Guide to Reducing Energy Use in Office Equipment

March 20, 1999

##### Roger E. Picklum

##### Bureau of Energy Conservation, City & County of San Francisco

##### 

Bruce Nordman, Barbara Kresch

##### Energy Analysis Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

*Electronic versions of this guide and the additional resources are
available on the Internet at http://eetd.LBL.gov/BEA/SF/.*

####### Table of Contents

# **Chapter 1 -- Introduction** 3

##  Electricity Use of Office Equipment 3

##  [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} Equipment 5

##  Savings Potential: Better User Behavior and Equipment 5

**Chapter 2 - Estimating Plug Load and Savings Potential** 7

A First Estimate 7

##  A Refined Estimate: Adjust for Local Conditions 8

##  Office Equipment Energy Audits 10

##  A Savings Example 10

**Chapter 3 -- Program Design** 12

##  A Comprehensive Program Menu 12

# **Chapter 4 -- Program Elements** 14

##  Outline of Program Elements 14

##  Purchasing Policy 14

##  Staff Policy 15

##  User Awareness 15

##  Information Systems Staff Assistance 17

##  Direct Configuration 17

##  External Power Management Hardware 18

##  Extraneous Devices 19

##  Paper Use 19

# **Chapter 5 - Summary** 20

# **Glossary** 21

# **Bibliography** 23

# **Appendix -- Additional Resources** 24

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by: The U.S. Department of Energy Cooperative
Agreement No. DE-FG02-97CE-27523, Municipal Energy Management Program,
Urban Consortium Energy Task Force; The Assistant Secretary for Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Building Technology, State
and Community Programs of the U.S. Department of Energy , under contract
No. DE-AC03-76SF00098; and The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Division.

Major contributions to project concept and direction from John Deakin,
Andrew Fanara, Terry O'Sullivan, Mary Ann Piette. Able research and
project assistance from Bruce Chamberlain, Doug Johnson, Oliver Kesting,
Sat Kartar Khalsa. Kindly assistance from many individuals with
information, suggestions and access to audit sites in San Francisco.

# Chapter 1 - Introduction

This Guide and the associated resources will lead you step by step
through the development and implementation of a program to reduce
electricity use in your organization. Our focus is on the office *plug
load* -- devices plugged into the wall. Although a wealth of information
exists for conservation programs that address lighting and space
conditioning, there is a dearth of practical information on how to
increase overall efficiency of office equipment. This guide is intended
to fill that gap. It is intended to be used by motivated individuals to
make changes in their own organizations; no specific technical
background is assumed.

We estimate that one workstation (computer and monitor[^1]), if left on
after business hours and without automatic power management, produces
nearly one ton of CO~2~ per year[^2]. This is five times the amount
produced if the workstation is switched off at night and engages power
management during idle periods in the day. If everyone in the U.S. were
to turn off their equipment at night, the nation could shut down eight
large power stations and save 7 million tons of CO~2~ every year. One
estimate (Koomey et al., 1995) is that without power management,
electricity for PCs and monitors would cost U.S. businesses about \$1.75
billion per year in the year 2000.

This Guide is based on a study of office equipment in City of San
Francisco offices in 1997 and 1998. We found that implementing an energy
conservation program is surprisingly inexpensive, given the potential
energy savings. We also found that even the easiest and least expensive
measure---sending emails requesting employees to turn off their
equipment at night---can produce significant savings. In the municipal
offices of San Francisco, comprising approximately 12,000 workstations,
the plug loads we identified are estimated to use about 8.5 million kWh
per year. The potential savings we identified are about four million kWh
per year for the entire city. At a national average cost of \$0.08 per
kWh, this is a savings of about \$300,000 per year. This assumes that
all offices can be reached, as well as 100% participation, so that
actual savings will be less, but it does indicate the magnitude of
achievable savings.

We take three approaches to reducing electricity use: encouraging users
to turn off equipment at night; enabling the power management features
found in [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} equipment; and influencing office
equipment purchasing.

This Guide begins with background information about the office plug
load, the [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} program, and major issues in
reducing office electricity use. The second chapter addresses estimating
your organization's potential energy savings. The third chapter
discusses general issues for designing a conservation program. The
fourth chapter details the elements of the program.

Additional software and other resources to assist you in implementing a
cost-effective program are available on the Internet at
http://eetd.LBL.gov/BEA/SF. These are an integral part of this guide.

## Electricity Use of Office Equipment

Figure 1 illustrates the annual electricity use for equipment commonly
found in offices and plugged in to wall outlets. These estimates are
based on surveys in City of San Francisco offices representing about
1,000 employees. Most of the office plug load is office equipment, so
that is the focus of this guide.

Figure 1 -- Annual Plug Load Electricity Use per Employee

![](media/image1.pct)Other: The miscellaneous plug load includes a
myriad of devices, including typewriters, adding machines, microfiche
readers, clocks, timeclocks, water coolers, and radios. While 'office
equipment' is a useful term to use, it is worth keeping these other
devices in mind.

The electricity used by office equipment can rival that used in office
lighting. Lighting is widely recognized as a major energy use with
significant potential savings in most buildings. Office equipment
deserves the same level of attention.

Our main concern was the possible energy savings in plug loads, and we
found a considerable potential. Following are some of our other findings
about office equipment electricity use:

-   Despite diverse uses, the power that computers and monitors draw
    while in use varies only moderately between machines. Annual energy
    use varies mainly with hours of operation and success in power
    managing.

-   Printers, copiers and fax machines do vary widely in power
    consumption and in the number of staff sharing each device. Only a
    minority of printers and copiers are manually turned off at night,
    though many have functioning power management, saving energy
    off-hours.

-   Some offices have unique, significant features. An example of this
    is the mainframe computer terminals still found on a majority of
    desks in some San Francisco departments (though they are completely
    absent in most). Terminals are frequently left on at night and can
    rarely power manage.

-   In many offices, task lighting is increasing due to the installation
    of workstation systems. Task lighting merits watching due to its
    potential rapid growth.

-   Food storage and preparation appliances in the standard office
    kitchen do not contribute greatly to annual electricity use.
    Occasionally an office shows a proliferation of refrigerators and
    cooking devices in individual workspaces; this can become important
    for electricity use.

-   In some offices, many employees have individual extra heaters, fans,
    and occasionally humidifiers or air filters. These can use
    significant energy and are signs of problematic ventilation systems.

Beyond the direct electricity benefit of reduced plug load electricity,
it will also cause a decrease in electricity used for air conditioning,
may reduce 'peak load' electricity costs, and can avoid reaching the
limits of outlet wiring in older office buildings.

While not a direct use of electricity, the paper used in office
equipment (copiers, printers, and fax machines) is similar in many ways
to office equipment electricity use, and so a logical part of a
comprehensive program. The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets per
year of office paper, which is the energy equivalent of 80 Watts of
electricity used during work hours, or 160 kWh/year. At half a cent per
sheet, it is \$50 per person per year. Significant cost-effective
opportunities exist to reduce this.

