Energy Efficiency? Are You Concerned About It?

Just wondered if any of you folks tried to cut down on your energy usage in the office?

Ive just been listening to a commercial on our local radio station about it that was focused on homes but, i cant recall having heard (or read) anything about saving energy and cutting down power costs in the workplace.

Do any of you actively try to cut your energy usage and, if so, do you have any tips you'd like to share with us?

Im trying to think of different ways we can preserve energy and cut down power costs here and, in all honesty, the only thing i can think of off the top of my head is making sure PCs, printers and other machines are turned off when not in use but, there has to be other things we can do.

So, do any of you try to cut your power costs in the office and, if so, how?

Regards,

Lee

Well yep, we use the energy bulbs for lamps, lights etc which greatly reduces the energy use plus they last longer and I don't have to climb a damn step ladder to change them every few months...

Keeping the thermostat down at night, programable thermostats are great for that too, automatically drops the temperature settings at specific or for specific time frames.

Other than keeping unused machines off and turning used ones off, not much I think.

Ian

I switched to florescent lightbulbs. The white light makes you feel like you're in a dentist's office at first, but you get used to it. Using 1/4 the energy and having up to 5x the life seemed to make enough sense, even though they're more expensive than regular bulbs.

Also, when I replaced my monitor, I got an LCD. CRTs suck a lot of power, and produce heat. The pricing is decent enough now that they're attractive alternatives. Just a few years ago they were still $400+ for a good one.

Absolutely, I almost never run air conditioning, I purchase homes that have natural air flow to cool it off. Our house in Australia was aspected perfectly to conserve heat in the winter and maximise shade and air flow in the warmer months. We also had a solar water heater and collected all our rain water and were 100% self sufficient with water (we weren't hooked into the city water supply).

Now that we are in Panama, we bought a place with proper ventilation and cross breezes so we almost never run air conditioning. Plus no lights or fans or appliances are left on in rooms that are not currently being used.

I am a firm believer that if everyone does just a little to help and to protect their environments the world would very quickly become a better and more healthier place.

cheers,
Luke