Energy Saving Home Office Ideas

Do you work from home? If so, you’re not alone. An estimated 45 million Americans work out of home offices and telecommute at least one day a week. While this is great for the environment, it could have a different kind of impact on your energy bill if you’re not careful. Fortunately, we have some great energy saving home office ideas for you that will help keep your home office costs down and your productivity high!

1. Start with ENERGY STAR qualified computers and equipment
   • ENERGY STAR computers deliver significant savings over their conventional counterparts. In fact, if all the computers sold in the U.S. were ENERGY STAR qualified, savings in energy costs would increase to approximately $1.8 billion annually!
   • Use multi-function or All-in-One devices that combine multiple functions (print, copy, fax and scan) to save both space and energy.
   • Turn on power management features to further cut down on electricity use.
2. Invest in energy efficient telephones and answering machines
   • Look for energy saving cordless phones. Models that have earned the ENERGY STAR use only one-third of the power of standard models.
   • ENERGY STAR qualified answering machines not only help reduce electricity costs, they’re also good for the environment. If all the cordless phones, answering machines and telephone/answering machine combos sold in one year in the U.S. were ENERGY STAR models, the reduction in air pollution would the equivalent of taking 7,000 cars off the road!
3. Energy efficient lighting is one of the best energy saving home office ideas!
   • Energy efficient light, in the form of compact fluorescent light bulbs, use one-quarter to one-third of the power of regular light bulbs.
   • Energy saving lights generate less heat and last ten times longer than incandescent bulbs.
4. Use a power bar or strip to control all your electrical equipment
   • Americans spend approximately $100 annually powering devices that are on standby modes, amounting to nearly 8% of the total household electricity bill.
   • A power bar saves electricity by eliminating standby power consumption.

In addition to these tips, there are other energy saving home office ideas you can implement. For example, turn off the lights when you’re not working, unplug battery chargers or adapters that aren’t being used. Also, seal any holes around outlets with inexpensive gaskets. Little energy saving home office ideas like these can save you more money than you might think.

As the popularity of working from home increases, the need for great energy saving home office ideas that maximize energy efficiency and reduce costs is more important than ever!

DID YOU KNOW:

• If every American worker was able to work from home 1.6 days a week, 1.35 billion gallons of gas could be saved annually according to the American Electronics Association.
• And if this were the case, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that it would lead to a 26 billion pound reduction in the amount of carbon dioxide that’s released into the earth’s atmosphere.