Save on energy and firms can save on cash

1. Pot-kettle-green. Don’t just hit the standby button. Deploy a smart network to power down unused network devices such as PCs, monitors and non-emergency phones when they are not in use.

2. Switch on to switching off. According to the Carbon Trust, switching off and unplugging from all electrical sockets after leaving the office could save UK businesses £70m in energy costs.

3. Heating’s cheating. Rather than cranking the thermostat all the way during milder months, try to keep the dial at 19°C.

4. Mean machine to green machine. Some types of office equipment, particularly printers and photocopiers, are left on at evenings and weekends. Make sure the last person to leave shuts down all the equipment.

5. Renew your supplier. Large networks and data centres can hemorrhage thousands of pounds every month. Why not change your energy supplier in 2011 and receive 100 per cent renewable electricity at competitive rates?

6. Power up. Businesses using large servers need uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). These devices are designed to keep servers running. They are essential but there is a good chance they are operating at less than 75 per cent energy efficiency. Change your UPS hardware and replace with smaller modular units.

7. Out with the old. Shut off any hardware that is no longer being used.

8. Every cloud has a green lining. Reduce your number of data storage systems and invest in the next big thing. Cloud computing allows users to share and store resources over the internet.

9. Monitor your environment. Energy management and control systems can monitor network infrastructure and attached devices. Express Data recommends an environmental monitoring system covering power usage, temperature, humidity and battery life.

10. Professional healthcheck. Find out how to make your office greener with a free Express Data healthcheck.