With the all the trends toward Going Green, no other campaign has such a direct correlation to saving money as saving energy. Simply put, power companies charge us for our consumption, so it makes it easy to save money, save energy.

Beware Of The Vampires

Energy devices that seem to be off but are actually secretly drawing power have been termed energy vampires.  Anything that has a remote is actually in a quiet state of readiness for you to hit the power button, but also is quietly drawing power.  Computers and their peripherals are notorious for using power when supposedly off.  Chargers for cell phones and other devices, when left plugged in continues to circulate power regardless if the a device is plugged in or not.  Taking an inventory of such devices, could help reduce the electrical bill.

What To Do

Indeed, bending over every time you want to use your computer or watch TV to plug-in or unplug after use would be a bit much.  What could be done is placing outlets to a wall switch just like room lighting.  This would mean that a room could be completely powered down when one leaves it.  Of course, this would take an electrician to execute.  Variation on that theme is to use motion detectors or timer to turn power completely off in a room or office.

Old School

Seemingly, everyone was brought up to turn off the lights when the leave the room.  This is still a good idea.  To take that further, consider changing lighting to fluorescent (or other forms of energy saving lighting).  Energy saving lighting has changed greatly and there are many forms of lighting that will suit almost every form of interior design imaginable.  Again, using an electrician to replace lighting is a safe route to go.  Also do not limit lighting needs to the interior, exterior lighting can be completed with photosensor and photovoltaic lighting, again bring a savings.

A big user of energy is environmental controls like heat and air conditioning.  Keeping temperature low in winter and high in summer may not be an option for an office setting, but it could be achieved during off hours.  Again consider using timers and/or motion sensors to control and environment to save money in the off hours.  Timers and sensors can also be used to control lighting.