Energy,Saving,Strategies,for,Y DIY Energy Saving Strategies for Your Office
When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in
Whether you work out of your home or commute to a job, here are somesteps to take that will save on energy costs.1. When you aren't using your Personal Computer, laser printer, orcopier machine, turn them off. Just turning this equipment off at nightand on weekends can save you up to $100 a year. Per Pacific Gas andElectric Company (PG&E), turning computers on and off doesn't usuallyshorten their lives or create energy surges but it is best to leavethem on at least an hour at a time. Per PG&E, it costs from 1 to 2cents per hour to run a computer. That might not sound like a lot ofmoney but for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the cost is $131 a year.Many people have more than one computer in their home as well asprinters or copiers. And commercial offices are loaded with this typeof equipment.I personally have three computers and three printers. If I were toleave them all on 24/7, my annual electricity costs would be about $786(based on 1.5 cents per hour). I can reduce that number 85% by justturning off my equipment when it is not in use.2. When you are working on a document try printing as few drafts aspossible. Consider using the print preview option and editing on thecomputer screen. This will not only save you electricity but paper, inkand toner as well.3. Use email as much as possible. Save paper and printing costs bytransferring information by modem or disk whenever possible.4. If you are shopping for a computer, consider purchasing a notebookcomputer instead of a desktop PC. A notebook computer uses one-tenththe energy of a desktop PC and can save from $40 $100 in energy costper year, depending on usage.5. Printers: Shopping for a printer? Consider the energy costsassociated with each kind. There are basically three types of printers dot matrix, laser and ink jet. While lasers are the most popularbecause of their high quality, they draw an average of 80 to 100 wattsor more when printing. Dot matrixes only use an average of 15-20 wattsand ink jets, the most energy efficient of all use only about 10 watts.6. Copy Machine: If your copier doesn't come with "standby mode",(which shuts them down partially using 70% less energy), considerturning it off as much as possible. Also, the faster your copy machine,the more energy is required per copy.7. Fax Machines: The cheapest way to fax documents is through a faxmodem on your PC. You save on energy as well as the cost of a paper faxmachine. http://www.efax.com is a great place to get a free electronicfax account. You can receive faxes directly into your computer and viewthem as an email message.With the pending energy crunch, we can all do a little bit more toconserve. Imagine all the money that can be saved by adopting just afew of these energy ideas.I know I'm going to try harder. How about you?
Energy,Saving,Strategies,for,Y