Don’t let the innocent, “no lights on”-look fool you.
Industrial coffee makers (even with no burners on) constantly
use energy. Most days, coffee is usually brewed, heated, and
consumed for no more than a few hours in the morning; yet
the coffee maker is plugged in 24/7.
The weekend and overnight hours are the times when these coffee makers are
using unnecessary energy, wasting both money and electricity. The Office of Facilities
Management (OFM) is planning to install 7-
day programmable timers to curtail the excessive
energy consumption from coffee
makers. OFM will program and install the
timers which will automatically cut power
during the weekend and overnight hours.
Weekend ‘Hours of Waste,’ according to facility managers,
are the hours from Friday at 5p.m. to Monday at 6a.m. The
‘Overnight Hours of Waste’ are every weekday night from
5p.m. to 6a.m. Combine these two areas of waste and you
have 105 hours of waste every week.
Appliances that remain plugged into a power source during
these hours of waste are constantly using energy. In the case
of the coffee maker, the energy is used to heat water that
won’t get used until the next workday morning.
www.ok.gov/DCS/Facilities_Services/Sustainability