Three more energy-saving suggestions that all legal departments could adopt

An advertisement by Johnson Controls offers ten ways we can all contribute to environmental sustainability. Three of the steps are available to all law departments.

(1) In addition to printing on both sides for drafts, use the “draft” setting. “In one test, a typical inkjet printed 12 pages per minute (ppm) in regular mode but 36 ppm in the draft setting.” Faster printing uses less printer energy.

(2) Plug your desktop computer equipment into a power strip – and turn the strip off at the end of every day. “Even in standby mode, office equipment uses energy. You’ll save as much as 20 to 40 watts for each piece of equipment you plug into a power strip and turn off.”

(3) Bring your own mug or reusable cup to work, and don’t use disposable cups. “Using your own cup every day means saving 22.75 lbs/103 kg of waste annually” (See my post of Oct. 12, 2008: several additional steps to conserve energy.).