Do an equipment energy audit

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Back to Step 12: Reduce Energy Equipment Costs

Do an equipment energy audit

Your existing equipment represents a significant investment. As with all investments, you need to maximise your return.

One way to do this is to create an inventory of the equipment in your business and make a note of how much energy it uses. 

Appendix F of the ‘Energy Reduction Plan’ template is a table where you can write down what equipment you have and how much energy it uses. Download the template here: EnergyCut.info/erp-template. 

Once you have this information, you can:

  • try and reduce the energy used
  • replace it with equipment that uses less energy.

 

Auditing your office equipment

Equipment can account for 15–30% of the overall energy bill for many small office businesses.[1] The ‘CitySwitch’ program has a toolkit that helps you to audit your office equipment.

This can be downloaded from EnergyCut.info/cs-audit-toolkit  

For many small office businesses, equipment can be responsible for 15-30% of their overall energy bills.[2]

 S13-T2---Consolidate-your-equipment

A larger printer or photocopier shared by many people is generally more energy efficient than several smaller machines used by a few.

But bigger isn’t always better – laser printers, for instance, can use up to 50% more energy than an ink-jet printer.[3]

 

Do the research and choose what best meets your needs:

  • For many small businesses, a multifunction printer (MFP) is ideal as it combines the ability to print, fax, scan and photocopy. In the past, that would have required four different machines, but today you can get it all in one unit.
  • Staff in some companies use desktop computers when they’re at work and take laptops with them when they’re on the road. Consolidate this and only buy laptops. They’re cheaper to buy and use a lot less energy.
  • You don’t have to buy an answering machine for your mobile, so why get one for the landline? Just use the voicemail service that’s available from your landline provider. This will save on the purchase and running costs of an answering machine.
  • Do you need a landline and the cost of associated handsets? Many households no longer use a landline, relying instead on their mobile phones. If you’re a small business with few employees, could you do the same? You can still have a general number for your business through online services such as Skype[4] – just have the calls forwarded to a mobile phone.[5] If you do this, make sure you terminate any handset rental fee with your landline phone provider.

 


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BACK TO STEP 12: REDUCE ENERGY EQUIPMENT COSTS