Home Office Equipment

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As you go about setting up your home office with a new computer, printer, fax machine, and maybe even a copy machine, consider that this equipment is going to add to your electricity bills. A computer alone may not use more energy than your television, but once you've put it all together, an office full of equipment can definitely make its mark on your energy use.

Many electronic devices continue to use electricity even when switched off. Most draw only a few watts, but with several pieces of office equipment, the power drain can add up. The only solutions are to physically unplug these appliances, or to turn off their power strips. This is easy, and it protects your equipment against voltage surges such as lightning strikes.

You'll obviously have other considerations besides energy when you buy your equipment, such as speed and capacity. Fortunately, you can find ENERGY STAR® labels on almost every type of office equipment, at all levels of speed and features. ENERGY STAR® devices will have lower operating costs than other equipment.
Myths About Home Office Equipment

Myth 1: It's better to leave computers on constantly than to turn them off when you're not using them.

This was true back in the days of the mainframe, but it's not true anymore. The lifetime of your hard disk is typically limited by head-disk mechanical interactions and wear, rather than by electrical surges and thermal cycling during start-up. It's a good practice to turn off your computer and monitor (as well as your printer and copier) if you don't plan to use them again within the next half hour.

Of course, many people now use a fax-modem on home computers and may need to leave the central processing unit (CPU) on to receive faxes. If this is the case, at least turn off the monitor when it's not in use. Monitors, especially full-color units, can use as much energy as the CPU. Some CPUs can also be put to sleep when awaiting faxes, rather than left on at full power.

Myth 2: Screen savers save energy.

Most screen savers do not save energy, unless they actually turn off the screen or, in the case of laptops, turn off the backlight. Flying toasters or fireworks use about as much energy as word processing. If you want to save energy and save the screen, turn the monitor off by its switch (or its power strip) when you're not using it.

Myth 3: Laser printers don't use much energy when they're not printing.

Laser printers draw about one third of their printing power when they are on standby. For a laser printer capable of putting out eight pages per minute, this means 100 watts. Turn off your laser printer when you're not printing.

Myth 4: An ENERGY STAR® computer will automatically power down ("put itself to sleep") when it isn't used for a certain period of time.

ENERGY STAR® computers come with sleep capability--but the sleep feature has to be turned on before the computer will automatically power down when not in use. Many computers come with this feature turned off, and it's not always obvious how to activate it. Make sure your new ENERGY STAR¨ computer comes with the sleep feature turned on, or clear instructions on how to turn it on. Finally, use the sleep feature only as a backup. You should still turn the computer off when you're not using it.

Resources

American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Guide to Energy-Efficient Office Equipment, Revision1. Palo Alto, CA: Electric Power Research Institute, Inc., 1996.

Leslie, Russell P., and Kathryn M. Conway. The Lighting Pattern Book for Homes. Troy, NY: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1993.

Excerpted from No-Regrets Remodeling by Home Energy magazine