Small Business Savings Tips - Part 7

One of the most over-looked ways to lower overhead costs is to reduce energy consumption. Simple habits such as turning off lights, computers, and copying machines can save hundreds of dollars annually for small business. Take for instance a copying machine. When left on standby overnight, the copier consumes enough power in one month to print 1500 pages. That's just one copier! So just turn the copier off at night and save yourself the money!

Light bulbs also consume a lot of energy. Go ahead and switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs. A 65W equivalent compact fluorescent light bulb consumes just 15W. These bulbs are a bit more expensive up front but the average savings over the life of the bulb is around $200 each. Save yourself even more money by buying them in bulk from online retailers such as 1000Bulbs. You'll save about 80 cents a bulb (includes shipping).

Another way to lower energy costs in the office is to replace all CRT monitors (those old bulky monitors that take up half the desk) with LCD monitors. Take for instance the Viewsonic G220fb 21-inch CRT Monitor (top rated CRT monitor on Cnet). Power consumption is 115W in operational mode and 4W in standby mode. Compare this to the Samsung SyncMaster XL2370 (top rated LCD monitor on Cnet) which only consumes 21W in operational mode and just 1.42W on standby. That's over an 80% reduction in power consumption! By the way, Buy.com seems to have the best prices (when using a coupon) on LCD monitors.

There are a ton of other ways to reduce power consumption such as adjusting the thermostat 1 degree. All of these actions, when added up, can save you a tremendous amount of money on your energy bill and bottom line. It's easy to come up with ideas. You just have to be more conscience of the normal every day items.