LANSING – Office equipment acts as the guts of your business, making your day-to-day operations possible. The energy needed to power your office equipment certainly comes at a price – representing about 19 percent of total office building expenditures. For Michigan, energy consumption of office equipment alone is between 12-15 percent of total electricity use. To begin to achieve energy savings with office appliances and equipment, here are a few simple steps.

What You Can Do

  • Unplug appliances or use a smart power strip. Some equipment continues to draw power even when it is switched off. Power strips can help you manage this by completely cutting off the power when items are not in use.
  • Activate power management features and software on your computer. This allows your computer to enter “sleep mode” after a set time of inactivity, conserving power.
  • Swap out your desktop for a laptop. On average, laptop computers use 80% less energy than desktop computers!
  • Upgrade to ENERGY STAR qualified appliances and equipment. ENERGY STAR appliances do the same work but use 10-50% less energy and water when compared to standard models.
  • Don’t forget about the break room…