Energy Conservation Tips for the Office

Everyday, companies spend thousands of dollars on energy costs to run their business. Because of this, many projects get tossed to the wayside because of funding issues. By going green in your office, you can positively affect your company's bottom line, simply by using less energy! Heck, you might even get a raise with the extra money you've saved the company. Okay, don't hold your breath on that one, but at the very least, you'll be preventing unneeded pollution from entering our environment.

Put your monitor to sleep. Whether it shows off your vacation photos or a cool 3D animation, a computer screen saver is not at all designed for energy efficiency. It's intended to save your screen from "burn in," not to save energy. Because monitors are responsible for more than one-third of a computer's energy consumption -- even with screen savers -- the best way to conserve energy is to set the monitor to sleep or power off when you're away for an extended period.

Unplug your cell phone charger when not in use. Cell phone chargers use 95% of their energy when they aren't charging cell phones.

Almost all of the electrical devices in your office use energy, even when they're turned off. It's a good idea, and it's easy to turn off the power strip they're plugged into just to make sure you've reduced the amount of energy being wasted. Putting this into practice every day before you leave the office can save $100-$300 per year.

Turn off the lights. Remember to hit the switch on your way out for that well- deserved lunch break. The energy savings from 10 million employees turning off unneeded lights for 30 minutes a day is enough to illuminate 50 million square feet of office space.

Flickering fluorescent lights use more energy. If you see one, report it to your maintenance staff.

Print smarter. The average U.S. office worker goes through 10,000 sheets of copy paper a year. Make it a habit to print on both sides, and use the back side of old documents for faxes, scrap paper, or drafts. A document that is double-spaced and copied on one side uses four times as much paper as one that is single-spaced and duplexed. When purchasing a copier or printer, make sure they can duplex. Reduce your document margins. Microsoft Word's default margins are set to 1.25". If the United States set their default printing to .75" we would save 4.75% less paper, which equates to over 380,000 tons of office paper, and the equates to over $400 million saved each year! Penn State recently made the change, and researchers there found that they saved over 72 acres of forest and $120,000 each year.

Go paperless when possible. Make it a habit to think before you print: could this be read or stored online instead? If you must print, purchase paper that has the Forest Stewardship Council seal on it.

Refill ink cartridges and recycle them if you can't. Last year over 15,000 tons of ink cartridges were sent to landfills. Each one used 100mls of oil to make. They are made from a polymer that takes over 1,000 years to decompose. Many companies offer coupons or free reams of paper for returning ink cartridges to be recycled.

Bring a reusable bottle of water to work rather than a single serving bottle. Last year over 16 billion bottles of water were sold in the U.S. and only 12% of those were recycled. Plastic is also made from oil, a finite material that will eventually be used up completely.

Wear appropriate clothing to expand your comfort zone and reduce energy for heating and air conditioning. If it is always cold at your office, leave a sweater at the office that you can put on when you get chilly, rather than operating a space heater.

Carpool, bike, walk, or take a bus to work. Gas prices will only continue to rise, and the amount of pollution put out by cars for work commutes each year is staggering.

Encourage the purchase of Energy Star rated office equipment. Energy Star rated units save 10¬50% off the energy consumption of standard models.

Report air leaks from windows and doors to your maintenance staff. Air leaks are attributed to 10-50% of a buildings heating and air conditioning costs. This is an extreme cost and can reduce the overhead of your building significantly.

Close the blinds during the summer to reduce the heat load from the sun, and open them in the winter to gain natural heating when it's needed.

Make the most of natural light. Each day when it's bright out, consider opening your blinds and turning off your lights. Also, it's a good idea not to block the windows.

Get off mailing lists. The last thing you need is another office supply catalog or credit card offer on your desk. Before tossing out junk mail, call the company's toll-free service number and ask that your name be removed from the mailing list. Have online retailers e-mail you instead. Almost half of all catalogs are never opened, yet nearly 62 million trees are destroyed and 28 billion gallons of water are used to produce them every year.

Promote an energy audit. Putting into use the results from energy audits can typically result in a 30% savings in your utility bills.

Promote a waste audit. 60% of the waste produced by a typical office can be recycled. Find out what you should be recycling in your office.





source: article by Nick Harter, President, Indiana's Green Network, Inc. http://www.IgniteIndiana.org