Did you know? Green Living ideas

Did You Know? Replacing standard incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) can save 75 percent of lighting costs.
If you want to add to your bottom line, the targets are pretty obvious. If you want to further home in on other amperage vampires, connect your devices to Kill-a-WattTM Electricity Usage Monitor (retails for approximately $30 from CableOrganizer.com or other online vendors). The unit's large LCD display counts consumption by the kilowatt-hour, the same as your local utility. You'll know if it's time for a new refrigerator in the office break room or if that old air conditioner is cost-efficient. With minimal effort, you can probably reduce your office’s energy consumption by 30 percent and reap significant bottom-line rewards by implementing a few steps.
Keep in mind that your office’s electronics and devices sap power even not in use. Standby power, also called vampire power, phantom load, or leaking electricity, refers to the electric power consumed by electronic appliances while they are switched off or in a standby mode. A very common "electricity vampire" is a power adapter which has no power-off switch. While this consumption of power may be used to provide useful functions for appliances such as remote controls and digital clocks to the user, most power consumed by non-operational devices is considered wasted. A "smart" power strip, such as the Wattstopper Plug Load Control (www.wattstopper.com) and Smart Strip Power Strip (http://bitsltd.net/ConsumerProducts/index.htm) cut the power when your devices are off. The Mini Power Minder (available via online distributors) has the smarts to shut off your computer’s peripherals and doodads when the computer itself is shut down.
An important first step is benchmarking, i.e., learning how much energy your office building or company headquarters currently uses. Most energy-efficient commercial buildings consume 11 to 16 kilowatt-hour/square foot. An ENERGY STAR-labeled building earns a score of 75 or more on a 100-point scale. If your building’s performance falls outside these parameters, there is room for improvement. Contact your local utility provider or go to www.energystar.gov, click on “Buildings & Plants,” and “Assess Performance” to set up an account, and learn more about your facility’s consumption.
Victoria Wells/eco broker/Bradley Real estate, Marin Co., CA - 415-710-4090