Energy Saving Tips For Office

What is standby power?

• Standby power is the electricity consumed by an appliance when it is not performing its primary functions, but plugged in to a power source and ready to be used. For example : a television continues to draw a little power to maintain the control function after the user switches it off with the remote control device. Standby power is expressed in watts (W).

How much energy is consumed in standby mode? Why is it so important?

• The electricity consumption of different electric appliances in standby mode varies. Assuming that the standby electricity consumption for an appliance is 1 Watt and a family normally has about 10 to 20 electrical appliances* in standby mode, switching off all such standby appliances may reduce household electricity consumption by up to 3%.

* These appliances include broadband modem; Wi-Fi router; cordless telephone; computer; computer monitor; printer; charger for mobile phone, tablet computer, notebook computer and backup battery pack; television; video player; digital video recorder; video game console; radio; electric fan; electric toothbrush and electric shaver.

Tips for reducing Standby Power Consumption

Establish company wide energy efficiency policy

• Establish an Energy Efficiency Policy and Measures to indicate top management’ s commitment.
• Get staff to understand and commit to good energy saving practices by setting up housekeeping practices such as assigning designated officers to inspect workplace; and having discussion sessions for identifying areas of improvement, etc.

Equipment setting and staff training

• By providing continuous training and communications, inform staff of the power management features of office equipment and commit to good energy saving practices.
• Request suppliers to pre-set power management features on equipment and provide training to staff.

Use of office equipment

• Switch computers to sleep or hibernation mode and switch off monitors, printers when leaving office for long time (e.g. during meetings, lunchtime, etc.)
• After office hours or before leaving the workplace, switch off the power sources to computers and the connected peripheral devices, such as monitors and printers, etc.
• Use appliances with timer control or automatic power-off function. Do not leave them in standby mode for a long period of time or after office hours.
• Before leaving the office, arrange the last-man-out to check and switch off the power sources to all air conditioning, lighting and office equipment that are not in use.
• Keep the number of switched on equipment that has to perform its primary function during non-office hours to a minimal, such as by switching off computer servers of non-essential services before weekends and public holidays to reduce power consumption.