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A guide to help you buy and use environmentally friendly office equipment
Environment Australia, 2001
You can reduce energy, save money and help the environment by buying and using 'green' office equipment.
Many people don't realise that operating office equipment can cost much more than the equipment costs them in the first place. For example, a photocopier that costs you $4,000 to buy, that is left on continuously for seven years over its two-million copies life, may consume $1,500 of electricity, $24,000 of paper and $15,000 of toner. The greenhouse gas emissions from supplying energy from power stations and manufacturing and disposing of the paper you use could exceed 80 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to more than the total greenhouse gas emissions of a typical Australian home over that seven-year period.
Increasingly, leading edge organisations are considering operating costs as well as environmental impacts when they buy their office equipment. For example, they understand that if you buy an energy-efficient photocopier designed to work well with recycled paper and refilled toner cartridges, copy double-sided whenever you can, set up an effective paper recycling system, and set the photocopier to powersave when you're not using it, over its seven-year life you may:
Paper reduction and recycling schemes can reduce the costs and environmental impacts of paper use by 75-95%. To achieve such spectacular savings, effective staff training and feedback on performance are essential.
The Green Office Guide helps you buy environmentally friendly office equipment and use it to reduce your operating and environmental costs, including greenhouse gas emissions. This Guide has been produced as part of the National Appliance and Equipment Energy Efficiency Program supported by the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments.