Today's home office equipment has many energy saving features to help you conserve energy and save money. Products with energy efficiency features generate up to 25 per cent less heat and are also quieterAs with all home appliances, if you're buying new equipment look for the ENERGY STAR™ mark to help you make energy efficient choices.
You can also save energy by turning off your equipment when it’s not in use. This will help reduce energy consumption and your home office equipment will last up to 10 times longer.
- Turn your computer off when not in use. Most experts agree that turning your computer on and off will have no significant effect on its operation or life.
- If you must leave your computer on, turn off your display device or monitor. Monitors use a significant amount of energy. Monitors with larger displays, more colour, and higher resolution use even more.
- Use a laptop. A typical laptop computer has a maximum power consumption of 15 watts, and extensive power management capabilities. A typical desktop PC, with display, consumes about 10 times that or 150 watts, and has limited power management features. By substituting PCs with portable laptops, you can save up to 90 percent of the energy you'd typically use.
- Turn printers off when not in use.
- Laser printers consume a great deal of energy. Try an ink-jet printer. They are less expensive and use far less energy.
- Select a printer with energy saving capabilities. Printers with an automatic "power down" feature can reduce electricity use by over 65 per cent.
- Select a fax machine with energy saving capabilities. Fax machines are generally turned on 24-hours a day, but they are actually in use only about 5 percent of that time. Fax machines with power management features can reduce energy costs by almost 50 percent.
- Use stick-on labels on the first page of your fax. Not only will this reduce the energy use of the fax machine, but it will also save paper and telephone charges.
- Consider a plain paper fax machine. Faxes printed on thermal paper are often copied onto plain paper, which requires more energy. In addition, thermal paper costs about five times more. This price difference can make up for the increased cost of a plain paper fax machine in less than a year.
- Turn your copier off when not in use, and consider installing a plug-in timer to automatically turn the machine on and off.
- Choose a copier that's the right size for your needs. The energy use of a copier is directly related to copy volume capacity.
- Be sure your copier's energy-saving features are turned on.