Remember to turn off these office items usually left on

• Printers
• Copiers
• Air conditioners
• Panel heaters
• Computers
• Lights
• Speakers
• Radios
• Chargers
• Boiling hot water units
• Chilled water units
• White boards
• Audio/visual equipment
• Projectors
• A wide range of standby loads

Many of these items are energy monsters.

Are you sure all the lights are off? Lights in toilets, stores, and cupboards are often left on because they can't be seen by the last person leaving. Sometimes central light switching systems don't work properly, as seen here.

Office reception at 5am before the cleaners start. The timed light switching system is obviously not working.

Air conditioners, especially in smaller facilities

Air conditioners left running use large amounts of power. This can happen because the timer may not be correctly set up.

Common problems

• The system is not updated for daylight savings so it starts an hour earlier or goes off an hour earlier. Chances are no one will notice it's going off an hour earlier, so you can save an hour a day by reprogramming it.
• Public holidays are not programmed in. You can make a 4% energy saving on annual air conditioning energy use if they are.
• Paper not being removed from timer battery so holidays not programmed in.
• Out of hours button not wired in and left on manual or programmed to run to 7pm 'just in case someone stays back'.
• Incorrect wiring causing the air conditioner to never actually switch off.
• Pump timer on heating system burnt out and not replaced, causing it to be continually on.

Computers

• One computer left on all year produces as much greenhouse pollution as a drive from Melbourne to Perth
• It is common for 15% to 25% of a site's computers to be left on out of work hours.
• Typically a computer uses around 50 to 70 watts and a CRT monitor around 60 watts.
• Computers make up around half of the non-essential out of hours load on sites with poor technology switch off practices.

The standby load is the load consumed by an item when it appears to be off, or not in use. Standby loads for some products are tabled here.