Inefficiency – Office equipment consumes 26% of an office building’s energy. Although most equipment has a low power mode when idle, this feature is often not activated. Studies have found that 40 to 50% of computers are left on continuously and most computers even when the user is in the office are mostly idle. Larger and higher resolution monitors utilize approximately 50% more energy per inch.
Opportunity – With power management activated, the annual impact for a single workstation is shown below for two typical scenarios.
Case 1: Left on continuously
Avoid a ton of C02 annually
Use 5 times less energy
Save $200
Case 2: Already switched off nights & weekends.
Avoid 300 pounds of CO2
Use 50% less energy
Save $15
Implementation
- Activate power management feature.
- Avoid screen savers since they use as much energy as if the monitor was active.
- Turn-off equipment when not in use. Consider putting equipment on a power strip that is easily shut down since computers often draw power when “off”. Perform downloads when PC is normally available.
- Ensure that reboot program completes quickly, since users will keep the computer on to avoid long boot time.
- Pool high energy equipment such as printers.
- Consider energy cost of bigger screen and higher resolution when upgrading monitors. Consider laptops that use 65% less energy than desktops.
- Buy energy efficient equipment and replace equipment that are power hogs.
Sources
- National average for office buildings power consumption. Distribution of energy uses in California offices given California's temperate climate, heating consumes less energy.
- Power management study from the EPA
- Computers left on continuously as reported by GreenerComputing.
Resources
- Energy Star office equipment including printers, desktops, monitors and laptops
- List of green office computers from EPEAT (Electronic Performance Energy Assessment Tool) who provides standards and certification for office computers
No comments:
Post a Comment