## [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} Equipment

> ![](media/image2.png) The U.S. EPA/DOE [Energy Star]{.smallcaps}
> program was created in 1992 to increase the energy efficiency of
> common office equipment. Most computers, monitors, printers, and
> copiers now made are [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} compliant, as are many
> fax machines and some other devices.

The features mandated by the program involve automatic *power
management*, whereby an unattended machine will reduce its power or even
turn itself off. A computer's power management circuitry controls its
own power usage, and it also signals the monitor to enter low-power
states. See the [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} web site
(http://www.epa.gov/office) for further information about the program.

Most new equipment in today's business and institutional offices is
[Energy Star]{.smallcaps} compliant. As equipment becomes obsolete and
is replaced, the number of non-[Energy Star]{.smallcaps} devices is
diminishing. The major exception to this trend is laser printers;
frequently a shared printer, upon replacement, is moved into an
individual's office as a personal printer. [Energy Star]{.smallcaps}
equipment can save up to 75% of the total electricity use, depending on
the type of device and usage patterns. [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} copiers
that make over 44 copies per minute must have the ability to be set to
"default duplex" copying, to reduce paper use.

## Savings Potential: Better User Behavior and Equipment

The two factors which are the core of our office equipment program are:
users who leave their equipment on at night, and [Energy
Star]{.smallcaps} equipment that fail to engage their power management
features. We found that about a third of computers and monitors are left
on at night, and about two-thirds of printers and copiers are not
switched off.

### Encouraging users to turn off equipment at night

Common misconceptions account for much of the failure to turn off
equipment. Many people (including Information Systems staff) believe
that equipment will last longer if it is never turned off. This
incorrect perception is a relic from the days of mainframe computers and
early microcomputers, when hard drives and circuitry were made
differently and best left on; this is not true for current equipment.

Many users simply follow the prevailing behavior pattern of leaving
equipment on. They may only need to be reminded that turning off their
equipment will save money and reduce pollution. It is important to
recognize that some computers do legitimately need to be left on, for
such purposes as remote access, provider network services to other
computers, or for data backup. In these cases, monitor power management
can still be enabled, and many of these PCs can still be enabled for
power management, or even automatically shut themselves off (e.g. after
the backup completes).

In most offices, there is no individual responsible for turning off
shared equipment, such as printers and copiers at the end of the day.
Workers in large offices may be reluctant to turn these off if they are
uncertain whether someone else is still working. For these reasons,
power management features are a more fruitful method of reducing their
electricity use than the 'turn-off' programs applicable to PCs and
monitors, but personal printers (more likely to be non-[Energy
Star]{.smallcaps}) should still be manually switched off. In the San
Francisco offices, shared office equipment consumes about half as much
electricity as personal computers and monitors.

### Enabling power management features

The disabling of power management usually occurs during machine setup,
or in an attempt to fix a problem. Although the [Energy
Star]{.smallcaps} program requires that equipment be shipped with power
management working, it is routinely disabled by many equipment
installers.

In most cases, PC power management operates without causing the user any
problems. When problems do arise, it is mainly with older PCs and
certain operating systems. Certain combinations of hardware and software
can also cause problems with power management. Some network cards and
networking software cause network connections to drop, and some older
software can cause a machine to freeze while it is in low-power mode.
While these problems are not common, when they arise they tend to
generate considerable extra work for IS (Information Systems) staff. The
memory of such trouble causes some IS professionals to routinely disable
power management to prevent possible conflicts.

Monitor power management lacks such problems. As a monitor consumes
about twice as much electricity as the PC, a significant portion of
[Energy Star]{.smallcaps} savings can be gained from enabling monitor
power management alone.

Microsoft's Windows[]{.smallcaps} NT (version 4.x and earlier) presents
a significant impediment to power management in many systems. This
operating system does not support independently setting monitor power
management, and usually prevents any power management (PC or monitor)
from operating. Windows NT 5.0 will supposedly overcome these problems
when it is released. With Windows 95, 98 and Macintosh[]{.smallcaps}
operating systems it is possible to separately invoke monitor power
management.

Power management in copiers, printers and fax machines is not known to
cause technical problems or fail to function when enabled. Although
power management for printers and fax machines has a negligible effect
on users, for present-day copiers the warm-up time can be irritating to
some, which may require extending power management delay times.

In most cases where power management is not operating, it is simple to
reconfigure the machine. However, for computers this should be done in
cooperation with IS staff due to the possibility of legitimate technical
concerns. Some copiers require the service technician to enable power
management or even check the configuration; in others, the \'key
operator\' is needed.

# Chapter 2 - Estimating Plug Load and Savings Potential

This chapter will assist you in determining electricity use and savings
potential for your office plug load. We present three levels of
estimation. The simplest requires one minute with a calculator and is
described below. A more refined estimate is made with a spreadsheet tool
*Plugload.xls*, and is described in the next section. The most detailed
estimate requires performing your own after-hours facility audits. While
these are not required for designing a conservation program, they can be
helpful, to justify a program, and to better understand the savings
potential.

**A First Estimate**

The simplest estimate of savings potential requires only that you scale
our findings to your organization, and insert your local electricity
rate:

***Potential annual savings (\$)***

***= 330 kWh/year*** x ***\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ office stations*** x
***\$\_\_\_\_\_/kWh***

This estimate assumes that your organization's distribution of equipment
types, user behavior, and rate of proper power management configuration
are the same as found in San Francisco.

Table 1 provides the figures that go into the above savings estimate.
Displayed are the estimated current use and potential energy savings per
workstation, based on the patterns of user behavior and configuration we
found. In addition to the electricity figures show here, the office
paper used by the typical office worker embodies the equivalent of 160
kWh/year, which should be easily reducible by 10 to 30%. On an energy
basis, paper is considerably more expensive than electricity, so the
dollar savings with paper are greater than the energy savings indicate.

