Best ways to minimize energy consumption at home (office).
Working from home is a great way to cut energy use, but it can also increase your home energy costs. To work from home, you’ll need a workspace of your own. These five tips can help you keep an eye on your energy costs, no matter where you’re sitting.
The cost of electricity is increasing day by day. This is mainly due to the surging cost of fuels. Electricity bills are also increasing mainly because of inflation and rapid development in technology. Many people do not know how to run their electrical appliances in a proper way to minimize the energy consumption.
There are various ways to reduce energy consumption at home office such as using energy efficient appliances, turning off devices when not in use, using compact fluorescent light bulbs, and keeping air conditioning systems properly maintained. These ways, when put into practice, can go a long way in helping you to minimize the level of energy consumption as you work from home.
Let us take and in-depth look at the various tips on how to
- Get your lighting right
Changing your lightbulbs may seem like a small, insignificant thing, but it can make a big difference in energy consumption. Replace lightbulbs with LED bulbs. LED lights not only use less energy than incandescent bulbs, they also have a longer life span and are more environmentally friendly. They’re not the cheapest option, but the long-term savings will be well worth the initial expense.
- Opt for natural lighting wherever possible
Open up curtains and shades during the day to let sunlight in to minimize the need for artificial lighting at night. If you’re able to get up every morning and sit at your desk with the sun streaming through your windows, you’ll be saving yourself from having to turn on the overhead lights.
- Turn off computer when not in use.
Turn off your computer when not in use. Computers are designed to be energy efficient—meaning that they use more power when they’re turned on than when they’re turned off. So if you leave your computer on all the time, you’re wasting precious energy! On average, it takes just 5 minutes for a computer to become fully powered down and safe to unplug. So take five minutes out of your day to shut it down and save some money!
- Use a laptop instead of a desktop if possible.
Get a laptop instead of a desktop PC. Opt for a model with a high rating for energy efficiency. At 14–24 watts, laptops consume far less power than desktop computers, which utilize around 68 W. Only 1–2 W of power is used in sleep mode on most laptops
The benefit of using a laptop is that it uses less power than a desktop computer and the battery keeps it on standby when the plugged-in charger is not connected to an electrical outlet.
- Use a power strip with on/off switches to help you turn off many things with one switch
Power strips are generally used for computers, printers or other office machines, but do not forget to use them for your home office equipment as well. If you have multiple electrical devices that are used together, try using a power strip to switch them all off at once.
- Keep your doors closed
If you’re at home all day working, running the heater or air conditioner will drive up your utility cost dramatically. Using a draft stopper might help keep your office warm if the door is closed. In order to avoid using a space heater all the time, you can cut back on heat loss by using this method. Just use a fan in the summer. Close the doors to the rooms that are the hottest and keep the windows closed to keep cool air from escaping.
- Look into getting an energy efficient Ethernet.
This will help you reduce your use of electricity for networking in your home, as well as reducing electromagnetic radiation from all those Wi-Fi signals! Most modern Ethernet cables are shielded, so there’s no danger of EM radiation from them (unlike Wi-Fi). If your cable provider doesn’t offer it, consider using a shielded cable from another provider or by building your own.
- Don’t Print Documents
When you’re at home and using the computer, it’s easy to forget that you’re still using energy. Unless you want to go back to typewriters and carbon paper, though, don’t worry too much about it—and especially don’t worry about your computer. Printing is one of the most energy-consuming tasks you can do with a computer. For example, if you print out a piece of paper with black text on it, that’s as much as 75% more energy than if you just read the document onscreen. So to conserve energy, try as much as possible to read documents onscreen rather than print them out.
- Buy Energy Star Devices
Buy energy star compliant devices (for computers, monitors, printers, etc). They can save up to 75% on electricity costs compared to non-energy star devices. They also keep your office nice and cool in the summer. You can also opt for a programmable thermostat for more energy savings.
- Rely on Task Lighing
Task lighting, or accent lighting, focuses light around a specific task area that requires illumination. This type of light mimics natural daylight and makes it easier for you to see small items like writing utensils, staplers, or computer keys. If you’re reading an e-book on your Kindle or surfing the web on your desktop PC, concentrated overhead lights are not ideal because they’ll make it harder for you to see what’s on the screen. Instead, have a good tasking light over your shoulder that will make it easier for you to read small fonts and do close-up work.
Conclusion
To maximize the efficiency and comfort at your home office, you should take various factors into account. How many hours do you expect to work in a day? Do you have a preference for natural light? What is the amount of noise you can tolerate in your working environment? In addition to these questions, you should also consider personal energy conservation and cost-saving benefits. As we have shown, there are numerous ways to maximize your energy efficiency while improving your home office’s overall comfort and convenience.