Typically, an electrical designer cannot do much about reducing plug loads in a small office building. Yet when you drastically reduce the energy load associated with HVAC and lighting, this is the next point of attack.

As owner, tenant and designer, IDeAS has a unique opportunity to reduce plug loads in this small office building.

Using the latest CAT6a cabling, data and telecom flow through a single cable. This consumes half the wire resources than a conventional separate cable system, translating into further energy savings. Rather than desktop phones, employees use headsets that connect to a voice-over-IP system.

Crucial to dramatic plug-load savings is reducing or eliminating office equipment “phantom loads” – the energy consumed during long hours of standby. Even the Energy Star-rated laser plotter was measured to consume 1,440 W when plotting, 30 W in the sleep mode, and 25 W when manually switched to "standby." (There is no actual "off" switch). Machines that hold long start-up times like this plotter, such as printers and copiers, are shut off at night automatically when the security system is armed; likewise, their circuits are turned on the next day when the security is disarmed, so productivity is not affected.

To further reduce office equipment phantom loads, workstation devices will be plugged into occupancy-controlled power strips. The power to task lights, PC monitors, speakers and other non-essential peripherals will shut down when the user leaves their desk. The computer itself will go into ‘sleep’ mode.