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Office Equipment

Electricity used by computers, monitors, copy machines, computer network equipment, telephone networks, printers, and fax machines makes up a significant share of the electricity used in commercial and residential buildings. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) studies show that office equipment is estimated to account for approximately 9% of the energy consumed in commercial buildings. In addition, office equipment has the fastest growth rate of electrical consumption in the commercial energy sector.

Personal computers (PCs) and monitors use the largest amount of energy in offices. Much of the energy associated with PCs is wasted because computers and monitors are often kept on while not in use. Studies suggest that PCs are active only 9%-15% of the time.

A joint U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and DOE program, the ENERGY STAR® label is now on more than 40 kinds of energy-efficient products. Additionally, the program has taken up the challenge to improve the use of energy-efficient office equipment through its partnerships with private and public sector organizations. The ENERGY STAR program is designed to deliver the technical information and tools that organizations and consumers need to choose energy-efficient solutions and best management practices.

Fortunately, most new computers and monitors sold since 1996 comply with ENERGY STAR requirements—reducing energy consumption of PCs, monitors, and other office machines by using a low-power or "sleep" mode. The challenge is to improve the systems that increase the efficiency of office equipment. An ENERGY STAR study suggest that without a targeted energy efficiency program the power management systems in today' computers and monitors are only enabled 55% of the time.

Power management allows monitors, computers, and other office equipment to enter low-power states when sitting idle. The low power modes of inactive computers can involve reducing power consumption or spinning down the hard disk. Inactive monitors with enabled power management systems enter low-power modes by turning off monitor output. Screen savers are not power management devices and the monitors' electrical consumption is not reduced when they are inactive. The power management systems in ENERGY STAR labeled computers are required to power down to 15% of their maximum power use. Monitors are required to power down to 15 watts or less after 15-30 minutes of inactivity and down to 8 watts after 70 minutes of inactivity. The electrical consumption for copiers, printers and fax machines in ENERGY STAR products is reduced 50%-65% by using similar power management technology. Since approximately 45% of the computers today have their power management function disabled, there are still significant inroads to be made to realize the full energy efficiency potential of this technology.

Copiers that have earned the ENERGY STAR designation are designed to "sleep," or power down, when not in use, and use 40% less electricity compared to standard models. Spending a large portion of time in low-power mode not only saves energy, but helps copy equipment run cooler and last longer. ENERGY STAR-qualified high-speed copiers feature duplexing units that automatically make double-sided copies that reduce paper costs by about $60 a month for the typical small business. Using less paper also saves energy because it takes 10 times more energy to manufacture a piece of paper than it does to copy an image onto it.

There are significant opportunities for saving energy with office printers. Printers that have earned the ENERGY STAR designation can cut the equipment's electricity use by more than 60%.

The ENERGY STAR program has targeted businesses and organizations (small and large) for better use of the power management systems built into their equipment, primarily monitors and computer processing units (CPUs). They have focused their efforts on user education and software tools to increase use of power management systems. ENERGY STAR provides free software that is intended to make it easier for end users and network administrators to enable power management settings on computers.

Power management systems are installed in computers and other office equipment at a negligible cost. The only hard costs are education and public awareness programs to ensure that these features are used effectively.