel.
Select printers or multifunction products that offer two-sided printing to reduce paper and energy usage. Networking printers and copiers will decrease their idle time and provide for more cost-effective use of the equipment.
e-Cycle
When upgrading to more energy efficient products, look for vendors who have trade-in and recycling programs for your used computers or printing hardware.
