Power Down Lights on, computer humming, A/C droning? How to beat the high cost of home-office electricity

Working from home cuts some costs, like dry cleaning, gas forcommuting and office rent. But powering up the home office can puta drain on your monthly electricity bills, unless you'rekilowatt-wise.

"More time in the home office can lead to higherelectricity bills," says Steve Rosenstock, manager of electricsolutions with Edison Electric Institute (EEI) (http://www.eei.org), an industry tradegroup whose members work with homeowners to boost efficiency andlower bills. "They're targeting the home and, as a sideeffect, the home office."

Electric companies, many of whom face competition fromderegulation, have positioned themselves as homebased workers'allies in saving home-office energy. Some, like Florida Power &Light, offer cash incentives to boost energy efficiency. Meanwhile,EEI publishes 111 Ways to Reduce Your Electric Bill, a guide toefficient electric technologies.

Here are some tips to conserving energy-and stayingcomfortable-in your home office:

• Purchase computers, printers and other equipment with the"Energy Star" high-efficiency logo. Make sure theyfeature a sleep mode when not in use. All-in-one machines draw lesselectricity than separate units for the same functions.
• Turn off equipment when leaving the office for long periods.Use a surge protector and uninterrupted power supply (UPS) toprotect expensive equipment-and work-from power spikes or losses.Even a momentary "brown out" can erase hours of unsavedwork. It's a good practice to supplement an automatic backupwith a hard save every few minutes.
• Don't overload individual outlets with too many appliances.Rearrange the office if necessary to find more outlets for youroffice equipment.
• Set the thermostat on 78 degrees on warm days and use ceilingfans to cool your home office. Similarly, on cold days, set thethermostat to 66, and reverse the spin so the fan forces warmer airoff the ceiling. Insulate attics and walls to provide greatersavings.
• Replace incandescent and halogen lamps with fluorescentlighting, dust off dirty bulbs and turn off lights when you leavethe room. Use sunlight to illuminate the office and window shadesto block direct sunlight and insulate against heating or coolingloss. Also, plant foliage outside windows to provide shade-andshield expensive office equipment from the view of outsiders. Moneysaved on power goes directly toward your bottom line-so power downand save.

Jeff Zbar is a homebased writer, speaker and author ofHome Office Know-How (Upstart Publishing).