Many homes today are being modified or built with the addition of a home office in mind.
Although there are many benefits to working from home, whether it be full time or
part time, chances are the energy you use to do so, comes off your bottom line.
Home office equipment for instance, can be costly to buy, but it doesn't have to be costly
to operate. We have provided a few tips to help keep your home office energy costs at a
minimum.
Turn off your home office equipment when
you are not using it - or just turn off your
monitor which uses over half of a computer
system's energy.
When buying electronic office equipment,
look for energy-savings features such as
'stand-by' or 'sleep' modes that you can set
to power-down when not in use.
Unplug your home electronics if you are
going to be away for an extended period of time.
Consider purchasing an all-in-one fax/printer/scanner/copier machine - one unit will
use less energy than four separate machines.
Battery-chargers use power even when they
are not charging - unplug them when they are not being used.
When purchasing new office equipment,
look for the
ENERGY STARŪ symbol identifying
the most energy-efficient units.