Office equipment Best Practice Northern Ireland ppt

Introduction At many commercial and public sector sites, office equipment is one of the biggest consumers of energy – and one that staff have direct control over.. So it represents a gr

Office

equipment

Best Practice Northern Ireland

Technology guide

enter

Introduction 03

Refreshment 08

Portable heaters 09

Checklist 10

Further services from the

This guide looks at some typical

energy-consuming items of equipment, and how you

can minimise the amount of energy they can use

We have covered the following in this guide:

• IT equipment

• Printers and photocopiers

• Refreshments

• Portable heaters

Since 2002 the Carbon Trust has carried out more

than 3,500 energy surveys in Northern Ireland

This guide is part of a series that aims to help you

benefit from the findings of these surveys

Northern Ireland companies have already saved

up to £200 million by acting on Carbon Trust

recommendations At the same time, they’ve

reduced their carbon emissions by over 1.3 million

tonnes of CO2 You can save in the same way

Introduction

At many commercial and public sector sites, office equipment is one of the biggest consumers

of energy – and one that staff have direct control over So it represents a great opportunity to involve staff in saving energy and improving efficiency

Each of the nine guides in the series includes real-life examples of savings made by local companies The guides set out simple steps

to help you save energy and improve your competitiveness

Other guides in the Best Practice Northern Ireland series:

• Energy generation

• Compressed air

• Energy management

• Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC)

• Lighting

• Motors and Drives

• Process control

• Refrigeration systems

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“ Office equipment is the fastest growing

energy user in the business world,

accounting for 15% of the total electricity

used in offices This is expected to rise to

30% by 2020

”

Quick view

Good practice

• People take responsibility for the equipment that is under their control

• All office equipment has energy saving features enabled

• Where possible, the network is used to monitor and control PCs being left on

• Only equipment with a good energy rating is purchased

• Any vending machines are controlled to minimise out of hours energy use – suppliers are encouraged to provide energy efficient units

Bad practice

• Equipment is left on overnight

• Equipment with an energy saving mode does not have it enabled

• The energy performance of new equipment is not considered

when buying it

• The opportunity to upgrade old style monitors to flat screen

monitors has not been taken

• There are no options for double-sided printing

• A photocopier or other piece of equipment is next to

temperature controls

• Staff are allowed to bring electric heaters and kettles from home

without restriction

• Fridges are old and in poor condition

• Vending machines are left fully operational outside working hours

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Figure 1 Energy use of business equipment in

the typical office

Taken from CTV005

IT Equipment

As Figure 1 shows, personal computers and monitors are responsible for two-thirds of the

energy consumed by office equipment

Servers and networks also represent a significant proportion of office/commercial energy use These are not covered here, but there are techniques to reduce the energy use of the IT infrastructure, from virtualisation to low energy cooling systems The Chartered Institute for IT is a good place to find further information on these techniques

PCs and monitors are an ideal opportunity for individual staff to take responsibility for energy management, as their computer is usually the one item of workplace equipment each person has control over Studies have shown that the average

PC is only used for a small fraction of the time that

it is on, as people leave them on while making tea, attending meetings or undertake other work that does not require the PC

People are often reluctant to switch their computers off during the day, as they can take time to reboot But most operating systems will allow you to switch off different parts of the system to save power

In large organisations the IT department may be responsible for setting power saving profiles, while in smaller companies it may be up to individuals If your organisation has a network, consider using network software that can monitor and control PC usage – for example, by sending automatic emails to people who leave their computers on overnight

To reduce the energy consumed by equipment, your IT department will need to collaborate with staff to find the best way to minimise energy use

IT professionals are more aware than ever about energy use and increasingly concerned with how

to reduce it

Fax machines Photocopiers

Printers

Monitors

PCs

Based on 10 PCs with monitors, plus 1 photocopier, fax machine and

1 laser printer, all with average consumption and no standby enabled.

