The True Impact That Office Equipment can Have on Your Energy Costs
In today’s world, we’re all being urged to become more environmentally friendly, whether that’s in our home or work life. There are many steps we can take to help create a better living environment for all, and reduce the amount of carbon emissions which are being emitted around the world on a daily basis.
For many years the main focus was on how we can become more eco-friendly within our homes, from recycling to reducing the amount of electricity we use. However, over recent years there has been an increased push in making businesses aware of their carbon footprint and what they can do to reduce it.
Energy consumption is one of the biggest factors when it comes to carbon emissions, especially within UK businesses. The amount of money spent on energy costs can have a huge impact for many business owners across the country, mainly due to wasted energy. Office environments are known for being equipped with large amounts of electrical equipment, including computers, printers and telephones.
It’s likely that this topic won’t have crossed the minds of many business owners, but the amount of energy emitted by office equipment is staggering. Not only does this have a negative effect on your business carbon footprint, it also comes at a high cost.
Which office equipment uses the most energy?
The appliance which uses the most energy in the air conditioner. On average having the air con on will mean 4,000w of energy are produced each year, just by the air conditioner alone. To put this into perspective, 4,000w of energy will cost you around £1,460 annually. From this number alone, you can start to see the impact energy usage can have on your business.
As well as the air conditioner, servers are also at the higher end of the scale for the amount of energy they use. Servers use around 1,000w of energy, totaling around £1,095 each year.
How can the amount spent on office energy be reduced?
To begin with, you could be paying more because you have stayed with the same energy provider for a number of years when you could potentially be paying less with a new provider; so shop around for a new deal.
In the short term, the most obvious solution is to make sure everyone within the business switches off all equipment when it’s not in use. This alone is sure to have a huge impact on lowering the amount of energy your business uses.
Just by looking at the air conditioner and server alone, you can start to see how much energy office equipment uses. It’s important that businesses start to reduce the amount of energy they’re using, to benefit both the environment and their finances.
