More time working from home means more energy use. Here are some easy energy saving habits to adopt when you are home.
1. Dedicated Workspace
Staying in one place is helpful, both in your work concentration and energy use. Avoid using power in rooms where you are not present, such as lights in living/dining rooms. For the devices like your laptop, printer, or TV, it’s useful to unplug those when not in use because they can draw energy even when not charging or turned on.
2. Lighting Space
During the day, it can be best to take advantage of natural lighting instead of relying on ceiling lights. Opening window blinds takes advantage of natural lighting to brighten your room, decreasing the use of lamps as well. If your house tends to stay cool, it might also help to have those shades pulled back as the incoming light and heat can help regulate temperature, lessening the burden of your house to heat up.
3. Power Strip
Obtaining an advanced power strip is the next step in achieving a more energy efficient workspace. Coming in many forms, an advanced power strip’s main feature is to prevent electronics from drawing power when they’re idle by automatically turning off electricity to devices you don’t need. Advanced power strips like in the image above, are configured in way to have a master outlet that turns on the other controlled outlets such ash printers and scanners.
On top of the previous benefits, these power strips add protection to the devices as well.
If you want to maximize the energy efficiency in your workspace, and home overall, scheduling an energy audit can help give you the information and tools on how the work we do can make your home more comfortable and efficient in energy use.