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Printers and photocopiers

Network printers and photocopiers are usually shared within an office, so people don’t feel as much responsibility for them as they do their own computers Most modern photocopiers and network printers have energy saving or hibernation modes – if yours do, make sure you enable them A simple way to save energy and cost is to try and minimise the amount of printing

or photocopying that is done Many organisations add a “don’t print unless necessary” footer on emails, which accepts that hard copies will sometimes be needed But email chains are often longer than you realise, and it’s easy to print 10 pages when the information you wanted was on page one Try to reduce this by checking how much you need to print, or regularly trimming lengthy email chains

You should also remember that in an air-conditioned office the heat generated by IT equipment has to be removed by the cooling system So you pay twice; once to generate the power and again to remove the heat it creates

In an air conditioned office, equipment left

on needlessly can also result in additional energy wastage as the heat generated will need to be cooled by the air conditioning system; so by switching-off once can save you double!

Case study: IT network control

Turning off one PC may not seem much of

a step, but imagine the impact on a large

company like Ford in the US It announced

in March 2010 that it was implementing a

companywide PC power management

programme that it estimates will save it

$1.2 million and reduce its carbon footprint

by 16,000-25,000 metric tons every year A

company spokesman observed that as

many as 60% of PC users did not shut down

their PCs at the end of the day Once it has

been rolled out in the US, the software will

be deployed worldwide

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All offices have some provision for refreshments,

though facilities can vary from a simple tea

station to a fully-equipped kitchen Staff can save

energy in the same way they would at home by:

• using energy efficient kettles and only boiling

the water needed

• keeping fridges closed and making sure they

are defrosted

• only running dishwashers when full and at the

lowest effective temperature

Many workplaces use energy efficient water

boilers instead of kettles It may also make sense

to provide a kettle for out of hours users to avoid

leaving a vending machine on

Seven day timers are often used on vending

machines This can save energy, particularly

when wired rather than plug-in timers are used

(don’t remove the plug from the vending

machine as this might invalidate the warranty – use a time controlled socket instead) Timers with battery backup are also a good idea to avoid losing time in case of power interruptions

Remember to reset the timer when the clocks change Only fit time clocks on machines that are safe to turn off outside working hours Talk to you vending machine supplier and see if they can offer

a more energy efficient machine

Fitting a time clock to vending machines such as this can payback in under a year

Further reading

How to operate your office equipment efficiently (CTL006)

Office based companies sector overview (CTV007)

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Portable heaters

All portable heaters in the workplace should be

subject to Portable Appliance Testing (PAT),

which enables you to police their use The PAT

label can be used to distinguish between official

and ‘illicit’ heaters You can then keep a log of

who PAT labelled heaters have been issued to,

and unlabelled items can be removed from the

workplace In one hospital where the Energy

Manager is also the Fire Officer an extreme

version of this system is in action – he has an

official mandate to unplug and cut the leads off

any unofficial heaters on site!

Portable heaters can affect the office’s general

temperature control If you genuinely need one,

there is probably a problem with your heating

system If it’s not possible to fix the heating,

make sure that any supplementary heating is

correctly installed and operated

Case study: Switch off policy

One company with a number of sites around Northern Ireland wanted to demonstrate the potential for simple savings by turning off unwanted equipment They did this by organising

‘switch off Wednesday’ when all sites made the effort to turn off unwanted equipment This was then followed up using online energy metering They saw energy savings of between 3% and 7% and proved this could be done without affecting business or working conditions

A 2kW heater costs around 20p per hour to run Running for eight hours a day each heater would use £8 worth of power a week, or over £220 a year.

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1 Are all computers, printers and

associated equipment switched off when not in use?

