Saving Energy in Your Home Office

In our last column we discussed saving energy around the home and saving money as a result. We touched on ways to reduce costs contributed by lighting and appliances; more specifically, the refrigerator and washing machine. In a previous article we talked about the home office. Today we provide a few tips on reducing energy costs in the home office.

Persons working from home will most likely use electronic devices and may use them very frequently. These normally include a computer, fan or air condition, printer/copier etc. Although it saves on transportation cost it increases your home energy bills, so in order to actually realize savings there are a few things we should bear in mind.

1.Selecting energy-efficient office equipment and turning off machines when they are not in use can result in significant energy savings.

2.Spending a large portion of time in low-power mode not only saves energy but helps equipment run cooler and last longer.

3.Using the power management settings on computers and monitors can cause significant savings.

4.It is a common misperception that screen savers reduce a monitor’s energy use. Use automatic switching to sleep mode or simply turn it off.

5.Another misperception is that equipment lasts longer if it is never turned off. Many appliances continue to draw a small amount of power while switched off so unplug appliances not in use and unplug battery chargers when the batteries are fully charged or the chargers are not in use.

6.Use rechargeable batteries for products like cordless phones and digital cameras.

7.Turn on air conditions and fans at hotter times of the day.

8.Reduce the use of paper. Do double-sided printing and use printed paper with errors for scrap.

9.Make use of emails and free or cheap calling systems like Skype.