If you do a Google search on the term "energy saving tips for a home office" you will be presented with 21,100,000 search results.
Assuming you are not planning to read them all, and assuming you are looking for some good tips you have an immediate dilemma? Which pages are you going to read, and how can you tell if what you read is actually useful?
The purpose of this discussion thread is to help our readers become better informed. There is good information to be found, but in our opinion it sits in the midst of much error. Some of this is simple error, some is misunderstanding, some is out of date content and some is bias of marketing promotions.
At the top of the search result offered by Google is a page from the U.S. Department of Energy. If you are like most Internet users you will open the top item in your search result. In this case it is from an accredited agency and should be worth a read?
There are 11 tips on the page. But think about these two!
1) "An ENERGY STAR labeled computer uses 70% less electricity than computers without this designation."
Where is the data to support this claim? I encourage you to consider Energy Star labeled equipment, but please consider this posting Energy Saving for a Laptop Computer, avoid marketing claims and check the actual use for any device you are planning to buy.
2) "the transformer in the AC adapter draws power continuously, even when the laptop is not plugged into the adapter".
This is not correct at all. One of the requirements for an Energy Star rating is that the transformer does NOT do this. I encourage readers to look at our study on Smart Power Strips to understand this issue fully.
But the biggest issue lie in what is not included in the list.
In our study Energy Saving for a Laptop Computer we found that there is up to an additional 24% of energy saving to be achieved if the user will "turn the laptop off" by hand when they walk away from their desk.
There is no technology that can read your mind! This additional 24% can only be saved if users are educated and persuaded to change their behavior.
Open4Energy - Being Smart about Energy™