The office I am working in is currently working to reduce the overall carbon footprint of its activities and of the people working in it. Part of the effort that I am involved in is focusing on reducing energy usage within the office.
So, what are the best ways to reduce energy usage in an office?
Our office is modern and fairly high tech (I imagine there are many things around computer and network usage we could try). We are making a few changes already including using lower energy light bulbs, retuning the automatic lighting systems and, when having to print, printing multiple pages per sheet and double-sided. We are also trialing a Dyson Airblade hand drier in one of the toilets though, however good it is (and it does work well), I can’t help but think that (cloth) towels use less energy still.
What other changes would typically be most effective? Also useful would be practical ways of evaluating what systems in our office are using the most electricity (or more energy than they should).
Turn the a/c up a notch or two (or the heating down a notch or two).
Remove every other lightbulb if possible. Turn off lights in toilets when not in use (people will complain but it’ll take only a couple of days to get used to).
Install “hippos” in the toilet cisterns.
If you already print double-sided, see if you can set it to 4 prints of A5 per A4 sheet of paper.
Visit this site: http://www.maximiseprofit.org.uk/ and do the calculations; it will give you some PDFs of other hints and tips for office resource efficiency.
You mention ‘light bulbs’. Unless there are light-quality issues, it’s definitely a saver to replace incandescents with compact fluorescent or LED lamps.
I’ve often wondered why more lights in washrooms, corridors and such aren’t on motion sensors, so that they only turn on when someone’s there. Even if they get triggered by mice or blowing curtains, it would still save money.
How expensive are motion sensors (both price and embodied energy/resouces/pollution-to-make) compared to leaving the lights on?
Err, quite rightfully. It’s not particularly hygienic or safe. And it’s even worse for those of us who have a higher hygiene requirement for our sanitory facilities (through no fault of our own). The energy used in a few compact fluorescents (which is all that’s required to light a gents sufficiently) is minimal when compared to the overall energy use of an office anyway.
In my office where the management have implemented cost-cutting measures dressed up as enviromental initiatives (toilets, stairs, entranceways and corridors all with lights off) I deliberately go along and turn the lights back on and leave them that way. Health and Safety trumps cost-cutting imnsho.
Once, I picked up a colleague from the airport and was driving him to his hotel, in downtown Philly; we passed in front of our company’s Home Office. He said “man, it’s as ugly as in the pictures!.. isn’t it a Sunday today?”
“Yep, it is.”
“Ok, then either these yankis are a bunch of masochists or we could pay for your vacations and mine with all the money they’re wasting on lit bulbs on weekends.”
Things like more independent lights (i.e., not having to light up the whole freaking 500-people floor if one person is in) aren’t as easy to implement, but maintenance may be able to do some work on that as part of regular maintenance periods. Dimmers are also a good idea; the lights on most offices are actually too stark for computer work.
…or too dim for reading. Also in many offices you need to have the whole area lit because otherwise those areas farthest from the windows are scarey-dark… when at the windows you can barely notice that the lights are on, because of the sunshine streaming through the windows. The design problem can’t be solved in five minutes, but a dimmer takes that long to install and means lights can be lowered when there’s enough coming from outside.
(took too long editing, sorry)
Is it green for the sake of being green? I remember several years ago the central maintenance electricians were tasked to remove the fluorescent bulbs from all of the soda machines. You know: the bulbs that make “Coca Cola” look all bright on the plastic facade of the machines. All in all, there were about 15 machines in the building that had the lights removed. It took at least a shift of work with a team of two electricians. With perks and overhead, we always figure about $100 per man per hour. How long does it take to recover $1800 from 15 sets of low wattage fluorescent bulbs?
Adding dimmers, motion sensors, redesigning lighting schemes, etc., may make sense in the long run. The real long run. But how long until the investment is recouped versus a complete and total strip out of the office for future remodeling anyway?
The more pertinent question, of course, is how do you expect to make a motion sensor in the bathroom? Think of the poor guys camped out in the stalls! :eek:
If your ceilings are filled with the typical 2x4 foot fluorescent “troffers” you can probably change out the T40 tubes and replace them with T32 tubes for a roughly 20% savings in energy use. Removing one set of tubes per fixture (there’s usually two independent pairs of tubes) will net a 50% savings. I can’t even imagine how opressively bright this place would be if someone put tubes into every socket.
Also, be sure the fixtures are clean - dirty reflectors absorb light.
On the technology side, switch to LCD monitors and enable “sleep” in your laser printers - an old network laser sucks a lot of power keeping its fuser warm, and that’s completely wasted power during the night when everyone’s gone home.
My last two offices have had motion sensors in the stalls for the restrooms. There are no windows. The motions sensors have a timer that keeps the lights on for about 10 minutes.
If I take a book or magazine with me and “camp out,” I occasionally lose track of the time. It gets real exciting when the lights abruptly cut out, plunging the restroom into pitch darkness!
Check first.
Many modern office buildings are designed without furnaces (or only small ones). They plan for the heat generated by the lights, computers, & people occupying the building to provide most of the heating for the building, without needing to run a furnace.
That is a good design, environmentally. But it might mean that they have to leave lights burning on the weekend just to keep it above freezing. Might actually need more lights than during the week, when there are a lot of people in the building. (It also provides security – dark buildings are more at risk for theft.)
