Your office equipment (and other purchases)

Make your purchases sustainable

Here are some resources to help you:

• Metro Vancouver's Sustainable Supply Chain Logistics Guide for the planning, storage transportation and reverse logistics processes involved in getting goods and services to the right place, at the right time and in their right condition while minimizing the impacts on our natural and social environments.
• Metro Vancouver's Sustainable Purchasing Guide can help you incorporate social and environmental considerations into your company's purchasing decisions.
• Buy Smart Network is a source of information and education about sustainability purchasing in Canada, offering on-line resources and learning events.
• The PWGSC Green Procurement: Environmental Awareness Tool Kit provides information on green procurement tools, the development of specifications for environmentally preferable goods and services, green product certification programs and standards, purchasing guides, checklists, and related federal government information.
• The Eco-S.A.T.: A Green Purchasing Self Assessment Tool
  consists of a best practices guide as well as a corresponding checklist (intended for professional purchasers to evaluate and improve their organization’s overall environmental purchasing initiatives)

Here are five easy things you can do to reduce energy use in your workspace.

Enable the ENERGY STAR feature on your computer

Typical desktop computers use roughly 200 watts of electricity. Monitors are responsible for up to 50-75% of this energy. Activate the energy-saving feature on your monitor. For PC's go to the Start menu, select Settings, then choose control Panel, click on Display, and then set the Energy Star setting under the Screen Saver tab. Don't be fooled by screen savers, they don't save power or your screen. And unlike monitors, desktop computers don't go into a power-saving sleep mode.

Turn off the lights

Turn off the lights when you leave your office, cubicle, and other unoccupied areas such as copy rooms, break rooms, conference rooms and restrooms. This will reduce wasted energy and promotes an energy-reducing message that can positively influence co-workers' behaviour.

Ask your building manager to have security or custodial staff turn off lights as part of their after-hours routine.

Set the photocopier to low power mode

You can reduce energy consumption by 25% when operating photocopiers efficiently. Check the manual or ask the service representative to enable the copier's energy-efficient settings. The low-power mode will reduce the energy usage while the copier is active but enables it to quickly return to full functionality if necessary. The sleep mode is the lowest power setting next to off. It may take 30 seconds to return to full function, so this setting should be enabled when there are long periods of photocopier inactivity. Be sure to turn it off at the end of the day and on weekends.

Save paper and energy by printing less.

Turn off machines and equipment

Printers and other machines can idle as much as 90% of the workday and are often left running overnight and on weekends. For many businesses, this simple approach of turning off machines turns into big savings. Use power bars as they help you shut off multiple items at once.

Draw your blinds

If your building is air conditioned, close your blinds when your windows are in direct sunlight. This can significantly reduce summer air conditioning energy use and make your workstation more comfortable. In the winter, this can aid against heat loss through the windows as well.