What’s the Big Deal?
A greener workplace can mean 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 employee, whether your office is green already or
still waiting to see the light, some practical steps can
lay the groundwork for a healthy, low-impact workspace.
Let the public know that you and
your business are green - Consumer
interest has driven the decision of some small business
owners to adopt an environmental consciousness.
1.
TryConferencingfrom home or the office
Conferencing / Telecommuting can help you drastically reduce the amount you drive or fly every week. For more information, check
out the Telework Coalition.
Does Working From Home Really Work? Click
Here
2.
Replace a regular
incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light
bulb (cfl) - CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular
bulb. This simple switch will save about 300 pounds of
carbon dioxide a year. If every family in the U.S. made
the switch, we’d reduce carbon dioxide by more than
90 billion pounds! You can purchase CFLs online from the
Energy Federation.
3.
Install a programmable
thermostat
Programmable thermostats will automatically lower the
heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again
in the morning. They can save you $100 a year on your
energy bill.
Clean or replace filters
on your furnace and air conditioner
Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon
dioxide a year.
6.
Do not leave appliances
on standby
Use the "on/off" function on the machine itself.
A TV set that's switched on for 3 hours a day (the average
time Americans spend watching TV) and in standby mode
during the remaining 21 hours uses about 40% of its energy
in standby mode.
7.
Use Recycled Paper
- Use Recycled Paper
Make sure your printer paper is 100% post consumer recycled
paper. Save 5 lbs. of carbon dioxide per ream of paper.
8.
Managing Your Hot-Water
Heater and save energy and money - Wrap your
water heater in an insulation blanket You’ll save
1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple
action. You can save another 550 pounds per year by
setting the thermostat no higher than 120°f. - "To
find out more just about Managing Your Hot-Water Heater"
Or you can visit
"U.S. Department of Energy "
9.
Switch to a Tankless
Water Heater to save energy and money
Buy Minimally Packaged
Goods - Choose products that come with little packaging
and buy refills when you can,
You will also cut down on waste production and energy
use!
12.
Reduce Garbage
- Be sure you’re recycling at home
You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide a year by
recycling half of the waste your household generates.
Earth
911 can help you find recycling resources in your
area.
13.
Get a home energy
audit
Many utilities offer free home energy audits to find where
your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. You
can save up to 30% off your energy bill and 1,000 pounds
of carbon dioxide a year. Energy Star can help you find
an energy specialist.
14.
Weatherize Your office
- Insulate and weatherize your office
Properly insulating your walls and ceilings can save 25%
of your office heating bill and 2,000 pounds of carbon
dioxide a year. Caulking and weather-stripping can save
another 1,700 pounds per year. Energy
Efficient has more information on how to better insulate
your office.
15.
Unplug Un-Used Electronics
- Even when electronic devices are turned off, they use
energy. Save over 1,000 lbs of carbon dioxide and $150
per year.
16.
Switch to Double Pane
Windows - Replace your old single-glazed windows
with double-glazing. This requires a bit of upfront investment,
but will halve the energy lost through windows and pay
off in the long term. If you go for the best the market
has to offer (wooden-framed double-glazed units with low-emission
glass and filled with argon gas), you can even save more
than 70% of the energy lost.
17.
Bring Cloth Bags to
the Market - Reuse your shopping bag
When shopping, it saves energy and waste to use a reusable
bag instead of accepting a disposable one in each shop.
Waste not only discharges CO2 and methane into the atmosphere,
it can also pollute the air, groundwater and soil.
18.
Reduce waste tack
a lunch boxes
Most products we buy cause greenhouse gas emissions in
one or another way, e.g. during production and distribution.
By taking your lunch in a reusable lunch box instead of
a disposable one, you save the energy needed to produce
new lunch boxes.
19.
Inflate Your Tires
- Check your tires weekly to make sure they’re
properly inflated Proper inflation can improve gas mileage
by more than 3%. Since every gallon of gasoline saved
keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere,
every increase in fuel efficiency makes a difference!
20.
Drive carefully and
do not waste fuel
You can reduce CO2 emissions by readjusting your driving
style. Choose proper gears, do not abuse the gas pedal,
use the engine brake instead of the pedal brake when possible
and turn off your engine when your vehicle is motionless
for more than one minute. By readjusting your driving
style you can save money on both fuel and car mantainance.
21.
Change Your Air Filter
- Check your car's air filter monthly. Save 800 lbs. of
carbon dioxide and $130 per year
22.
Buy a Fuel Efficient
Car - For those who are not yet ready to buy a
hybrid vehicle, there are alternatives to the twelve mile
per gallon super-SUVs that were so favorably treated by
the current administration. Right
now, there are many cars that get over 30 miles per gallon.
23.
Keep your car tuned
up
Regular maintenance helps improve fuel efficiency and
reduces emissions. When just 1% of car owners properly
maintain their cars, nearly a billion pounds of carbon
dioxide are kept out of the atmosphere.
24.
Don't leave an empty
roof rack on your car
This can increase fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by
up to 10% due to wind resistance and the extra weight
- removing it is a better idea.
25.