*Table 1 -- Current Electricity Use and Potential Savings (kWh/year per
workstation)*

+--------------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+-------+---+
|              |           | #       |         |         | ####  |   |
|              |           | ####### |         |         | ####  |   |
|              |           |  Saving |         |         |       |   |
|              |           | s from  |         |         |       |   |
|              |           | Conserv |         |         |       |   |
|              |           | ation M |         |         |       |   |
|              |           | easures |         |         |       |   |
+--------------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+-------+---+
| **Equipment  | **Current | **Turn  | **Co    | *       | *     |   |
| Type**       | Use**     | Off at  | nfigure | *Both** | *Pote |   |
|              |           | Night** | Pro     |         | ntial |   |
|              |           |         | perly** |         | Use** |   |
+--------------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+-------+---+
| *            | 177       | 80      | 31      | 91      | 86    |   |
| *Computers** |           |         |         |         |       |   |
+--------------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+-------+---+
| **Monitors** | 250       | 114     | 71      | 134     | 116   |   |
+--------------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+-------+---+
| **Printers** | 93        | 51      | 6       | 52      | 41    |   |
+--------------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+-------+---+
| **Copiers**  | 63        | 15      | 6       | 15      | 48    |   |
+--------------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+-------+---+
| **Fax        | 8         | n.a.    | 0       | 0       | 8     |   |
| Machines**   |           |         |         |         |       |   |
+--------------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+-------+---+
| **Mainframe  | 27        | 15      | n.a.    | 15      | 12    |   |
| Terminals**  |           |         |         |         |       |   |
+--------------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+-------+---+
| **Task       | 88        | 22      | n.a.    | 22      | 66    |   |
| Lights**     |           |         |         |         |       |   |
+--------------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+-------+---+
| **Total **   | 706       | 298     | 117     | 339     | 367   |   |
+--------------+-----------+---------+---------+---------+-------+---+

The *potential* savings shown here assume perfect success in modifying
user behavior and configuring equipment, of the [current]{.underline}
stock of computers. The total savings are less than the sum of behavior
and configuration savings, due to the considerable overlap of the two
measures. The *realizable* savings will be smaller due to technical,
institutional and human barriers found in any large organization.
However, a comprehensive program should be able to approach these
potential savings.

After making this first calculation you may have a sufficient rationale
to design your conservation program, so can proceed to Chapter 3. To
refine this estimate to reflect your organization's situation, continue
with this chapter.

## A Refined Estimate: Adjust for Local Conditions

The spreadsheet *Plugload.xls* allows more refined estimates of office
machine electricity use, cost and savings potential. The spreadsheet
allows you to test possible scenarios, based on the conditions at your
sites. Explore the spreadsheet and get a feel for what inputs are
needed; the following sections will assist you in estimating your office
characteristics.

The best sources for information about equipment holdings are usually IS
(Information Systems) managers, vendors (if services are outsourced), or
property managers. The questions in *ISSurvey.doc* will provide
information about the age and status of computers and printers, any
known problems with power management, and knowledge and attitudes of the
IS staff. Copiers and fax machines are more commonly controlled through
traditional administrative channels.

### Number of Machines 

Determining the number of office stations can be a formidable task in an
organization with many diverse departments. Sources to ask about
equipment holdings include: purchasing departments, Information Systems
divisions, and equipment inventory managers. An equipment vendor with a
long-running relationship with your organization may have better records
than in-house staff.

Table 2 shows the average count of equipment of various types in a
sample of San Francisco municipal offices. While the prevalence of
desktop computers varies little among departments, the reverse is true
of mainframe terminals. We found many cases of newer PCs alongside old
terminals, because both systems are in use as modern hardware and
software are phased in. The impact printers that we found are associated
almost exclusively with mainframe systems.

Table 2 - Average Machine Counts in San Francisco Municipal Offices

  ------- --------------- -------------- ----- -------------- --------------
          **Device Type** **Count Per          **Device       **Count Per
                          100 Office           Type**         100 Office
                          Staff**                             Staff**

          Desktop PC      88                   Copier         4

          Laptop PC       4                    Fax Machine    3

          Monitor         90                   Laser Printer  16

          Mainframe       25                   Impact Printer 3
          Terminal                                            

                                               Inkjet Printer 1
  ------- --------------- -------------- ----- -------------- --------------

The number of shared devices per 100 staff (printers, fax machines, and
copiers), depends on office size. The number of users who can share a
printer or copier reaches a practical limit of 20 to 50. However, an
isolated office needs these devices even if only a handful of people
work there. A further complication is that some offices retain old
printers and fax machines even after they have been replaced as shared
devices, converting them to personal use.

We found the percentage of equipment that was [Energy Star]{.smallcaps}
compliant to range from just above 40% for printers and fax machines, to
over 70% for computers and copiers, and nearly 90% for monitors
(averaged across all sites). The comparable figures for your offices
depend in part on the average age of your machines. Market penetration
of [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} equipment has risen sharply since the
program was begin, so that the newer the stock of equipment, the more
likely that it is predominantly [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} compliant.

### User Behavior

Through night-time audits, we estimated the fraction of computers,
monitors and printers left operating after business hours. The fraction
of computers left on at night was found to average near 30%, and range
as high as 70%. Rates near 20 to 25% were found where some prior user
education had been done. Persistent in-house conservation advocates were
able to achieve a 10 to 15% rate despite some resistance from
misinformed IS staff. An office with a mandatory nightly server logoff
for data backup produced a similar result. An office with a program of
individual training, including a mandate to shut down nightly, produced
about a 5% leave-on rate; a similar rate was observed in an office with
a high level of environmental awareness.

Impediments to evening shutdown include difficulty of login, lengthy
virus scans at startup, and IS staff who discourage shutdown due to
persistent beliefs that equipment lifetimes will be shortened. Shared
printers and copiers are not commonly turned off manually; we found 70
to 100% left on, except in the environmentally oriented office noted
above, where the rate was 30%.

### Proper Configuration of [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} Equipment

The fraction of [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} computers, monitors and
printers which are properly configured for operation of their power
management features we found were about 40% for computers, 55% for
monitors, and 70% for printers (the computer figure may be higher, but
many PCs do not indicate power management status externally). All the
copiers and fax machines we examined had power management enabled,
though a larger study (Nordman et al., 1998) found almost 40% of copiers
at least partially disabled, and the number of fax machines actually
examined in our study was small.

Several factors affect the successful operation of power management:

-   **Equipment Age.** Some early [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} PCs were
    shipped with power management disabled.

-   **IS Management.** Some well-informed, conscientious IS staff
    perform routine PC maintenance and include power management. Others
    always disable power management upon installation. Most lie
    somewhere in between, enabling or disabling power management only in
    response to requests or problems.

-   **Vendor Installation Practices.** Manufacturers' and vendors'
    representatives sometimes disable power management as a matter of
    standard procedure when they perform installation and training at
    the customer site.

-   **Hardware and Software Conflicts.** Infrequently, operation of
    internal power management causes problems with installed hardware,
    software, or networks. Windows NT (version 4.x and earlier), does
    not recognize power management, so configuration must be done in the
    system BIOS. This usually prevents the use of monitor power
    management in cases where the computer's internal sleep modes cause
    conflicts, and defeats PC power management entirely.

For [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} compliant equipment, we found that, on
average, power management was clearly operating successfully in just
over 40% of computers. In one large office, no machines were engaging
these features, indicating that IS staff had disabled them as a matter
of policy. Roughly 70% of printers, and nearly all copiers, were
successfully engaging power management. A few non-[Energy
Star]{.smallcaps} printers and copiers showed power management
capability.

