There is no greater service a business can provide than contributing to the betterment of their community. These contributions are often measured in dollars contributed towards a manufactured infrastructure. Now, they have come to measure what we put in and take out of our planet.
Reducing your carbon footprint works on an individual basis to conserve, even ration, vital resources such as water, electricity, and fuel. Communal entities, such as businesses, have even greater responsibilities toward conservancy.
Below is a list of ways businesses, both large and small, can reduce their carbon footprints in ways that will spread better public relations than any ad campaign.
Manage Your Energy Output
Between running computer servers, the air conditioner, or the break room fridge, your office needs a lot of juice to keep running. In order to limit your business’ energy usage, it is best to use energy management solutions. These programs set a budget to be used on all of your necessary utilities. The assessments can either be handled online or by hiring an emission-conscious office manager.
Reduce Unnecessary Paperwork
Some business dealings require transactions to be documented in hard paperwork. Other, smaller deals may not need anything more than a digital receipt. Important office memos can be sent out as e-mails to reduce waste paper.
You can also set your copiers to print out two sided documents. You may even want to switch up your copy paper to a sustainable product made from recycled materials.
Adopt a Digital Document Platform
Long reports and business documentation can take up much needed paper and ink. Electronic platforms, such as Adobe Acrobat, allow the user to create their report on a word processor and then convert to a PDF. Important documents containing sensitive information should be encrypted and sent through a private line to ensure secure delivery.
Donate Gently Used Office Equipment
Getting new office equipment can be fulfilling until you realize you need to make room. Instead of throwing them in the trash, any gently used machines or furniture can be donated to any number of non-profit organizations or traded with associated businesses.
Groups like Recycles.org accept used office equipment to supply charitable organizations. On the other end of the spectrum, we have Freecycle.org who have built a green marketplace devoted to keeping quality, pre-owned items out of landfills.
Slay Those “Energy Vampires”
The term, “energy vampires,” doesn’t refer to a cheap horror movie you’d find at your old video store. “Energy vampires” are everyday appliances you keep plugged in at your office. Even when computer monitors, television screens, and printers are shutdown they are still leeching power.
Ask your employees to turn off their computers at the end of the day and tell them to unplug the power cords as well. Switching to laptops will also make the switching off process easier. Encourage smart battery usage by having the computers run on power saver mode. For safety reasons, laptop batteries should only charge to their full 100% to avoid any fire hazards