Tips for Energy Saving

[Russell]

Computers:
1. Turn off all computer equipment unless in use, especially at night and on weekends
2. Screen savers do not save energy. Use power management features so your computer monitor and hard drive will go into "sleep mode" when not in use
3. Turn off your monitor when you leave your desk to go to lunch or to a meeting
4. Turn off monitors on servers
5. Enable power management features on laser printers and/or turn off laser printers when not printing
6. Buy low wattage equipment certified by the EPA's "EnergyStar" program and be sure to enable power management features when setting up equipment

Lights:

1. Use natural lighting instead of electric lighting whenever possible
2. Turn off unused or unneeded lights
3. Try task lighting and reduce overhead lighting
4. Use fluorescent bulbs in desk lamps
5. Halogen floor lamps are very energy wasteful and may pose a safety risk

Heating and Cooling:

1. Dress for the season and keep thermostats set to achieve 68 - 70 degrees F in the winter and 74 - 76 degrees F for air-conditioned spaces in the summer
2. During the cooling season close blinds, drapes and curtains to block direct sun
3. During the heating season, open blinds, drapes and curtains to let sun in. If no sun, close them to keep the heat in especially at night
4. Use hot water sparingly

Equipment:

1. Purchase energy-efficient models
2. Turn off all energy consuming office and research equipment when not in use, e.g. copiers, refrigerators, environmental rooms, fume hood, etc

[Algonkin]

Each open program consumes CPU resources and in turn the CPU consumes energy, therefore it is advisable to only have open the programs we use. Even we can close those programs that are in the system tray and run in the background. By reducing the amount of free memory processes also will prevent RAM and Windows use virtual memory on your hard disk, which will help us save energy, since the disc has a high consumption.