Guide for Purchasing Energy Efficient Items for Your Home Office

You're about to create your own home office. You want it to be energy efficient, to help the environment and decrease your costs for energy. To do this, you'll need to purchase and/or install energy efficient products in your home office, such as lights and light fixtures, computer equipment and supplies. This article will show you what to consider and purchase when setting up an energy efficient home office. You should browse around at local stores and on the internet to get a basic idea of what energy efficient home office products are available. Once you have an overview, you can come up with a theme for the office. You could go ultra modern, and have only the exact things necessary with no extras. This gives a futuristic feel. You could go with a homestyle feel, decorating with a 50's or 70's theme. Decide on your decorations, as this will help guide your choices for home office products that are energy efficient.

Once you decide on your design and decorating ideas for the office, you must determine what to consider when setting up the office. Think about what you will need in your office. You're going to need a computer, and some type of table or desk to put it on. Think about what hardware and software needs to be installed on the computer. For example, if your home office is for photography, you'll need an adequate hard drive to store photos. You'll need lighting so you can see, and fixtures for the lights. If you have allergies, you might need to have an air purifier in the room. Do you need storage for the files of your home business? What supplies do you need, like paper and pens? Don't buy extra things for your home officed that you don't need.

Here are some ideas of energy efficient home office products:

Any Energy Star product. These save up to 30 to 75 percent on electricity.

1. Computer monitor. The Energy Star computer monitor will use up to sixty percent less electricity than a standard monitor. The way these monitors save energy is that they use less energy in the sleep mode, on and off modes.

2. Water cooler. The Energy Star water cooler will use about half the energy as a regular water cooler. The way it works is to insulate better, chill better, and separate cold and hot water more effectively to prevent the hot and cold water from mixing.

3. Computer itself. The Energy Star computer will overall use less power while not being used and while in use.

4. Mailing machines. You will save about 25 percent in energy costs as compared to a normal mailing machine.

5. External power adapter. These are power supplies that convert electricity from the wall outlet to the type that will be used to power such things as laptops and cordless phones.

6. Printers. Energy star printers print double sided pages, which reduces the amount of paper used. About 25 percent savings is realized.

7. Energy Star Light Bulbs and Light Fixtures. You can use up to 75 percent less electricity, and the light bulbs last longer than a regular light bulb.

8. Energy Star fax machines. These save about 25 percent in costs.

9. Energy Star Ceiling Fans. These work because the design of the blades and/or motors are more energy efficient.

10. Energy Star Laptops. Power management of the computer is what matters here, in the computer's settings. This is what saves energy related costs.