Ways to Cut Costs and Get a Greener Office!
These days everyone needs to cut costs. At the same time, most people want to help the environment. Well, you can accomplish both goals in business just by looking at ways to make your office more energy efficient.
Greening our offices really does help our planet. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy reports that power for office equipment now represents 7% of the total electricity used in business -- that adds up to $1.8 billion worth of electricity per year!
Here are seven easy ways you can help drive down that number and keep up our environment...
1. Shut down for the day. Make sure all equipment is completely turned off before the last person leaves the office. When devices are on, they're still drawing electricity and costing you money.
2. Plug equipment into power strips, not wall sockets. Most office equipment, battery chargers and consumer electronics use something called "phantom energy." Because of this, they keep drawing a trickle of power from an outlet even when they've been turned off. The solution is to buy power strips and attach a group of electronics to each one. When you shut down for the day, turning off the power strip turns off everything attached to it and effectively "unplugs" it, all at the same time!
3. Check sleep modes on all electronic devices. Most computers, printers, copiers and fax machines have a "sleep" mode or "power save" setting that switches them into energy-saving mode after being idle for a set number of minutes. This mode usually consumes at least 70% less energy than when the unit is operating at full-power. Check all devices to make sure the power-save mode either kicks in automatically or has been manually set. If you can specify the cycle time, set the power saving mode to kick in after no more than 15 minutes.
4. Standardize on laptop computers. Laptops consume up to 80% less energy than desktop computers. Trade in those desktops for laptops and you'll see impressive energy savings. For users who absolutely need a large monitor, buy them an LCD computer screen that plugs right into the laptop. There are many of these LCDs on the market for not much money.
5. Look for the Energy Star label on all new purchases. Energy Star is the federal government's program for labeling all kinds of energy-saving products for home and business. Electronic office equipment with the Energy Star label uses at least 20% less energy than a standard model. Many Energy Star products also come with automatic power-save modes, so they don't have to be manually activated.
6. Small and new are best for refrigerators. Sure you can save money buying an old refrigerator for the office, but it can cost hundreds of dollars a year more in electricity compared to newer models. And if your don't really need a big fridge, you should know that some mini-refrigerators can run on less than a dollar a month of electricity.
7. Get plug-in timers for the water cooler and coffee machine. Water coolers with a hot water tap and all coffee makers can use quite a bit of electricity over the course of a year. Put them on timers that plug into wall and you can program them to be on only when the office is open.
These energy saving moves are good for saving money and the environment--and they're even good for business. Employees and clients are all happier to work with a greener business!... Enjoy a great month!
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