Reduce power consumption in the office - this is how it works!

In the last year, electricity prices have risen enormously in all regions of Germany - if they don't have their own photovoltaic systems, this also causes problems for large companies. Especially in companies that offer digital services, there are large basic consumers. These include, for example, servers or air conditioning and cooling systems for PCs. However, even here, apparent “little things” make up the largest part of the consumption, such as forgotten lamps or other devices.

In this blog article we would like to take a look at what you, both as a business owner and as a self-employed person, can do to effectively reduce electricity consumption in the office. We have tried to make the adjustments as easy and quick to implement as possible.

Reducing power consumption in the office: These are the biggest energy guzzlers

So that you can better understand why there is such an enormously high power consumption in many offices , in this section we will first look at the biggest energy guzzlers according to statistics. You may already find incentives here for what you can optimize or adapt in your company.

The main sources of energy consumption in offices are:

• Computers, screens, printers, scanners and the like account for almost 30 percent of electricity consumption
• Lighting systems of any kind occupy second place in the ranking
• Air conditioning and heating consume the third most electricity in offices
• Office kitchen appliances are also a big consumer
• Servers and IT infrastructure are also higher up the list, depending on the type of business

With all of these points, there is certainly still a need for optimization in your company - but only very few companies really think about these costs, the electricity bills are just as high as they are. Especially in times of record electricity prices, you are throwing a lot of money out of the window as a solo self-employed person that you could invest better.

In the following paragraphs we will therefore look at how you can optimize your power consumption , regardless of whether you have an open-plan office or a single office . We will also show you some hidden consumers that you may not immediately think of when it comes to excessive power consumption. Tip: It's worth sticking with it until the end, because here we explain why an electrically height-adjustable desk from desqup is a good purchase despite electricity costs.

Simple tips to reduce power consumption in the office

You may think that extensive measures and optimizations are necessary to reduce the power consumption in your office - but this is usually not the case. In many offices , small adjustments and changes are enough to ensure that the bill at the end of the year is not that high. We would like to take a closer look at these in this article. 

Printers, scanners & Co. as well-known power guzzlers

Today, printers or copiers are hardly ever used in a modern company - most documents are processed digitally and are no longer filed in paper form. Nevertheless, to this day there are numerous printers in many companies that have not been unplugged. They often just stand around, are used from time to time for a single printout and otherwise mainly gather dust. What many people don't know, however, is that printers consume a lot of electricity even in standby mode. So even if it's never used, it's been eating up money for years.

So we give you the tip to drastically reduce the number of your printers first. Exceptions apply if you still have to print out a lot in your company. In most companies today, one printer per floor is more than enough, so you save the costs for the standby operation of several. You should also turn on these devices after work to reduce power consumption in the office. This can be done, for example, with an automatic socket that interrupts the power supply.

You can also save yourself a fax machine to reduce power consumption in the office. Modern telephone systems are able to forward an incoming fax directly as a PDF to a previously specified email address . Another electricity consumer less that costs you money.

Lighting in the office: modernization necessary?

In many offices you can still find the old-fashioned tubular lamps , which provide an unpleasant and too bright light. These are also not exactly energy-efficient , which quickly drives up the cost of electricity enormously. One of the most important measures to reduce power consumption in the office is therefore to modernize the lighting . Here you should spend some money, because depending on the type and age of your lamps, you can save up to 75 percent of the previous lighting costs.

The use of LED lamps is an important first step when it comes to energy-saving lighting in your office. Here you will quickly notice that the consumption is significantly lower compared to conventional light bulbs. We also recommend that you control the lights in the individual areas with motion detectors, regardless of the size of the office. So if nobody is in that area of ​​the room for a certain amount of time, the lights here also go out automatically.                                              

The best light you can get in the office is daylight . So if it is possible to install new skylights or glass fronts with little effort, you should also think about this option. This not only saves you electricity, but also increases the well-being of you and your employees . A tip for reducing power consumption in the office that many people are not aware of.

Conclusion & other tips for a modern office

In order to effectively reduce the power consumption in your company, you should completely disconnect the largest consumers from the power supply as often as possible. For example, sockets with a timer can contribute to this, which switch off all computers completely in the evening and activate them again in the morning. In addition, you should regularly take care of the maintenance of air conditioning and heating , because here too, a small wrong setting immediately leads to a significantly higher power consumption.

Nevertheless, there are also objects that consume electricity, but make the working day much better and more efficient. This also includes a height-adjustable desk from desqup, with which you can always decide for yourself how you want to work. It has stepless electric height adjustment, a robust water-repellent surface and three memory buttons for fixed heights. Have a look at the detailed product pages .

We hope we were able to help you with this blog article and that you manage to reduce the power consumption in your company!