The number of people who work from home offices is quickly growing. Whether it’s your job, for school or just a place to pay bills, make sure your office is efficient.
- It’s tempting to leave your computer on all the time for quick access, but shut it down overnight. Like burning a light in an empty room, an idle but on computer wastes energy.
- Enable your computer’s power-management features. These are the features that automatically put your computer into a more efficient standby mode when it’s not in use for brief periods.
- Shut off printers, copiers, scanners and other devices when you leave your home office. If you plug them into one power strip, you can turn them off with the flick of a single switch. Some power strips now come with timers that you can set to automatically turn equipment off each evening.
- Buying new home office equipment? Look for the Energy Star label on computers, printers, copiers and fax machines. Energy Star appliances use less energy.
- Light your office with LED bulbs, which use less energy and last for years.