I worked in a building like this. The heat from several big mainframe computers, the PCs on every desk, the lights in the building, and the people working there provided almost all of the heat for the building. But as they replaced incandescent bulbs with CFL’s, used more efficient florescent tubes, replaced CRTs with LCD screens and cut staff, the building got less and less warm during Minnesota winters. Eventually they were talking about upgrading the furnace for the building, just to keep it warm.
How about shutting off computers over the weekends? Especially during any part of the year when heating isn’t needed. The office I’m in, everyone leaves their computers on 24/7. There is absolutely no reason not to shut them off over the weekend, or at night. So it takes 2 minutes in the morning to reboot. Go get a cup of coffee.
Better air circulation. Every office I’ve worked in has hot spots and cold spots, and people who use a heater under their desk for large parts of the year.
Plant grass on the roof. It absorbs sunlight in the summer and helps to keep the building cool. Bentgrass or another variety of grass that grows to a certain level and then stays that tall. I read an article on it once…I will try to find it.
The bulbs are a good/easy idea, but I’d focus on heating/cooling. Check under the desks of all the females in the office and I’ll bet at least half of them have a heater under there (it’s 100% here). Those things use more juice than 3 PCs.
Er… I did mean to turn them back on again when you need to use the facilities.
As for turning hallway lights on - hah, you’re one of the people I battle against daily. Our stairwell has three vast windows on it. You only need the lights on after dark, but some health and safety martinet insists on regularly turning 3 x 60W roof lights and 2 x 100W uplighters on, when there is blazing sun pouring in the windows.
I feel that the lights should remain on from the afternoon onwards, also I feel that having light switches in the toilets is rather disgusting to be honest. I know I wash my hands everytime but I don’t trust other people. Ideally motion controlled lights, or no touch switches, should be fitted.
The corridors in my officeblock are windowless, and the stairs and entranceways, whilst light during the morning and early afternoon become very dark in the late afternoon and early evening so as I leave I turn the lights on, they’re all low energy compact fluorescents anyway. I think the entranceway lights are important as our building is away from the main hospital and security outside of the access controlled areas is very low and it’s unmanned (it being offices and not clinical), so from a safety standpoint having a lit entrance is imo very important (especially as anyone can wander in from the street).
But, if I worked in your office, which sounds like it’s well lit by natural light, I wouldn’t be turning on the corridor and stair lights. The toilets though, there we will have to disagree.
Yes, there is a reason – the additional wear and tear that makes them wear out earlier. There have been many threads debating this, with no definite conclusion either way. But there is definitely a reason, and the computer tech of many companies are the ones pushing the “don’t shut them off” policy.
Yes, but doing this requires building a roof extra strong to support the weight of the grass, 6"-12" of dirt, and especially the water needed. So you need to balance the environmental cost of larger support girders for the building vs. improved cooling. Also, here in Minnesota, there are far more heating-days than cooling-days during the year. I don’t think a foot of dirt on the roof is much insulation, so it won’t help for much of the year.
Dimmer switches using triacs or scrs (kind of like high voltage transistors) don’t actuallu “cut” the amount of energy used. They turn it into heat, instead of delivering it to your light source.
Also, most compact flourescent bulbs alread only use 15-20% of the electricity required by a standard incandescent bulb, and unless one buys (at much greater cost) specially made ones for use with dimmers, will not function properly or at all on a dimmer switch.
The ideas of reducing the amount of lights, reducing the wattage of lights used, checking for underdesk heaters, and other “personal use” energy “hogs” will help greatly. The advice on puting energy hungry items like laser printers and photocopiers in a “sleep” mode can also make a big difference. Turning off computers, and other equipment on weekends and over nigfht is also a big saver. Look at the commute… Is a car pooling scheme plausable?
How far outside the box is your office willing to think? Are they only concerned with work-related activities or will they think of the peripherals?
Why not set up a car-pooling scheme? Or encourage staff to cycle, walk or use public transport to get to work if they are able to. One office I worked in had two ‘office bikes’ which staff could book up and use. They also set aside a bit of space at the bottom of a stairwell for staff to store their own bikes safely and provided a shower.
Check out alternative suppliers for office supplies (that includes the coffee supplier!). And buy in a few differently coloured bins/boxes to allow staff to dispose of different types of rubbish for recycling. Then put the job of ensuring that the rubbish to be recycled is put onto somebody’s job description!
If your company requires staff to travel to other places then investigate methods of travel other than the car or plane.
Maintain your equipment and facilities (a/c, water etc) regularly. And if you are able to in your area then purchase electricity from a company which invests in renewable energy. Actually, if you are able to then invest in a windmill/solar panels to generate your own.
As you have good natural light ensure your windows are kept clean to allow the light through.
All of the cubical farms in offices that I’ve know run very basic computers, that they replace long before anything actually wears out. What usually wears out (not counting components or memory that is faulty to start with) first in a computer is the video card or the power supply, and those wear out because of failure of aluminum capacitors. Aluminum electrolytic capacitors have use lives in the 1k-10k hours, depending on the temperature they are run out. So shutting off your computer nights and weekends would prolong the life of those components, reduce energy consumed by the computer and reduce the heat load for any air conditioning.
Yes, I’ve been working for and with capacitor manufacturers for the last 14 years.
The reasons I hear from IT people to not shut off computers is so that they can push software updates across the system at night. So schedule that for Tuesdays, and shut down all the other nights.