In western culture a majority of our time per week is spent in the workplace. At 1 Million Women, we often talk about reducing our carbon footprint at home, but with so many hours per week spent in our places of work, shouldn’t we look at our eco-habits at work too? Here is some inspiration on greening your office technology. GET THE RIGHT POWER STRIPS Technology sure is making a lot easier! Try this one, plug electronics and computer equipment into a power strip with an on/off switch and turn it off when you are not using the products. This will ensure that the products are not using electricity. SLEEP IS GOOD (FOR COMPUTERS TOO) : Activate power management features on computers and monitors to place them in a low-power sleep mode after a set time of inactivity to reduce power consumption. Simply hitting a key on the keyboard or moving the mouse awakens them in seconds, again too easy! LAPTOPS TRUMP DESKTOPS: If a laptop will meet your computer needs, choose one over a desktop. Laptops are 2.5-3 times more efficient than desktop computers. ALWAYS UNPLUG: Unplug battery chargers or power adapters when equipment is fully charged or not connected to the charger. This helps avoid energy waste. SWITCH OFF LIGHTS: It's so easy to run out the office door of an afternoon and leave the light duty to someone else. Let's change this behaviour! By switching lights off in rooms and areas not in use you can save around 400kg of CO2 pollution and $100 per year, now that's real behaviour change! REPLACE YOUR AIR CONDITIONER WITH A FAN Do you have an air conditioner in your office? Now's the time to make the easy switch to a fan! By replacing your air conditioner with a ceiling fan you can save about 550kg of CO2 pollution and $140 per year. SET YOUR HEATING A FEW DEGREES COOLER Now this one is really easy.. and economical too! By setting your heater or heating system just a few degrees cooler you can save at least 600kg of CO2 pollution and $150 per year.
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