### Adapting our Results to your Organization

######  After some experimentation with *Plugload.xls*, you should be able to estimate your savings potential and your uncertainty with it. You are now ready to investigate conservation program design issues in the next chapter. The rest of this chapter concerns detailed site audits, which may not be needed before designing a program. Site audits may be indicated if the uncertainty in your savings potential estimate is too large for your taste, or if measurement of success is a priority. A discussion of how to conduct office equipment audits is available from the web.

## Office Equipment Energy Audits

The *Plugload.xls* spreadsheet allows you to estimate the office
equipment energy use from your own audits rather than using San
Francisco results. This is appropriate if your organization seems to be
markedly different from San Francisco. You may find it helpful to audit
a few sites to better assess the state of machine configuration and user
behavior, and to identify any special circumstances. A set of "baseline"
audits combined with follow-up audits allows you to accurately judge the
effectiveness of your program.

After-hours audits help determine the fraction of equipment in full
power, in low-power modes, and off, as well as whether equipment are
[Energy Star]{.smallcaps} compliant or not. A pair of auditors can
efficiently cover 300 or more workstations in an evening walk-through of
three hours. An evening audit of computers and monitors can proceed
within an hour after the workday ends, as most power management timeouts
are an hour or less. For printers and copiers, however, two-hour
timeouts are common, so a later starting time or a return sweep is
needed for these equipment. It is preferable for printers and copiers to
directly check the configuration.

If you are conducting a set of audits for a diverse organization, it
pays to consider selection effects. For instance, using IS management to
gain access to sites may provide biased sampling. The IS staff who are
cooperative tend to be the ones who do not disable power management,
whereas the staff who are not helpful are more likely to be at those
sites where a conservation program is most needed. Key to obtaining
dependable pre-program audit information is that the site staff not be
'tipped off'. It is helpful when obtaining access permission to assure
the site managers that audits are for the purpose of organization-wide
evaluation, not for judgment of the particular site staff.

Once you have performed a series of site audits, the information can be
entered into *Plugload.xls*, one sheet per site. You can reach this
section of the spreadsheet by clicking on the "Research" button in the
"Start Here" sheet. The authors would like to collect audit information
that has been carefully gathered. If you can share audit results, please
contact us through http://eetd.LBL.gov/BEA/SF/. A more detailed
discussion of auditing is available on the web.

## A Savings Example

To show the kinds of effects that a conservation program can have, we
present the results from one of our experiments to reduce energy use.
Figure 2 shows the change in computer user behavior during our pilot
program in 1998, as a result of minimal user awareness. We sent email to
people in the target departments, and placed posters on bulletin boards.
The messages we used emphasized the pollution and monetary benefits of
reduced electricity use, and stressed turning off equipment at night.
Behavior change is significant in all cases, and is most pronounced
where initial behavior was to leave the most computers operating at
night. User behavior had not leveled off by the end of the test period;
more improvements can be expected as the user awareness measures are
continued, though long-term persistence may require ongoing

While we can't predict the lowest level of leave-on rate achievable, we
did observe levels under 10% for *personal* equipment in an office with
high environmental awareness, and under 5% in an office which had
performed hands-on user training. A persistent program of user awareness
may be able to achieve leave-on rates near these levels in most offices,
and maintain it over time. Offices which require PCs to be on at night
can still turn off monitors, and are prime candidates for PC power
management.

**Figure 2 -- Equipment Left On at Five Sites, Before and After Email
Contact**

![](media/image3.pct){width="3.9791666666666665in"
height="2.9069444444444446in"} Our rate of success with respect to
*shared* equipment is much more modest. In the best case we reduced a
100% leave-on rate to about 50%, but the success rate is not at all
consistent among sites. Achieving power management configuration and
auto-off (for copiers) is a more dependable conservation measure. Most
of the behavioral interventions are inexpensive to implement. Even the
conservation measures involving training are not expensive *if* only the
provider's time is counted, not the recipients' time.

All of the estimates in this guide exclude any costs of user time,
during training or waiting for equipment to return to full operation
after in low-power mode or off. Any training should be kept brief to
avoid using large amounts of users' time. Also, in cases in which the
time to return to normal operation is large enough to interfere with
work and so incur a cost, use of power management should be
reconsidered. These situations exist, but are relatively rare.

# Chapter 3 -- Program Design

This chapter provides an overview of program design. We examine program
effectiveness and costs, then outline some considerations of design
strategy and finally offer a general formula for overall design. Chapter
4 addresses the program elements in further detail.

The primary **goals** of an office equipment electricity program are to:
[Buy]{.underline} [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} equipment; [Turn
off]{.underline} equipment at night; and [Configure]{.underline}
equipment properly for power management. These are all central to
achieving an energy efficient office.

###  The program elements are: Purchasing policy, Staff policy, User awareness, IS staff procedures, and Direct configuration.

The **conservation measures** are the specific actions that you choose
to implement the above program elements, for example: email to staff,
meetings with IS (Information Systems) managers, passage of management
(governing board) resolution, presentation to purchasing department, and
contracting for configuration services. Choice of measures depends on
the nature of your organization, and may vary among departments.

Considering the costs of conservation measures and the rates of success
that we observed, we are confident that a full program can yield a
substantial fraction of the savings potential calculated in Chapter 2,
and a simple payback time of less than a year (so long as the use of
user time is kept minimal). We estimate that sending emails, placing
posters, and making presentations at staff meetings all cost under one
dollar per workstation. One-on-one training and direct configuration of
PCs is estimated to cost three to six dollars per workstation. Even this
would be cost-effective given the approximately \$25 potential annual
benefit per station in offices such as we have in San Francisco.

Between 80% and 95% of potential savings typically occur after business
hours. The best solution employs changing user behavior to turn
equipment off when not needed (primarily at night), as well as enabling
power management to the degree possible.

As with other energy conservation programs, a law of diminishing returns
applies. Significant savings can be had with little expense by pursuing
the easiest user awareness measures. On the other hand, our study
observed that an intensive, one-on-one training program at one office
achieved virtually all of the technical potential for user behavior. We
suggest that your program design include enough followup and tracking of
costs to know when you have done enough.

Especially in a governmental organization, enacting policy can be an
expensive and daunting policy. Nevertheless, policy can be an essential
part of an effective energy savings program, causing IS staff and others
to be more responsive to other program elements.

## A Comprehensive Program Menu

A comprehensive program for a large organization, with the level of
interdepartmental diversity of San Francisco municipal offices will have
most or all of the items below.

-   **Begin Policy Process.** Begin the process of enacting purchasing
    and staff policies. In a large organization, the policymaking
    process may be lengthy but will generate interaction with IS
    managers and others whose assistance you will need.

-   **Identify Collaborators.** Work with any existing conservation
    programs, such as recycling. There may already be an infrastructure
    of on-site conservation advocates, poster distributors, and other
    resources.

