Why WFH isn't always so green (4-Jul-07)

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Power and the people

Source: Silicon.com

By Gemma Simpson

Published: Wednesday 04 July 2007

Homeworking is often touted as one way to help cut carbon emissions but now workers are being urged to keep their power consumption down when working from home (WFH).

The Ampere Strikes Back report from the Energy Saving Trust (EST) said: "The rise in the phenomenon of the home office and the popularity of working from home has led to an increase in the number of homes kitted out with a range of equipment that used to only be seen in the workplace."

The EST report urges homeworkers to consider a number of options to bring down power consumption when WFH, such as buying an energy savings mains controller which automatically switches off peripherals when the computer is off, making sure the sleep mode is on and the computer is off when the working day is over.

The difference in running an energy efficient PC with sleep modes and which is turned off when it's not needed compared with a high energy consuming model left on 24/7 can be more than £100 per year, according to the EST.

The total electricity use of domestic computers has doubled between 2000 and 2005 and in 2005 more than nine per cent of the total domestic electricity bill was due to computers and their peripherals, according to figures from government sustainability body the Market Transformation Programme.

Consumption is expected to increase by a further 30 per cent between 2006 and 2020. This is not only due to the continued growth of the home computer market but also because of the higher specification and therefore more energy-intensive machines, according to the EST.

By 2020, the EST predicts entertainment, computers and gadgets will account for 45 per cent of electricity used in the home.