Remember your last office powercut… how did you survive? Chances are you went to the cafe for an early lunch or even went home because everything important stopped working! We run everything on electricity, computers, internet routers, mobile phone chargers, laptop chargers, office radio, telephone systems, overhead projectors, clocks, fish tanks, printers, fax machines, photocopiers and many more.

Here are the top tips for running a greener office, bringing down your fuel bills and generally feeling better about your contribution to the world’s pollution.

Buy Only Green Energy

Many energy suppliers are giving us the option to buy 100% green energy. If you’re not the business owner, do some reasearch and present a case to your boss. By going green you stop oil being mined from ever-decreasing supplies and being burned on your behalf. You’ll be safe in the knowledge that your electricity is renewable. You will also be increasing demand putting more pressure on oil companies to drop prices and the government to take green energy seriously. You may be paying more for green energy but many of the following options can help to balance the cost and continue to help the environment.

Swap your computer for a laptop

Laptops are getting cheaper, much more powerful and are ready to replace the desktop computer. As well as being more convenient for transport and travel, they use less power. Laptop computers are designed to perform the same tasks while using up less power. They do this by running more efficiently, producing less heat, less noise and more efficient processing distribution. Home workers can also wander into the garden in the summer and continue working with a glass of chilled lemonade.

Swap bulky CRT monitors for LCD

Those big horrible monitors consume more power than an equivalent sized flat monitor and again the prices are coming down. The bigger they get, the more power they consume so swapping a 14″ crt for a 32″ LCD won’t change much. Research has suggested that a 17″ monitor is the perfect size for maximum productivity. Any bigger and the eyes get lost, any smaller and the eyes strain to see the size and work with more layered windows.

Turn off what you can overnight

If it’s not switched on, it’s not consuming energy and just as importantly, internet hacking is impossible. Turn off printers, desktops, laptops and anything else which does not need to be switched on overnight. I also mean off off, not standby off. Some standby modes consume just as much power as when turned on.

Unplug unused chargers

Mobile phone chargers, laptop chargers, battery chargers, walkie-talkie chargers, Tom tom chargers all produce heat when plugged in, even if they’re not charging anything! Yes this saves you a little time scrabbling about under the desk trying to find it, but it costs money, energy and contributes to pollution and the climate instability.

Energy Saving light bulbs

The traditional light bulb produces light, but it also generates a lot of heat. This heat apart from being a fire risk again costs money to produce. Energy saving bulbs are more expensive, but they last longer and can save you a considerable amount of money in energy bills, they pay for themselves within a relatively short space of time.

Use Natural Light

If you have windows, use them, natural light is healthier to work in, feels nicer, and best of all is free! (At least while Brown and Darling don’t know about it) It helps your body produce vitamin D, and a nice view of the park (or the building opposite) is always nicer than office walls. Better health and well-being increases productivity.

Support like-minded businesses

By buying from greener companies over less efficient ones you will help increase demand for green businesses and start to make a difference among your own suppliers and clients.

Be a paperless office

While paper generally now comes from renewable resources, the energy burned to cut and process trees, transport paper doesn’t. If it doesn’t need to be printed, don’t print it! If you need to empty your paper bin or shredder more than once a fortnight, perhaps you’re throwing away too much. Where can it be saved?

The big green debate

Not everyone agrees we can save the planet, not everyone agrees we’re destroying it, many people think it’s inevitable and we’re being encouraged to spend money where it’s not necessary just to line government pockets.The tips above are on a green theme, but with rising fuel costs and above average inflation, most of these will save you money, save on fuel tax and make your business more self sufficent. Laptops continue working for a few hours in power-failures. Computers switched off are hacker proof. Laptops can be secured in safes. LCD monitors take up less deskspace. Excessive amounts of paper with hot powered lights and machines can pose a fire risk. Some mobile phone chargers have been known to explode if left on for long periods of time. (These are usually recalled but the possibility of it happening again is there) Similarly with Laptop batteries.

Credit: Wind turbine photo courtesy of Patrick Finnegan.

Tags: efficient, energy, Green, paperless, saving money

This entry was posted on Monday, July 28th, 2008 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Business, Going Green. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.