-   **Locate Potential Savings.** Gather initial data on electricity use
    patterns in your organization to identify opportunities for
    significant (ideally easy) savings. IS staff interviews and evening
    walk-throughs are key sources for this information.

-   **Begin Outreach Campaign.** Contacting users by the easiest methods
    first. Email is cheap and surprisingly effective for night turn-off.
    Awareness-raising is an ongoing process, and its effect builds over
    time.

-   **Contact IS Groups.** Enlist IS staff participation where possible,
    and gather information by asking questions such as those in the
    ISStaff.doc questionnaire. You can begin this before policies are in
    place.

-   **Prioritize Efforts.** Using information gathered in the above
    steps, set the emphasis for the different divisions of your
    organization. Take advantage of cooperative IS staff to gain early
    success in a few departments that can be used to demonstrate the
    viability of change to others. Use more expensive methods only for
    the areas that are not amenable to success with cheaper methods.

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-   **Communicate Policy.** Once policies have been enacted, summaries
    should be distributed to all department and IS managers, as well as
    those responsible for purchasing equipment or maintaining contracts
    for outsourced services.

-   **Configure Shared Equipment.** Configuration requirements should be
    explicitly specified in future contracts, but might be attainable
    through informal agreements in the meantime. This is especially
    important given the difficulty of changing user behavior for shared
    equipment. External control devices may be appropriate for
    non-[Energy Star]{.smallcaps} printers, as well as soft drink
    machines.

-   **Followup at Selected Sites.** Perform some quick evening audits
    after the program has been underway for some time to judge what has
    been successful and what has not. If you have done pre-audits of
    equipment status, you will have data for direct comparison.

-   **Transition to Sustaining Efforts.** The user awareness campaign
    may never end, though it will likely reduce to a casual operation.
    Replacing posters every six months, or sending an occasional email,
    may be sufficient. We do not have direct experience with long term
    program maintenance, but recycling programs have found it necessary
    to maintain promotional activities indefinitely.

-   **Keep Aware.** New technologies and products both help and hinder
    the goal of reducing office equipment energy use. Keeping up with
    developments can help you respond to problems and pursue
    advantageous developments.

The best approach for program implementation will depend on the
environments -- physical, management, technological, cultural -- of your
organization. The rest of this chapter details the elements of a
complete program.

# Chapter 4 -- Program Elements

## Outline of Program Elements

In this chapter, we review each program element in detail.

-   ***Purchasing.*** Ensure that efficient equipment is purchased
    whenever possible.

-   ***Staff Policy.*** Mandate user and IS staff practices which
    minimize waste in office equipment use.

-   ***User Awareness and Behavior.*** Change office culture and habits
    so that equipment is not left operating unnecessarily.

-   ***Awareness and Procedures for Support Staff.*** Gain the active
    participation of IS staff and others in supporting the efficiency
    features of [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} equipment.

-   ***Direct Configuration.*** Set all [Energy Star]{.smallcaps}
    equipment to correctly power manage.

The first two elements provide a management mandate for efficient
operations. The third and fourth embody the main long-term thrust of
transforming workplace practices. The last seeks to quickly address the
problem of [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} equipment that is not presently
working as it should.

The spreadsheet *PgmCost.xls* allows estimation of the costs for various
conservation measures that implement individual program elements.

## Purchasing Policy

### Why Purchasing Policy is Important

Even though most office equipment currently on the market is [Energy
Star]{.smallcaps} compliant, there are several reasons why a strong
purchasing policy is an important aspect of any comprehensive program:

-   Some equipment sold is not [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} compliant, and
    there is only rarely a need to consider these models.

-   The [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} program requires that manufacturers
    ship equipment with power management enabled, but vendors and
    providers of outsourced maintenance services frequently turn it off.
    Your purchasing policy should require that power management be left
    enabled on delivery.

-   The industry needs constant market pressure to maintain compliance
    with the voluntary program. As more large customers enact policies
    requiring [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} purchasing, these pressures will
    be maintained.

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-   The [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} office equipment program expands into
    new product areas as warranted. For example, scanners and
    multifunction devices were recently incorporated into the program.

### Content and Language

The sample purchasing policies require purchasing [Energy
Star]{.smallcaps} equipment in all cases where business needs are not
compromised or budget seriously affected. Included are requirements that
contract vendors perform configuration, troubleshooting and maintenance
services in a manner that maintains the function of power management.

The sample policies include "escape clauses" to allow the occasional
purchase of specialized equipment if [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} compliant
versions are not available, or if the price differential is onerous.
Wording and implementation of these clauses is important to the affected
stakeholders in your organization.

Sample purchasing policy statements can be in the additional resources
as *Purchase.doc* and can be found on the [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} web
site.

### Making Policy Effective

To provide the broadest support, these policies should be enacted at the
highest level possible. Then, follow-up work should make the new
policies well known to all affected.

-   Distribute copies of the adopted policy statements to all staff
    engaged in purchasing or contracting. A concise executive summary
    should be on the cover page.

-   Arrange for staff with purchasing roles to receive training in
    [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} purchasing, including the details of
    adopted policy, resources available for assistance, and any
    organization-specific issues.

-   Prepare materials to assist contract vendors with compliance, and
    for vendors to disseminate back to departmental contacts. Interview
    vendor representatives to make sure their service personnel are
    aware of contract requirements concerning power management.

-   Depending on the degree of oversight inherent to the purchasing
    process, it may be prudent to perform some 'spot-checking' to
    confirm acceptable implementation of purchasing policies.

## Staff Policy

Staff policy should ask employees to always turn off their equipment at
night unless there is a particular reason not to do so. IS staff should
similarly be directed to always enable power management (with reasonable
delay times) unless it interferes with the functioning of the equipment.
This is especially important for policies that affect IS staff
(Information Services personnel are accustomed to providing direction,
rather than following the mandate of others.) It is essential that
official policy adds energy conservation to the list of core IS issues,
so that power management is considered one of the base features
maintained in the computer stock. IS staff are more likely to follow
policy direction handed down from above than act on a request by
"outsiders" such as energy professionals.

As with purchasing policy, mandates governing staff behavior and IS
staff procedures must be enacted at the highest level possible, so that
there is no question that management supports the effort. For policies
to be effective, an education campaign is needed. The purpose of these
policies is mainly to strengthen the effectiveness of your user
awareness campaign and to gain support of IS staff.

Sample policy statements can be found in the additional resources as
*Staffpol.doc*.

## User Awareness

This program element seeks to impart an energy conservation ethic in the
workplace, as recycling programs do with respect to materials
conservation. Policy can be used to strengthen user education efforts.

