How to “Go Green”

Apparently, my last article put some people on the defensive when I pointed out that they don’t live in the greenest city in the country. Fear not! With a few simple steps outlined below, you could do your part to help boost your rankings for next year.

What does it mean to “Go Green”

Unfortunately, “Going Green” by definition is very elusive. This article will not certify you for any type of green credentialing. If you just want to “Go Green” in order to gain more business, you’re missing the bigger picture. I am simply encouraging you to try to do what you can.

It’s so easy

There are a few things you can do that will help to make a big step in the right direction.

1. Use ALL of your paper. Since so much of your business has moved online, you are probably still using paper to write notes on. As techie as I am and as much as I love email, I still write notes on actual paper. Use the back, use the margins, write in between notes you’ve previously written. Working for a title company, I see how much waste is created in this industry (we still don’t print double sided). According to RISMedia, “It is estimated you can save 20% on paper by everyone following these simple rules. This can save $70 per employee, per year or $7000 in just a 100 employee office! An employee in a typical business generates 1.5 pounds of waste paper per day, most of which is NOT recycled.”
2. Turn off lights. Depending on the type of bulb determines when you should turn it off. My office faces west, but I honestly get enough light through the windows that I don’t need to even turn on my lights. My coworkers think I either forgot to turn them on or I’m simply not there, but when I tell them I’m saving power, they at least think about it.
3. Work from home. I know many of you pay desk fees so you want to get your money’s worth, but working from home saves significantly on mileage which in turn impacts emissions.
4. Change some bulbs. I still talk to people who think the compact fluorescent lights (CFL) provide an inferior light. My parents used to joke that I wanted to house to look like an operating room, so I love lots of great light. I have changed all of my bulbs (I’ll admit, except for the dimmable ones) with CFL’s. They’re cheap now. Costco has them for great prices. They don’t go out nearly as often as incandescents. Dimmable ones are now available, I just can’t find them anywhere on me. When I’m done here, I’m going to order some online. According to Energy Star, “If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.”
5. Turn off your computer and accessories. If you leave everything on 24/7, you are spending an average of $138 per year per computer. Your peripherals are still drawing power even though they are in standby. Consider the Smart Strip (Oprah even recommends them), which uses your computer as the “command appliance” and when it turns off, it completely shuts down power to your peripherals as well. They pay for themselves within about 4-6 months in most cases. Check Amazon, since they are frequently out of stock from the manufacturer after the Oprah endorsement.
6. Buy Energy Star. The next office mini-fridge, printer or computer should be Energy Star. I’m not saying you should replace every single product you have, but when it’s time, spend the time to look up which products are best since they will pay for themselves in the long run. The Energy Star site will even tell you how much more efficient one product is compared to the next.

Little steps. None of these are expensive or difficult or dramatically life changing, but they all help. For those of you who are doing it, thank you. If you have more ideas, please feel free to share them in the comments.