I spent an hour under my desk last week. No, I wasn't reverting to childhood "duck and cover" drills; I was saving money and salving my conscience by implementing the next step in greening my office.
The trick is to separate equipment that need constant power from those that only need power while in use. Use one power strip for the "constant power" equipment, and a second power strip for everything else. In my case, that's the printer, laptop, speakers, cell charger, pda charger, and second monitor. Now when I leave the office, I can simply switch off the power on that power strip.
How big a difference does this make? Consider:
- Power supplies lose 30% of the energy they draw from the wall
- Computers in the business sector waste more than $1 billion of electricity/year
- A printer left on constantly uses $20 - $40 worth of electricity per year
- The average home leaks 50 watts of electricity/hour even when an appliance is turned off but plugged in
- Turning computers and copiers off after work can cut energy usage by 75%
Don't underestimate the savings - one printer turned off after office hours may only save you $20/ year, but multiply that across all your appliances. That's an easy way to increase your profit margin by greening your office!
Sources: Los Angeles Times; Hey Mr. Green: Sierra Magazine's Answer Guy Tackles Your Toughest Green Living Questions
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