Green Office: free energy saving game for the workplace

What is Green Office?

Buffer runs facilities for a small office with a big energy bill. Over four days, from an empty evening to a heatwave, read the floor plan for clues, inspect the rooms and pick fixes that cut the bill while keeping the team comfortable and safe. The bill and savings are made-up examples.

Green Office is a free energy saving game set in a small office. Over four days with Buffer, from an empty Monday evening to a winter heating war, a summer heatwave and an upgrade day, you read a floor plan full of clues: lights burning in empty rooms, screens on standby, radiators fighting open windows, a server room colder than a fridge door, old halogen bulbs.

Tap a room to inspect it and pick one of three options. The smart fix cuts the bill and keeps people comfortable; the harsh one saves a little more but drops the comfort meter; the weak one barely helps or even costs more. Each day one room only looks wasteful, like exit signs or a water heater at 60 °C, and should stay as it is. The bill and every saving are made-up examples.

At a glance

Category

Adventure

Difficulty

Easy

Play time

3–5 min

Price

Free, in your browser, sign-up optional

How to play

Read the floor plan

Six rooms show clues: lights with nobody there, open windows, thermostat settings, sleeping or awake machines.

Inspect the rooms

Four rooms need a decision each day. Most hide waste, but one only looks wasteful and must stay as it is.

Pick a fix

The smart fix saves money without hurting anyone. A harsh one saves more but drops team comfort; at 0 the team walks out.

Score

Dollars saved per month plus 10 points per comfort point at the end. All numbers are examples.

Scoring

Your score is the dollars saved per month plus 10 points per comfort point at the end. Smart fixes save money without hurting comfort; harsh ones save a bit more but cost far more comfort.

If comfort hits 0 the team walks out and the run ends. The best run saves $640 a month and ends at comfort 95, for 1590 points. All figures are made-up examples.

What it trains

Spotting waste

Reading a floor plan for empty rooms with lights on, standby, heating fighting open windows and overcooling.

Smart trade-offs

Choosing fixes that save energy without making people cold, hot or unsafe.

Knowing what stays on

Exit signs, servers and a 60 °C hot-water tank are there for a reason.

Strategy and tips

Look for nobody

Lights, heating or cooling in a room with nobody in it is the most common waste.

Standby isn't off

Screens and speakers on standby keep drawing power all night. A timer strip stops it.

Fix the cause

Close the window before you touch the heating; lower the blinds before you crank the AC.

Lower, not off

Turning the heating down at nights and weekends beats switching it off and freezing on Monday.

Some things stay on

Exit signs, servers and a hot-water tank at 60 °C are there for safety or work. Leave them.

Why play Green Office?

Offices waste a lot of energy in places nobody looks: empty rooms, standby, heating and cooling fighting each other, and old bulbs. Saving it is mostly about habits and small controls like sensors and timers, and the best savings never make people cold, hot or unsafe. Green Office trains that eye for waste and that balance.

Frequently asked questions