Top Ten Tips for Electrical Equipment

• Check that the power save modes on PCs and laptops are set to the most energy efficient settings
• Make sure all non-essential electrical equipment is turned off out of hours
• If your PC doesn’t have energy management, it’s good practice to turn off the monitor when leaving your desk for an extended period – and to make sure it is turned off at the end of the day if this doesn’t happen automatically
• Electrical items left on charge continue to draw an electric current even after the battery is full, so ensure they are unplugged when charged
• When boiling kettles for hot drinks, only use as much water as is actually needed (this saves water too!)
• Screensavers and desktop gadgets like clocks and weather reports all increase the energy consumption of your PC, so are best avoided unless essential
• Good data housekeeping can reduce the energy consumption of your servers
• Discourage the gratuitous use of electricity for gadgets that plug in to the USB port, like cup warmers
• Using an energy monitor is a good way to draw attention to energy consumption – either for the entire building or per device
• Choose electrical devices with low energy consumption, paying particular attention to standby consumption for devices that are not used constantly