Leaving computer equipment switched on for long periods when it is not in use wastes money The heat given out by equipment when switched on may encourage the use

of electric fans and add to air conditioning costs

Identify equipment, which can be switched off when not in use Use green and red different shaped labels to indicate which equipment can be switched off and which must be left switched on

Make the appropriate people aware that green-coded equipment should be switched off when not in use

Consider using network software to turn off unused equipment

2 Are photocopiers switched to

stand-by mode when not in use for long periods?

Many photocopiers have a stand-by mode (sleep mode) that will reduce the power without switching off

the machine

Encourage people to switch photocopiers to stand-by mode during long periods when they are not in use

Where possible enable automatic use of stand-by mode

3 Do you check regularly whether

there is any use of unauthorised portable electric heaters?

Portable electric heaters are very expensive

to run Generally, they do not have time switches or thermostats and are often left running continuously

Added problems can occur if the area they are in is air conditioned

Check regularly for use of unauthorised portable electric heaters

If people are regularly using portable electric heaters, check the heating arrangements for that area

Note: There may be an issue with Portable Appliance Testing in that unofficial heaters may not have been tested

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4 Is a regular check made on the

condition of seals on fridges and freezers?

Worn or damaged seals increase refrigeration costs by allowing warm air to enter into refrigerated space and cold air to leak out

Set up a programme for regular inspection of seals

Replace all seals that show any signs

of wear or damage

5 Have you checked that tea urns

are not left boiling continuously?

Continuous operation of tea urns is generally unnecessary and wastes money

Check the way that tea urns are used

Install instantaneous water boilers where possible

6 Have you replaced old metal

kettles with modern jug kettles?

Older kettles cannot heat a small quantity of water If you boil twice the amount of water you need, it will cost twice as much

Replace older kettles with new jug types if small quantities

of water are being heated

7 Have you thought about

specifying energy-efficient computers and office equipment?

The energy efficiency of equipment varies – some models use much less energy than others

Some equipment can be switched to stand-by mode when not active

Make sure that energy efficiency is always included in purchasing specifications

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Further services from the Carbon Trust

The Carbon Trust advises businesses and public sector organisations on their opportunities in

a sustainable, low carbon world We offer a range of information, tools and services including:

Website – Visit us at www.carbontrust.co.uk for our full range of advice

and services

 www.carbontrust.co.uk

Publications – We have a library of publications detailing energy saving

techniques for a range of sectors and technologies

 www.carbontrust.co.uk/publications

Case Studies – Our case studies show that it’s often easier and less expensive

than you might think to bring about real change

 www.carbontrust.co.uk/casestudies

Carbon Trust Advisory – Delivers strategic and operational advice on sustainable business value to large organisations

 www.carbontrust.co.uk/advisory

Carbon Trust Certification – Delivers certification and verification services to companies and runs the Carbon Trust Standard and Carbon Reduction Label

 www.carbontrust.co.uk/certification

Carbon Trust Implementation – Delivers services to business in support of implementation of energy efficient equipment and energy efficiency financing

 www.carbontrust.co.uk/implementation

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The Carbon Trust receives funding from Government, including the Department of Energy and

Climate Change, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and Invest Northern Ireland.

Whilst reasonable steps have been taken to ensure that the information contained within this

publication is correct, the authors, the Carbon Trust, its agents, contractors and sub-contractors

give no warranty and make no representation as to its accuracy and accept no liability for any errors

or omissions All trademarks, service marks and logos in this publication, and copyright in it, are the

property of the Carbon Trust (or its licensors) Nothing in this publication shall be construed as granting

any licence or right to use or reproduce any of the trademarks, services marks, logos, copyright or

any proprietary information in any way without the Carbon Trust’s prior written permission The Carbon

Trust enforces infringements of its intellectual property rights to the full extent permitted by law.

The Carbon Trust is a company limited by guarantee and registered in England and Wales under

company number 4190230 with its registered office at 4th Floor Dorset House, Stamford Street,

London SE1 9PY.

Published in the UK: March 2012

© The Carbon Trust 2012 All rights reserved CTG031 v2

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