Eco-Friendly Office Tips
Read these 15 Eco-Friendly Office Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Office tips and hundreds of other topics.
Reducing Paper Use
Concerned about waste? Finding ways to reduce and reuse paper is one way to be eco-friendly and save money, too. Try these easy ideas:
Conserve Energy with Laptop Computers
Laptops computers use only 10% of the energy required by desktop computers, take up less desk space, and are virtually noiseless (no power supply fan noise).
Screen Savers
Although screen savers are fun and you can get so many different and interested patterns and pictures, don't rely on them to save energy. They are only meant to save phosphors in the screen.
Photocopiers
Copiers use more energy per unit than any other type of office equipment. Try to make double-sided copies whenever possible. A duplexing option helps cut back on energy use, as well as decreasing paper costs and reducing waste. (The energy to produce the paper far outweighs the energy needed to produce an image on the paper.)
Benefits of Electronic Files
Converting paper files to electronic files is a great way to save time and money. Not only will you reduce storage needs, but electronic files are easier to search. Both of these benefits add up to a savings of time and money.
Paper Saving Fax Ideas
Reduce paper usage at the fax machine by faxing documents directly from your computer. Also, instead of using a cover sheet, use a transmittal sticky note or a rubber stamped transmittal block.
Saving Energy
Turn off lights, computers, photocopiers, radios at the end of the day to save energy.
Reducing Computer's Energy Use
Activate your computer's 'sleep' or 'quiet' mode option so that when the machine is not being used, it will automatically switch from full power to sleep mode. This can reduce your computer's energy use by as much as 70%.
Reusing Paper
When printing draft copies, use the reverse side of already-used paper. Producing a single sheet of virgin paper requires an average of 20 watt-hours, so reusing paper can save embodied energy and cut your paper supply costs.
Patronize Eco-Friendly Businesses
Promote waste reduction by patronizing places of business that practice the three R's: (waste) reduction, re-use, and recycle. Look for water and energy conservation, too.
Sharing Subscriptions
Share subscriptions to periodicals, professional journals with your co-workers and get your name off mailing lists for unwanted publications.
Virtual Meetings Reduce Air Pollution
Be kinder to the environment by conducting meetings by telephone, teleconference, video conference or web conference when possible.
Printers
Consider the use of a dot matrix, impact, or inkjet printer over a laser printer. Dot matrix and impact printers use 80% to 90% less energy, while providing good speed and adequate quality for many applications. Black-and-white inkjet printers use 95% less energy and are nearly equal to laser printers in terms of quality. (Color inkjet printers, meanwhile, do not offer substantial energy savings over color laser printers.)
Computer Monitors
Bigger monitors use more power. A 14" color monitor will use up to 50% more energy than a 10" color monitor. Increasing resolution in a color CRT increases power per square inch by about 22%.
Energy Efficient Fax Machines
For energy efficiency, choose an inkjet fax machine. These machines have a low standby energy rating and use about 10% of the energy required by laser fax machines.
