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Greedy Tip of the Week: Turn Off the Lights!

By George Khoury, Esq. on July 30, 2018 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

You know the saying: a penny saved is a penny earned? Well, when it comes to your law firm's operations, a penny saved lowers overhead and increases profit. It can also help with marketing.

Luckily for solo practitioners and other firm owners, there's an easy way to be greedy: Turn off the lights and other electronic devices when you leave for the night/weekend. Basically, you can be greedy and green at the same time. 

Below, you can find a short list of most important electronic devices to turn off.

Lightbulbs

If you are still using incandescent lights, rather than CFLs, you're already throwing pennies away. But making sure the lights are off will save you a few cents per light per night. Switching over to CFLs can actually provide a good cost savings too, over time, as these can produce the same amount of lumens for a fraction (less than half) of the cost.

Goodnight Monitor

Though your monitor may automatically go into sleep mode, the sad truth is that sleep mode still consumes power, and power is money. Sure, it's also a just a few cents (like maybe $0.06 per night per monitor) but that adds up over time.

Even if you leave your computer on so that you can remotely access it while away, turning off the monitor won't have an effect on that (unless you have an all-in-one machine like an iMac).

The Copy Machine

Yes, your copy machine does have an on/off switch. While it might take a few more minutes to start up from being fully turned off, flipping that switch might save you a dime per night.

HVAC

If you don't have to worry about extreme weather, you might want to consider turning off whatever climate control you have in the office over night (or just not setting it as comfortably when no one is around). Turning off an AC or heater overnight can actually save you a few dollars per night. The same is true of simply practicing smart heating and cooling practices (like leaving blinds/curtains open for the daytime sun during winter and closed in the summer, or utilizing open windows and energy efficient fans).

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