We are also tracking current legislation and trading opportunities that may soon create carbon trading markets, which could also take up place in your company’s balance sheet.
Please give us a call to see where we can start helping you towards your path of Carbon Management and help you formulate, implement or finalize your Sustainability Plan.
Being Green at Work
The reduction of consumption and energy efficiency has become the focus of virtually every company all around the world today. Whether it comes from direct emissions from operations, or from the electricity and fuel your business consumes, or the environmental impact of your products or services as they relate to your employee commuting time, travel plans, suppliers and product use, all these activities factor both directly and indirectly into your Carbon Footprint. We can help you measure and quantify these costs for your use in developing a Carbon Management Plan or Sustainability Plan for your business.
A greener workplace means a lighter ecological footprint, a healthier and more productive place to work, and good news for the bottom line. Whether you’re the boss or the coworker, whether your office is green already or still not quite aware, there are some practical steps you can take to help create a healthy, low-impact workspace. Here are 10 recommendations to creating a green workplace.
The roof of the 12-story Chicago City Hall building has been retrofitted with a 22,000 square-foot rooftop garden to reduce urban air temperature. | Photo Credit: Katrin Scholz-Barth | Source: energy.gov
- More Work, Less Energy: If, like many people, a computer is your central tool at work, optimizing the energy settings for your computer and other devices can be a major energy saver. Also, make sure to shut it down when you leave for the day (not just putting it in sleep mode). Plug hardware into a power strip with an on/off switch, and turn off all items at once (make sure to power down inkjet printers before killing the power – they need to seal their cartridges). Printers, scanners, and other peripherals that are only used occasionally can be unplugged until they’re needed. And of course, turn off lights in spaces that are unoccupied.
- Digitize: Even in the digital age, we still consume enormous amounts of paper, too much of which gets used once and then tossed or recycled. The greenest paper is no paper at all, so keep things digital whenever possible. The more you do online, the less you need paper. Keep files on computers instead of in file cabinets (this also makes it easier to make offsite backup copies or take them with you when you move to a new office). Review documents onscreen rather than printing them out. Send emails instead of paper letters.
- Conserving Paper: When buying printer paper, look for recycled paper with a high percentage of post-consumer content and the minimum of chlorine bleaching. Even recycled paper gobbles up a great deal of energy, water, and chemical resources in its processing. When using the real stuff, print on both sides of the page when appropriate and use misprints as notepaper.
- Telecommute: Instant messaging, video conferencing, and other innovative workflow tools make effective telecommuting a reality. If your employer allows you to telecommute (even some of the time), hold phone conferences, take online classes, or otherwise work from home. If your employer does not have telecommuting programs, discuss and work with them to initiate one. Also, consider the possibility of working four ten-hour days instead of five eight-hour days (a compressed work-week), this change cuts the energy and time spent on commuting by 20% and the three-day weekends will boost morale.
- Commute Wisely: If you do have to go to the workplace, ease some of this strain of fuel usage and carbon emissions by carpooling, taking public transit, biking, walking, or a creative combination any of these. If there’s no good way to phase out your car, consider getting a hybrid, electric vehicle, motorcycle, or scooter or at least a car with an extremely high fuel efficiency rating.
- Green Your Wardrobe: You might be amazed how sharp work clothes from thrift stores can look. If you buy new, get clothes made with organic or recycled fibers. Avoid clothes that need to be dry-cleaned, otherwise there are a growing number of green dry cleaners.
- Use Green Materials: Some paper use can’t be avoided, so use recycled paper and envelopes that have been processed and colored using eco-friendly methods. Pens and pencils can also be made of recycled materials, and refillable pens and markers are preferable to disposable ones.
- Redesign the Workspace: Greening the space in which you work has ample possibilities. Start with good furniture, good lighting, and good air. Furniture can be manufactured from recycled materials as well as recyclable. Not only is natural daylight a free source of lighting for the office, it has been proven to improve worker productivity and satisfaction and even boost sales in retail settings.
- Lunch Time: Bring your lunch to work in a reusable container; likely the greenest (and healthiest) way to eat at work. Getting food delivered or going for takeout inevitably ends with a surplus of packaging waste. However, if you do order delivery, join coworkers in placing a large order, which is generally far more efficient than many separate ones. Also, bring in a reusable plate and utensils.
- Get Others Aware and Involved: Share these tips with your coworkers. Arrange an office carpool or group bike commute. If necessary, trade shifts and job duties so that you can work four long days instead of five short ones. Make sure everyone has a small recycling bin so that recycling is just as easy as throwing recyclable materials in the trash. Ask everyone to bring in a mug or glass from home and keep some handy for visitors so that you reduce or eliminate use of paper cups.
Being Green at Home
Most of us spend at least half our lives at home, and therefore, stand to make significant impacts on our budgets and our planet by focusing on greening our homes.A greener home is the first place to begin making small changes to help the environment and create a healthier and more enjoyable place to live. Here are 10 simple steps to green up your life and change the planet.
- Buy Only What You Need: Plain and simple-don’t over purchase. However, when buying items that you use daily or in large quantities, consider buying in bulk. You will save money and packaging. Consider splitting bulk purchases with friends to get that savings but not the full quantity of the purchase. Sometimes we can’t always use 50 rolls of paper towels.
