creating a responsible environment
Office Equipment Energy Conservation Best Practices
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General
  • Power off electronic devices when not in use (i.e., fans, typewriters, calculators, copiers, etc).
  • Do not turn on electronic devices until you will actually be using them.
  • Avoid using the switch on a power strip to turn on all your equipment simultaneously.
  • Purchase only "Energy Star" compliant devices.

Computers

  • Power off computer equipment during non-business hours.
  • Use wake-on-lan technology to apply security patches during non-business hours. For technical setup instructions visit: http://www.vpaf.uni.edu/tss/energy/documents/power_mgt_wol.pdf
  • Configure your computer to go into low-power or sleep mode after 20 minutes of inactivity.
  • Consider powering down the hard drive after inactivity.
  • Purchasing Suggestion:
    • A computer with a low-profile or "small form factor" chassis generally consumes less energy than a mini-tower or full-sized desktop machine. You may not need the larger machines that requires more robust power supplies to accommodate expansion options such as additional drives or plug-in cards. Laptop computers, although more expensive, are even more energy efficient.

Monitors

  • Do not use screen savers.
  • Configure your monitor to go to sleep (blank screen) after 20 minutes of inactivity.
  • Power off the monitor when not in use.
  • Purchasing Suggestion:
    • Flat-panel (LCD) displays, although more expensive than conventional (CRT) monitors, are far more energy efficient. They are more space efficient as well.
    • Buy a monitor only as large as you really need. Larger monitors typically use more energy than smaller devices.

Peripherals (including printers)

  • Power off peripherals during non-business hours.
  • Configure peripherals to operate in power savings mode (particularly printers).
    • Share peripherals within the office. Examples:
      • Use networked printers, reducing the use of individual printers.
      • Install a departmental scanning station.
  • Don't turn on your printer, scanner, etc., until ready to use.
  • Purchasing Suggestion:
    • Consider purchasing "multifunctional" devices that combine technologies (print, copy, fax, scan, etc) in a single device.
    • Consider purchasing a printer with a duplex capability to allow printing on both sides of a sheet of paper.

Servers

  • Turn off monitors when not in use.
  • When possible, consolidate multiple servers to a single, higher-performance device.
  • When possible, utilize virtual machine technology to reduce the number of physical devices necessary.
  • Locate server technology in data centers built to manage heating and cooling in an efficient manner.
  • Purchasing Suggestion:
    • Consider purchasing hardware with built-in power management features (i.e., Dell PowerEdge PowerNow!) that adjust processor power states, voltage and clocking frequencies depending on workload.
    • Consider utilizing blade technology

Paper

  • Review your document on screen instead of printing a draft. Reduce wasted printing by using the "print preview" option to find errors before printing.
  • Do not use a printer for multiple copies. Copiers are more efficient for this purpose and the cost is less.
  • Avoid printing out copies of email unless necessary.
  • Reduce paper use by printing on both sides.
  • Rather than printing and filing documents in a cabinet, file documents electronically for future access.
  • Use email instead of faxes or send a fax directly from a computer to eliminate the need for a printed copy.
  • When possible, use smaller font sizes to save paper.
  • Disable the power-on test page print for those devices that include this feature.
  • Prior to recycling paper, set it aside for use as scrap paper.
  • Buy and use recycled paper.
  • When possible, circulate printed materials instead of making printed copies for each person.

Recycling Equipment

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