### Goals and Approach

An effective awareness campaign must have visibility and persistence,
imparting several messages, through several channels. The variation of
messages, and changes in their presentation, keeps the promotional
materials from becoming too familiar and thus less visible (see Appendix
E on the web for more on this topic). Your communications with staff
will:

-   Emphasize the environmental advantages of power management. Make the
    link to environmental goals, such as greenhouse gas reduction.

-   Highlight the monetary advantages of power management. Educate users
    about energy efficient policies and practices, and the connection to
    the organization's bottom line expenses.

-   Dispel myths about equipment damage from on-off cycles.

-   Describe basic power management features.

-   Discourage the proliferation of user-supplied personal appliances.

-   Answer questions about these issues as they arise.

### Channels of Communication

Following are some of the methods for conveying the above messages to
office staff:

-   **Emails.** Send email messages to each person. These should not be
    sent so often as to be annoying, but several messages within the
    first year of the program is reasonable.

-   **Posters.** Create and distribute a series of posters and place
    them prominently on bulletin boards, break rooms, over copy
    machines. Colorful designs catch the eye, and simple messages can
    reinforce the content of emails.

-   **Staff Meeting Presentations.** These are best done within a
    regular meeting, not as a special, extra meeting. This forum allows
    you to answer questions on the spot, as well as allowing the group's
    manager to voice support, and personalize the message. As more
    expensive than emails, these should first be conducted in areas
    without easy email access.

-   **User Training.** A training sessions for users covers detailed
    aspects of power management, including why to use it and how to
    configure machines. This is the most expensive measure, though also
    apparently the most effective. Including staff time for the
    recipients, the cost would probably not be justified by energy
    savings. However, there may be other reasons to train users, such as
    integration of new computers or software, or data security concern,
    and power management could be incorporated into it.

-   **Direct Configuration.** In the course of direct equipment
    configuration, those who perform these operations can also explain
    it to users. This one-on-one contact is particularly effective.

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-   **Existing Resources.** Identify existing organization-wide
    environmentally-oriented outreach programs, such as recycling. These
    will have developed channels of communication; you may wish to
    communicate jointly or obtain their contact list for independent
    communications. Particularly valuable is any existing network of
    conservation advocates within offices. Find out if this network can
    be used for the office equipment program.

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-   **Informational Resources.** Establish these to answer questions as
    they arise. Include a contact telephone number, email address,
    Internet/intranet web page, 'and resources from EPA and
    manufacturers.

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-   **Other Routes.** These include arranging for notes to be
    distributed with employee paychecks. We are reluctant to do this if
    less resource-intensive methods are able to reach the majority of
    employees. In most organizations this method would have the
    advantage of reaching every employee, and could convey a message
    directly from the top-level leader about official conservation
    policy.

Sample promotional materials are included in the additional resources.
Included are text for email messages, posters, and web pages.

## Information Systems Staff Assistance

This program element is highly dependent upon the nature and structure
of your IS staff. The goals are to:

-   Educate IS staff about power management: the various systems
    affected, configuration details, troubleshooting, and common
    problems.

-   Dispel myths concerning possible damage due to turning equipment
    off.

-   Find the most cost-effective methods for configuring and maintaining
    power management.

-   Gain assistance reaching users through intranet web sites and
    network broadcast messages.

The intent is that IS staff will be motivated to take aggressive action
to enable [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} features --- they will visit all the
machines and reconfigure them as a special task. A more likely outcome
is that they will incorporate power management configuration into their
normal maintenance procedures.

The message you are trying to convey to IS staff includes the awareness
issues listed for the user population, plus technical issues about power
management and the request for IS staff services:

-   Routine checking and configuration of power management adds little
    to their installation or maintenance of a machine.

-   Power management configuration should always be checked when a new
    machine comes in.

-   Monitor power management won't interfere with PC function. If it is
    necessary to disable PC power management, it is important to
    maintain power management of the monitor.

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-   Management policy supports power management and equipment turn-off.

It may be sufficient to meet with IS management groups and talk to
individual IS staff on the phone. The amount of effort depends on the
degree of cooperation you encounter. Some groups may be so difficult to
work with so you may decide to abandon IS help and rely on improved user
behavior.

For the IS groups that show a low level of knowledge concerning power
management issues, you may want to carry out a series of training
sessions. It may be most appropriate for a consultant to conduct these
sessions; many IS staff are skeptical of technical advice offered by
non-IS people such as from energy offices.

Finally, monitor the process of implementation and provide assistance as
needed. Not everyone who sounds cooperative will actually take the
requisite actions. Attempt to address issues the IS staff raise, making
use of vendors' and manufacturers' technical assistance, and literature
from EPA. Gather information about technical issues, particularly those
common in your organization.

## Direct Configuration

If power management has been disabled on a large percentage of the
equipment, it can be most effective to systematically reconfigure it.
Direct configuration refers to efforts that are focused on power
management and address all equipment systematically. This is in contrast
to IS Staff Assistance which aims to make power management enabling part
of the larger system maintenance, and reaches machines whenever the IS
staff get to them. The people best suited to this task are IS staff, as
they are most familiar with the equipment and users, and any legitimate
reasons to not enable it. They will also be most likely to know any
needed passwords, or have the necessary keys for locked doors. For many
organizations, or for some departments within complex organizations, the
level of IS support is insufficient to perform wholesale reconfiguration
of equipment. For power management to be enabled in a reasonable amount
of time, you may need to get it done independently.

Direct configuration should be avoided when enabling rates are already
high. For PC enabling, it is best to concentrate on those models of
computers that are common in the office. Begin by enabling one of each
model and testing it to make sure power management does not interfere
with proper functioning. For each model that passes that test, enable
the rest of that model.

This intervention can be done cost-effectively if prior work has been
done to gain management support. Reconfiguration of equipment can be
done during the daytime or after hours. In the first case, the person
performing the task will be interrupting users, but gains the
opportunity to educate them first hand. After hours, reconfiguration can
be done in less time per station but may require log-on passwords for
access.

Our success with the reconfiguration of computers was mixed. Information
Systems staff at two of the five sites agreed to check the configuration
of their computers and see that power management is enabled. At one of
these sites the configuration was confirmed to have been done. At a
third site, IS staff were minimally responsive but did not impede our
efforts to manually reconfigure equipment. At the other two sites, IS
staff were completely unresponsive; in one, management did not allow us
to directly reconfigure computers.

We expect that the presence of organization-wide policy will elicit
better cooperation from IS staff and departmental management. However,
some difficulties may persist. Where IS staff are cooperative, direct
configuration is a cheap and effective program element, but where IS
staff are difficult to work with the reverse may be true.

Copiers and fax machines are usually not under the purview of IS staff,
so it may be necessary to go to each site and configure them yourself.
If this equipment is leased, you may be able to get the vendors to agree
to check the configuration as they perform routine maintenance. As there
is little danger of causing problems, direct configuration of these by
non-IS staff is a low-risk proposition.