- Recycle! Recycle! Recycle! Recycle, reuse, and properly dispose of all materials. Everything from plastic bags to construction materials. But, recycling is not just limited to the cans, glass, and paper we go though everyday. If you’re upgrading your house, don’t forget to look for recycling and reuse programs for your household items, such as windows, doors, tile, etc. Don’t forget the last step in the recycling loop: buy recycled! In order for recycling to be sustainable, we need to purchase and use recycled-content materials. Look for and purchase post-consumer recycled content packaging and products whenever possible.
- Upgrade Your Light Bulbs: When your incandescent light bulbs burn out, replace them with LED’s or energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) CFLs use 2/3 less energy than traditional incandescent light bulbs and last 10 times longer. Making this upgrade saves you money and saves energy.
- Use Your Own Bags: Plastic bags are doing serious damage to our oceans and wildlife, as well as just making an eyesore on our streets. Many communities around the country are actually banning the use of plastic bags because of litter problems. When going to the store, consider bagging your own groceries in cloth, reusable bags. Many stores sell reusable bags and charge to provide plastic grocery bags.
- Keep Your Gadgets Green: Electronics become outdated very quickly. To insure you are responsible with your gadgets, practice the following: Resist the urge to upgrade every time a “newer” or “cooler” gadget comes out. Reduce at the source-you save money and the time (and frustration) to learn how to operate and program the new gadget!
- Donate working electronics to charities or school programs that resell or refurbish them.
- Refill or recycle your inkjet or toner cartridges.
- Close the recycling loop and buy recycled, post-consumer content paper for your printer. Most local office supply stores, such as Staples, offer a growing selection of environmentally friendly papers.
- Conserve Every Drop: Despite the fact that 70% of the world is covered by water, you should conserve all that you can. Turn off the water faucet when brushing your teeth and shaving. Run the dishwasher and washing machine only when they are full; avoid small, partial loads. Cleaning your driveway or sidewalk by hosing it down with water wastes at least 80 gallons of water every time; Use a broom instead.
- Adjust Your Thermostat: A few degrees difference in temperature can make all the difference in both your energy savings and your financial savings. In the summer, raise your thermostat two degrees. In the winter, lower your thermostat two degrees. You’ll not likely notice the difference in temperature, but you’ll sure notice the benefit when your utility bill arrives! Use a ceiling fan to cool off a room or house. It consumes about the same amount of energy as a 60-watt bulb (about 98% less energy than most air conditioners).
- Keep the Air Clean: Carpool, ride the bus, use public transportation, or bike to work. Better yet, see if your company can institute a telecommuting program (if it does not already have one). Save fuel and time by planning ahead and consolidating errands into one trip. Also, go to certain, far away stores less frequently. Keep your tires inflated to the appropriate air pressure level to extend the life of your tires and give you better gas mileage. Drive the speed limit.
- Save the Trees: Pay your bills online, saving paper, time, and postage. As the price of paper cards and postage increases, consider emailing e-cards instead of mailing them out. Email documents and information instead of printing and mailing them. Whenever possible, save documents on your computer or on a disk instead of as a print copy in your filing cabinet.
- Overall, Around the Home Clotheslines are making a comeback. Dry your clothes on the line instead of in the dryer; they’ll smell better and you’ll save money. Use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins; they can be used repeatedly and thrown in with your weekly load of towels. Make your own less-toxic cleaning alternatives using baking soda, soap, and vinegar. Open the doors and windows to let the fresh air in and germs and smells out. Indoor air quality is often times worse than the air outside.
Green Marketing
Today’s marketing landscape represents a perfect opportunity to actually reduce your cost of lead acquisition, greatly increase your circulation, and often generate significant resource savings. After design, implementation, reporting and testing of your new initiatives, we can aid you in many aspects of your green marketing campaign.
EnviroProfit can help your business reduce your marketing costs dramatically and help you compete directly with your largest competitors by leveling the playing field! (Oh, and we can show you more environmentally friendly and sustainable ways of doing it – for less than you are spending now.)
Are your marketing efforts “green”? Are they producing the results you need?
As consumers, we have changed the way we make purchases more in the last few years than over the last few decades.
- Junk mail is passé.
- Spam is so annoying that it has become almost a guaranteed way to turn potential customers away.
- Print ads in magazines and newspapers are just as expensive as they ever were…
(Well, almost – publishers are feeling the pinch as well.) - And have you seen a print ad recently that doesn’t have a web address and maybe even a reference to the advertiser’s social network?You know there’s a reason for this – you even know what that reason is, but what, exactly, “r u 2 do?”
EnviroProfit can assist you with any or all of this, or you can go directly to some of our partners and handle it yourself. Either way, we’re here to help when you ask.
This stuff works. Please contact us and we will show you how. Here are some of the services you can expect if you work with us:
- Initial rollout of all green initiatives and new programs.
- Press Releases
- Client/end user “how you have made an impact” info packet.
- e-Mail Marketing Campaign Setup – You only need to order it!
- Green Direct Mail Campaign Setup – You only need to order it!
- Green Advertising Material Setup – You only need to order it!
- Social Network Marketing Campaign Setup – If you think you’re ready! Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn: Make them all work for you and play by the rules.
- Access to detailed marketing results.
There’s even more that you can do.
Please explore our site and continue learning about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and how it can create savings efficiencies, promote sustainability and help “Save the Planet” while uncovering the “EnviroProfit” hidden in your operating costs.