When it comes to cutting operational
costs in the office, one of the most obvious ways to go is to reduce the
electricity bill. It's awfully important to look closely at your energy expenditure, especially since it will
probably mean a lot of savings in the long run.
To give you some tips on how to save
your money and help the environment, here are a few small things you can change
in your office courtesy of Westward Group Alternatives.
* Temperature
- When it's cold, keep the curtains or
windows wide open so the heat from the sun can help out your heating system.
- When you do use air conditioning,
make sure that doors and windows are closed so that the cold won't disperse in
a much wider area than necessary.
- Adjust the thermostat whenever
people go on break or go home -- a change of a couple of degrees for a few
hours can already make a big difference.
- Instead of AC, use a cooler or an
electric fan to cool the room.
- Ensure that your heating and cooling
system gets a check-up every 6 months so problems can readily be identified and
repairs done before more energy goes to
waste.
* Lighting
- Make use of the natural daylight
whenever possible. Just by opening up the blinds or windows you can take
advantage of this free source of light and reduce the heat emission at the same
time.
- Instead of lighting up a whole room,
switch an overhead lamp during overtimes.
- Identify the correct level of
brightness in a particular area. Just like how too little light can cause eye
strain, so is too much light.
- Choose lighting fixtures that are
more energy-efficient. For instance, fluorescent lamps consume less than half
of the energy that an incandescent lightbulb does; plus, it lasts much longer.
- Always turn off the lights when not
in use and make sure that lights outside are only turned on when needed.
* Others
- Set your desktops or laptops to
hibernate when not in use, or better yet, turn off the display before you get
up your seat. The monitor consumes a large amount of energy so putting up that
cool screensaver is not actually going to do your electricity bill any good.
- You might also consider investing on
so-called 'green' alternatives for your major equipment like airconditioning
and computers. It might cause you a little more than usual upfront but you can
save in your electricity bill for months to come, based on a Westward Group
Alternatives report.
- Unplug any charger that's completed
its job or else it will continue to draw energy. On the same note, manually
unplug any machine or equipment before you close shop. Any plug that's
connected to an AC is still consuming a small amount of energy, even though it
is turned off.
