A Greener Office

The average working North American spends a quarter of their year in the office - 8 hours a day, five days a week. What better place to consider making green changes to help out the environment?

Here are 10 ways you can make your office more green:

Paper - Find out where your paper is coming from. By using recycled paper you can save yourself a bit of money while also supporting the environmental slogan: reduce, reuse, recycle.

Lighting - What type of light bulbs do you use in the office? Inefficient incandescent lighting is being phased out by the Canadian government by 2012, why not get a head start and phase them out from your office right now? Try Compact Flourescent Lights (CFL) - they’ll save your office some energy and money!

Computers - Two years ago, Google balked at how much energy was being wasted by energy inefficient computers: “It’s like putting a 400-horsepower engine in every car, just because some cars have to tow large trailers every once in a while,” Mr. Calwell of Google said. Energy Star has released new standards for computers wishing to qualify for the Energy Star label. Do your office computers make the cut? Check out the full list here [Excel File].

Computer Power Management - Are you using your computers power management features? By using your sleep mode and hibernation settings, your office could save up to $75 per computer per year. The Environment Protection Agency recommends setting your computers to hibernate after 30-60 minutes of inactivity or enter into sleep mode after 5-20 minutes of inactivity.

Printers - Not only should you be using remanufactured printer cartridges, but you should also keep an eye on your printer’s energy efficiency. Some things you should look for in a printer include…

• the ability to print on both sides of the paper - saves energy and paper.
• energy saver mode - limits wasted energy.
• speed of printing - the faster it prints, the more efficient it is for long runs.

Photocopiers - These machines require more energy than anything else in your office. The most common type of copier is an analogue printer, which requires heat and pressure fusing (the most energy intensive type of copier on the market). There are two other options that you might want to consider if you have less demanding needs: laser copiers or inkjet copiers.

Some other features you’ll want in a photocopier include standby mode, warm-up mode, energy-saver mode, automatic duplexing, copy-size reduction, pre-programming, and the capability to send large documents directly from the workspace to the printer (without having to go through a central server).

Water Coolers - Coolers in businesses and homes consume over 4 billion Kilowatt hours per year… that’s enough energy to run all of Kenya, a country with a population of 34 million, for an entire year! It’s alright to like your water cold, but you should be sure to use a cooler with excellent insulation and chilling mechanisms to reduce the energy output of your office.

Air Conditioning and Heat - As we’ve mentioned before, adjusting your thermostat a couple of degrees and dressing appropriately can cut a lot out of your energy bill.

Pens and Pencils - Yeah, even the little things matter when it comes to creating a more sustainable environment. By using pens and pencils that have been recycled, you’ll support companies like your own - ones that want to make a difference.

Furniture - Your desks, chairs, clocks, bookcases, signs, and other furniture all took materials and energy to create. There are more environmental furniture suppliers forming every year, look around to see how you can support a local supplier that is focussed on doing the right thing.

When you’re looking at creating a greener office, it’s important to keep the big picture in mind. Is it right to throw out a perfectly fine computer for a new one that saves a bit of energy? Should you toss out your old furniture to buy the environmentally trendy one you saw the other day?

Of course not!

It takes energy and materials to create a new machine or product - enough that it will far outweigh the minor savings you’ll find in your office.

“Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” is the simplest slogan out there and is in perfect sequence. By applying it to your office you’ll automatically discover how to be green.

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