Tech tips: energy efficiency

Whether at home or work, there are plenty of simple steps you can take to make your equipment more energy efficient and reduce energy use.

Being energy efficient is good for you, good for the environment, and good for budgets, so why not do what you can? There are a range of useful steps that you can take. Find out more below …

Desktop or laptop?

Standard laptops consume up to 90% less energy than desktop computers so if you have a choice, a laptop may be the way to go. You also don’t need to sacrifice on monitor size: for a larger screen you can connect your laptop to a larger monitor (preferably Energy-Star certified).

Update your computer settings to save power

A computer and monitor left on around the clock can cost over $200 a year, so consider what you need from your computer, when.

Update the settings on your computer to turn off the display after ten minutes and go to sleep after 20 minutes, and consider setting your computer to automatically turn off at the end of the day.

This can also be a good reminder and motivation to ‘down tools’ and stop working when it is time to clock off, protecting work-life balance, which can be extra hard to preserve when working from home. You can also unplug your devices when you are not using them, to stop the draw of standby or ‘vampire’ power.

Switch off for holidays, weekends and day’s end

Have a system in place to ensure you remember to ‘switch off’ equipment at the end of the day, and before weekends and holidays.

Turn off the lights, use natural light where you can

Switch off lights when they are not in use and remind your colleagues to do the same. Also, consider how much light you need. Remove objects blocking natural light from windows, such as blinds, curtains or plants, and ‘go natural’! You can also lower your screen brightness to an appropriate (eye-friendly) level to further save energy.

You can find out more about energy efficiency on the University of Adelaide’s Ecoversity website and also find some other tips from this Government website.