## External Power Management Hardware

Devices are available that automatically control plug loads based on
user activity. Originally devised to allow power management in
pre-[Energy Star]{.smallcaps} computer monitors, these now include
cubicle occupancy controls to switch task lights and other loads. There
are also automatic controls for older printers and for vending machines.
Many 'controlling device' manufacturers are [Energy Star]{.smallcaps}
partners.

The advantage of these devices is that they require almost no
configuration. Normally there is only a delay timer setting. There is no
question of interference with normal machine function, unless a computer
is inadvertently plugged into a controlled outlet. We installed a
handful of devices from the leading manufacturers and found them to work
dependably. Prices per unit range of \$30 to \$80 for workstation
occupancy devices, and \$150 to \$200 for printer and vending machine
controls. We found these to be less cost-effective than manual turn-off
and enabling power management. An exception is the vending machine
controls for which there is no competing strategy.

These devices are worth considering if institutional barriers prevent
implementation of the recommended program elements. Careful
consideration should be given to the lifetime of controlled equipment.
The most likely case where cubicle occupancy controls are cost-effective
is in cubicle systems incorporating several task lights.

For workers with several computers, or for server rooms, consider
switching devices that allow one monitor to service many computers.
These not only save electricity, but also the larger costs of purchasing
the monitors and office space.

## Extraneous Devices

Of the "miscellaneous" plug load, the devices which may significantly
raise electricity use are those with long operating hours:
refrigerators, coffee pots, heaters, and fans. Intermittent-use devices
such as toaster ovens and hot plates may be of concern for building
wiring or fire safety, but not for energy use. Coffee pots, because they
are often left on all day, can use considerable energy. Offices should
be encouraged to purchase thermos coffee dispensers, which not only save
energy but result in better tasting coffee --- and less thrown out due
to overheating.

Some individual fans and heaters found in offices are likely
'unnecessary', but when many are found in a building, it usually signals
inadequacies in the ventilation system. If it is possible to get the
system fixed, then managers can ask to have the fans and heaters
removed. An energy conservation program should not take on such devices
where working conditions are inadequate.

If there are many private-use refrigerators, this may be due to
inadequate kitchen facilities, and increasing them may be appropriate.

## Paper Use

#  Just as modern office equipment wastes considerable electricity, the way that paper is used in printers, copiers, and fax machines often wastes considerable paper. This in turn costs money, and wastes the energy used to produce the paper. The same types of measures that are used to reduce electricity use are also the basis of reducing paper use. See http://eetd.LBL.gov/Paper. 

# Chapter 5 -- Summary

# 

This Guide has reviewed the essential elements of a program to reduce
office equipment energy use. You should now be able to assess what type
of effort is appropriate and feasible in your organization.

The first step---addressed in Chapter 1---is understanding the scope and
magnitude of electricity use if office equipment, and the primary
factors that affect it. The presence of [Energy Star]{.smallcaps}
equipment in your office means that you are likely to be already saving
significant electricity, whether or not the procurement of [Energy
Star]{.smallcaps} compliant equipment was deliberate. The primary
methods of gaining additional savings are better user behavior (turning
off equipment at night), enabling of power management features, and more
attention to purchasing [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} compliant equipment.

Chapter 2 discusses several methods for estimating the size of your
"plug load" and the potential for additional savings from a program. The
simplest estimate is an extrapolation from what we found in San
Francisco municipal offices based on the relative number of employees
More refined estimates adjust for your equipment holdings, night-time
turn-off behavior, and enabling of power management. These require some
amount of "auditing" of equipment and its usage.

Overall program strategy and design is reviewed in Chapter 3. This is
divided into five "program elements", which are each implemented by one
or more specific "conservation measures". The overall composition of
your program is likely to evolve over time as you discover unexpected
opportunities, allies, or obstacles.

Finally, Chapter 4 contains more detailed discussion of the five main
program elements. Purchasing Policy ensures that [Energy
Star]{.smallcaps} compliant equipment is procured to the maximum
feasible extent. Staff Policy establishes a 'norm' of the use of power
management and night-time turnoff (except in cases where there is a
specific reason not to use them); the policy is founded on support from
management at the highest level attainable. User Awareness efforts
communicate the importance of reducing plug load electricity use for
reducing pollution and costs, and of the methods for doing this.
Information Systems Staff Assistance engages those people who most
influence the enabling or disabling of power management and serve as a
source of advice for most users. Finally, Direct Configuration involves
the implementers of a program enabling equipment themselves, with or
without the involvement of users. While most appropriate for printers,
copiers, and fax machines, this is often the simplest and most reliable
way to gain savings.

Chapter 4 also covers additional topic areas that can be addressed in a
comprehensive program. One is External Power Management Hardware, which
can be purchased to accomplish power management in devices that
otherwise do not have that capability; in some circumstances they can be
useful and cost-effective. Another issue is "Extraneous Devices" that
serve personal needs and may be possible to eliminate by addressing the
need they are a response to such as a poorly functioning ventilation
system. Finally, Paper Use is a method to save energy, save money, and
reduce pollution that is often unrecognized, but holds significant
opportunity.

# Glossary

### Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)

ACPI is a new standard method for parts of the computer and peripherals
to identify themselves and accomplished sophisticated power management.
While the power capabilities are most applicable to portable equipment,
they also offer the capability to significantly increase power
management savings in desktop equipment.

### Annual Energy Use

The amount of electricity (in kWh) used by a piece of office equipment.

### APM (Advanced Power Management)

APM is a standard that defines mechanisms by which the processor
controls power use by various system components while the system is in
active use (see Intel/Microsoft, 1993 for further details).

### Auto-off, Automatic Shutoff

For copiers, Auto-off is a feature that causes the copier to switch
entirely off after a period of non-use, or based on a prespecified
turnoff time.

### BIOS (Basic Input/Output System)

The BIOS is the interface among the processor, cache and main memory and
system busses which lead to add-on cards and some external peripherals,
and also controls the initial stages of system start-up. The BIOS is a
key element in most implementations of power management.

### Configuration

The settings in the equipment which, in the context of this guide,
determine whether and how power management will occur. For computers ,
this is done in the BIOS (above) and the operating system. For other
devices the settings are usually made with a keypad and a menu system.

### Daytime Savings

Savings occurring during periods of inactivity during normal business
hours.

### Default Duplex

The ability for a copier or printer to make double-sided copies as the
default mode.

### Doze

The doze mode is the first level of PC power management. The system
clock slows or even halts.

### DPMS (Display Power Management Signaling)

DPMS defines four power management modes for monitors: On, Stand-by,
Suspend and off. The presence or absence of particular (horizontal and
vertical) synchronization signals or the entire video signal indicate to
the monitor which power management mode to enter.

