JULY 2008: BIZ LIFE, HIGH FIVE
Powering down at the office
COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS account for 40% of the energy used in the
U.S., and with energy costs on the rise, that’s a huge
burden for business. But there are measures you can take to cut
energy use in the office and save on your monthly bill. Greg
Stiles, senior business sector manager with Portland-based
Energy Trust of Oregon, a nonprofit dedicated to energy
efficiency and
renewable energy generation, offers some suggestions.
1. It’s a myth
that it takes more power to restart a computer that’s
been shut down than to bring it out of sleep mode, Stiles says.
Turn off computers at night or, better yet, invest in laptops,
which use 90% less energy than
desktops. During the day, set internal controls to put the
monitor to sleep after five minutes of inactivity and the
entire hard drive after 15 minutes.
2. Encourage employees
to regulate their own temperature by dressing
appropriately rather than adjusting the thermostat. Stiles
suggests setting the office temperature at 68 to 70 degrees in
the winter and as high as 75 degrees in the summer.
3. Lose the water
cooler. It takes a lot of energy to provide hot and chilled
water on demand. Install a filter for tap water instead.
4. Assign someone to
power down
peripherals — copiers, faxes, scanners, etc.—at
night. When it’s time to upgrade, look for Energy
Star-certified products and models that enter sleep mode when
not in use.
5. Replace
incandescent light bulbs with more efficient compact
fluorescent lamps (CFLs), and switch out older T-12 tube lights
with new high-performance T-8s. Painting walls a light color
can help reflect light, and task lighting at each workstation
can eliminate the need for overhead lights entirely.
JAMIE HARTFORD
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