Going Green Tips

It's not easy be green.....

But it is easier than you thin. You can start right now modifying your property, business processes, and corporate culture, to include Green Thinking.

In fact, if you have 20 minutes (and believe me they will be well spent) The Story of Stuff will explain why Going Green is our only option.

For example, in the book Cheaper By the Dozen, which was about a family living through the depression, the children are taught to turn off lights as they move through the house. Do you do that at home? Do you do it at the office? If the sun is beaming through the windows, do you turn the overhead lights off or dim them?

Save Power

• Is the thermostat on a timer to change the temperature according to the time of day?
• Do you use heat generated by machinery to heat the building?
• Have you investigated the cost of solar panels, skylights or green roofing? All of them can cut your heating/AC bills.
• Have you joined an organization like Bullfrog Power? Yes it means paying more for electricity, but the power you buy supports alternative sources of energy.
• Some companies are in a position to generate electricity and feed it back into the grid. Is that viable in your case and does your local grid allow you to do it? If not, write them a letter and ask them to consider making the changes that would permit you to share.
• Do you have a policy that demands staff select energy efficient appliances from computer hardware to coffee makers or to buy organic or recyclable products when there is an option?

Reduce and Recycle

• Have you put a policy in place for saving paper and ink? If it doesn't need to be printed, don't print it.
• Have you put a policy in place for recycling? Provide a list by disposal bins that shows what can be recycled in your area.
• Use the backs of printed documents for scrap paper (make sure the other side isn't confidential)? Buy second-hand furnishings (they're called antiques) and sell cast-offs to staff.
• If you have older equipment, do you trash it, send it to a recycling company that recovers the parts or pass it to a school or social service agency that can give it more years of service? In Waterloo Region, the Working Centre accepts older computer equipment which they use to train unemployed workers to fix. The end-product is sold to people on low or fixed budgets to help them get online themselves.

Source Green

• Ask your suppliers if they can provide green products as an alternative and if they can't help them find the products you need or switch suppliers.
• Find out what your utility companies are doing to go Green and if you have a choice, switch to those who have green policies.
• Source Green products.

Audits Show You Where You can Improve

• How many of your processes are online? Electronic whiteboarding, cloud computing, and sharing documents online, allows people to hold meetings from home.
• Teleconference to avoid flying across country to events.
• Many HR services and almost all Canadian reporting requirements can be handled as online transactions.
• Much of your banking could be online.
• Do a quick audit to find tasks you currently do in-house that are outside your core skills. What resources do they use: time, software, tools, electricity.... What is the total real cost? What are going rates to outsource the task?
• Allow staff to work part-time from home. Although there is added cost to them, surveys show that overall, it is more energy efficient.
• Reward staff who use public transit by giving them vouchers to take the bus. Every staff person who comes by public transit saves you a parking space.
• Provide bike racks and facilities so that people who walk or ride to work can freshen up before they begin their jobs.
• Encourage car pooling, not just for coming and going from work, but for activities that take people off-site.

 

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