Environmental ministers want a reduction in European climate change gases by 60-80% from 1990 levels by 2050 (Counsell and Allwood,2007).This target can be reached by changing behaviours within the workplace by reducing our consumption of natural sources, reusing and recycling.
Paper
Several measures to reduce our paper consumption can be achieved by using thinner paper, efficient printing technologies, duplexing and printing on demand (Hekkert, et al.,2002)
Lighting
Lighting control integrated with daylighting control is recognised as an important useful strategy in energy efficient buildings. Installation of proper day-lighting schemes may help to reduce the electrical demand. A study in Hong Kong reported that as much as 20-30% of the electric load derived from lighting in office buildings (Li and Lam,2001). Within the UK office lights which have been left on overnight use enough energy in a year to heat a home for 5 months highlighting how significant monitoring lighting could be (Carbon Trust, 2014).
Air conditioning
Around 40% of floor space is expected to be air conditioned by 2020 which is likely to increase our contribution to carbon emissions and our energy consumption is expected to double by 2020 because of this as well. In order to try and reduce these emissions careful consideration of its use should be adopted (Carbon Trust, 2012).
- Consideration of layout, design and operation are important as this impacts the room temperature,
- The design and efficiency of the air conditioning plant is very important.
- The amount of fresh air provided per person should also be considered.
Turning computers off
Profiles from 94 computers in Canada indicated that there were long periods during the night and day when computers were turned on but not being used, and it was predicted that significant energy savings could be achieved if the electricity was used efficiently. The company used stickers to remind colleagues to turn off their computers when not in use and as a result over 14% reduction in consumption over a 2 month period was achieved (Newsham and Tiller,1994).
Simple changes within the office can therefore help you to reduce greenhouse gases and reduce your carbon footprint for a cleaner and more efficient environment!
References
Carbon Trust, 2014. Climate change at work. (online). Available at: http://www.carbontrust.com/media/195259/pfl306_lighting.pdf. Accessed on 24th August 2014.
Carbon Trust, 2012. Air conditioning. (online). Available at: http://www.carbontrust.com/media/17824/j7906_ctg005_air_conditioning_aw_interactive.pdf. Accessed on 24th August 2014.
Counsell,T and Allwood,J.,2007. Reducing climate change gas emissions by cutting out stages in the life cycle of office paper. Resources, Conservation and Recycling. Vol 49. P340-352.
Hekkert,M.,Reek,J.,Worrel,E.,Turkenburg,W.,2002. The impact of material efficient and end-use technologies on paper use and carbon emissions. Resources, Conservation and Recycling. Vol 36, p241-266.
Li,D and Lam,J.,2001. Evaluation of lighting performance in office buildings with daylight controls. Energy and Buildings. Vol 33. P793-803.
Newsham,G.R. and Tiller,D.K.,1994. The energy consumption of desktop computers: measurement and savings potential. IEEE transactions on industry applications. Vol 30 (4)