### [Energy Star]{.smallcaps}

The [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} program was created by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency to encourage the manufacture and use of
office and other equipment that reduces energy use and hence pollution
from power plants. http://www.epa.gov/office

### External Control Hardware, 'Controlling Devices'

A device that can turn a piece of office equipment entirely off when it
determines that it is not active.

### Impact Printer

A printer employing inked ribbon and mechanical impact to print
characters, like an electric typewriter. These are usually found on
mainframe systems and may be very large with high speed capacity.

### Information Systems (IS) Staff

The personnel in an organization that maintain the hardware and software
infrastructure of computers, printers, networks, etc.

### Inkjet Printer

A printer which uses microscopic jets of liquid ink to product an image.
These are usually small, low-speed printers that can print color images.
They use much less power than laser printers.

### Laser Printer

A printer using a laser light source, a high-voltage electrostatic
process and a high-temperature sealing roller to make high quality
images using a dry toner. The high voltage supply and heat roller
require a high power draw during the imaging process.

### Low Power Mode

A state that a device can enter in which it consumes less power than the
standard operating mode, but is not off.

### Mainframe Terminal

A keyboard and video display device having no stand-alone computing
power, which is used to communicate with a mainframe computer.

### Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

The agreement between office equipment manufacturers and the U.S. EPA on
the criteria that [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} compliant products must
meet, and the actions that each party will take to promote the program
and compliant products.

### Monitor

The monitor for a PC is usually a cathode ray tube (CRT), and serves to
display visual information. [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} monitors are able
to enter low power modes of operation, but require signals from the PC
to do so.

### Multi-function Device (MFD)

A combination printer and fax machine, commonly used in small offices.
The print engine may be inkjet or laser.

### Nighttime Savings

Energy savings occurring after normal business hours. This includes
weekend, holiday and vacation days as well.

### Office Equipment

Electronic devices for managing information, including (but not limited
to) computers, monitors, printers, copiers, scanners, multifunction
devices, and fax machines.

### Personal Computer (PC)

In this guide we generally use \"PC\" to refer to the processor and
related hardware (that is, excluding external disks, printers, etc.),
and not including the monitor. Sometimes \"PC\" refers to the entire
system, but it should be clear from the context when this is meant.
"Computer" power management includes PCs and monitors, as well as
workstations.

### Power, Energy

Instantaneous electricity use (power) is measured in Watts (W), with the
amount of electricity used over time typically measured in
kilowatt-hours (kWh).

### Plug Load, Office Plug Load

Electricity used by devices connected to ordinary electrical outlets.
Examples for offices include office equipment, task lights, water
coolers, and kitchen appliances.

### Power Management (PM)

Power management uses firmware, hardware and software solutions to
conserves energy when the computer sets idle and enters defined states
of inactivity.

### Shared Device

An office device commonly used by more than one person, such as a
copier, fax machine, or printer.

### Sleep Mode, Standby Mode

Sleep and Standby are the first low-power stages that turn down or turn
off some peripherals and allows for almost immediate recovery.

### Suspend Mode

The lowest powered mode for a PC. As many system components as possible
are powered down, and the processor is halted.

### Workstation

A computer and monitor.

# Bibliography

### References in the text

Koomey, Jonathan G., Mike Cramer, Mary Ann Piette, and Joe H. Eto,
*Efficiency Improvements in U.S. Office Equipment: Pollution Prevention
at a Profit*, American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy
Proceedings, 1996, p. 5.123. See web location below.

Nordman, Bruce, Mary Ann Piette, Brian Pon, and Kris Kinney, *It's
Midnight\...Is your Copier On?: [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} Copier
Performance*, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory publication 41332,
1998. See web location below.

Koomey, Jonathan, Timothy Oey, and Eric Bergman. 1993, \"The Economics
of Cycling Personal Computers.\" Energy Policy. vol. 21, no. 9.
September. pp. 937-943.

***Other Resources***

Mark Ledbetter and Loretta A. Smith; *Guide to Energy-Efficient Office
Equipment*, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, 1996

Nordman, Bruce, Mary Ann Piette, Kris Kinney, and Carrie Webber, *User
Guide to Power Management for PCs and Monitors*, Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory publication 39466, 1997. See web location below.

### Web pages

EPA [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} Office Equipment ---
http://www.epa.gov/office -- Information about the Energy Star Office
Equipment Program.

Federal Energy Management Program -- http://www.eren.doe.gov/femp ---
Guidelines and information targeted at Federal facilities.

Purchasing Guidelines (FEMP) --
http://www.eren.doe.gov/femp/procurement/begin.html -- Recommendations
for Energy Efficiency -- [Energy Star]{.smallcaps} and beyond.

Purchasing Language ---
http://www.epa.gov/appdstar/esoe/pdf/proc_lan.pdf -- Information about
the Energy Star Office Equipment Program.

Reducing Office Equipment Energy Use. http://eetd.LBL.gov/BEA/sf/
Updates of this guide and additional resources.

"Cutting Paper" web site, http://eetd.LBL.gov/Paper Information about
how to understand office paper use and reduce it.

"User Guide", *User Guide to Power Management for PCs and Monitors*,
http://EETD.LBL.gov/EA/Reports/39466/

Copier Report, http://EETD.LBL.gov/EA/Reports/41332.html

U.S. Office Equipment, http://enduse.lbl.gov/Info/Pubs.html (under 1995
reports)

# Appendix -- Additional Resources

The computer files listed below facilitate the work described in this
guide and are available for downloading. The spreadsheets (.xls, .xlw)
are in Microsoft Excel 5.0/95 format, and the word processing files
(.doc) are in Microsoft 95/97 format. The posters are in Microsoft
Powerpoint format.

### Computational Tools 

> Plugload.xls -- calculates annual electricity use, and potential
> savings
>
> PgmCost.xls -- calculates the cost of program implementation methods
>
> Controls.xls -- calculates savings from office occupancy controls

### Sample Policies 

Purchase.doc -- purchasing policy

Staffpol.doc -- staff policy

### Survey/Audit resources 

ISSurvey.doc -- interview questions for IS managers and staff

OfSurvey.doc -- interview questions for office managers and staff

### Promotional messages

Email1.doc, Email2.doc -- sample email messages

Poster1.ppt, Poster2.ppt -- sample posters.

Handout.doc -- handout flyer for configuration visits

### Web page

> Ofmach.htm -- web page and graphics, describing program and how to
> perform Windows 95 monitor power-down configuration.

Updated versions of this guide and additional resources are available at
http://eetd.LBL.gov/BEA/SF/.

[^1]: The term 'workstation' is used to mean the office equipment
    dedicated to one person. As a few people in an office setting may
    have no computer, there may be fewer workstations than people. Few
    people in San Francisco have more than one computer, and the
    majority of these are IS staff.

[^2]: Based on 1.35 lbs CO2/kWh. This is a rough national average figure
    for the U.S.