Carpool When You Can
- Start a carpool with your coworkers or classmates
Sharing a ride with someone just 2 days a week will reduce
your carbon dioxide emissions by 1,590 pounds a year.
eRideShare.com
runs a free national service connecting commuters and
travelers
26.
When it is time for
a new car, choose a more fuel efficient vehicle
You can save 3,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year
if your new car gets only 3 miles per gallon more than
your current one. You can get up to 60 miles per gallon
with a hybrid! You can find information on fuel efficiency
on FuelEconomy
and on GreenCars
websites.
27.
Watch An Inconvenient Truth
28.
Encourage Your Employees To Use Public Transportation
29.
Fly less
Air travel produces large amounts of emissions so reducing how much you fly by even one or two trips a year can reduce your emissions significantly. One of the easiest and most convenient ways to save time and money is to consider teleconferencing when possible.
30.
Plant a Tree
- Plant a tree
A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over
its lifetime. Shade provided by trees can also reduce
your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15%. The Arbor
Day Foundation has information on planting and provides
trees you can plant with membership.
31.
Encourage your business
to reduce emissions
You can extend your positive influence on global warming
well beyond your home by actively encouraging other to
take action.
32.
Buy Energy Certificates
- Switch to green power
In many areas, you can switch to energy generated by clean,
renewable sources such as wind and solar. The Green
Power Network is a good place to start to figure out
what’s available in your area.
33.
Encourage the switch
to renewable energy
Successfully combating global warming requires a national
transition to renewable energy sources such as solar,
wind and biomass. These technologies are ready to be deployed
more widely but there are regulatory barriers impeding
them. Take action to break down those barriers with Vote
Solar.
34.
Protect and conserve
forest worldwide
Forests play a critial role in global warming: they store
carbon. When forests are burned or cut down, their stored
carbon is release into the atmosphere - deforestation
now accounts for about 20% of carbon dioxide emissions
each year. Conservation
International has more information on forests and
global warming.
35.
Consider the impact
of your investments
If you invest your money, you should consider the impact
that your investments and savings will have on global
warming. Check out SocialInvest
and Ceres to can
learn more about how to ensure your money is being invested
in companies, products and projects that address issues
related to climate change.
36.
Make your city cool
Cities and states around the country have taken action
to stop global warming by passing innovative transportation
and energy saving legislation. 194 cities nationwide representing
over 40 million people have made this pledge as part of
the U.S.
Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Find out how
to make your city a cool
city.
37.
Tell Congress to act
The McCain Lieberman Climate Stewardship and Innovation
Act would set a firm limit on carbon dioxide emissions
and then use free market incentives to lower costs, promote
efficiency and spur innovation. Tell
your representative to support it.
38.
Make sure your voice
is heard!
Americans must have a stronger commitment from their government
in order to stop global warming and implement solutions
and such a commitment won’t come without a dramatic
increase in citizen lobbying for new laws with teeth.
Get the
facts about U.S. politicians and candidates at Project
Vote Smart and The
League of Conservation Voters. Make sure your voice
is heard by voting!
39.
Share this list!
Send this page via e-mail
to your buddies, digg
it, add it to your favourite bookmark site (like del.icio.us);
and if you're a blogger, blog it: the more people you
will manage to enlighten, the greater YOUR help to save
the planet will be (but please take action on first person
too)!
40.
Use LCD monitors,
which use half the power of CRT's
or traditional models. Buy
energy-efficient equipment, whether a microwave or a copier.
41.
Make sure that "recycle bins"
not "trash cans" are available at every desk.
42.
Use Stainless steel
mugs to replaced styrofoam cups. Instead of a disposable
paper or foam cup, sip that triple-shot soy latte out
of your own travel mug or tumbler. Prevents use of highly
non-biodegradable polystyrene (a.k.a. Styrofoam). While
Styrofoam can be recycled, the facilities that do so are
few and far between, helping contribute to an annual 25
billion cups of trash.
43.
Green Driving
to the environment is often underestimated but you can
make a difference. By driving in a more careful and environmentally
responsible way, you can be a safer driver while you cut
exhaust emissions, save fuel, and at the same time—save
yourself some money at the gas pump.
44.
Avoid excess idling
in non-traffic situations. For example, consider parking
your car and going inside instead of using "drive-up"
lanes.
45.
Avoid "topping-off"
the gas tank when refueling. Overfilling your gas tank
could result in spilled gasoline that contributes to air
pollution when it evaporates.
46.
Remove excess weight.
Unnecessary weight (unneeded items in the trunk for example)
makes the engine work harder and consume more fuel.
47.
The 10 Guidelines
for Ecodesign - Do you understand the MET
matrix (Materials, Energy, Toxicity)? Life
cycle thinking is the basis for environmental policy
development in companies and governments, as reflected
in the Integrated Product Policy of the EU.
48.
Get some small indoor
plants. If you’re lucky enough to have an
office with a window, most any plant should do ok. However,
if you don’t have a window, make sure you do a little
bit of research and check out which plants can survive
in your office without lots of direct sunlight. The best
way to clean your air? Get some houseplants! Forget the
expensive air-filters or ugly ionizers. Select a few house
plants that will not only improve the look of your office
but also up the oxygen and cut down on pollutants.
