Reducing Your Carbon Footprints - Going Green At Work.

With many of us spending a major chunk of our time at work, the office is another area besides our home where simple changes to the way we work can result in drastic reduction in the amount of resources and energy being consumed plus the additional benefit of saving money.

With offices being major producers of paper, printing and electronic waste, adopting environmental friendly practices like recycling and waste reduction, can have a tremendous and beneficial impact on our environment. With an estimated 3.8 million acres of U.S. forests cleared every year to meet Americans demand for wood pulp, implementing paper waste reduction practices for example, can drastically reduce the need for large scale deforestation. Refurbishing and reusing computers and other electronic products will also go a long way in reducing the ever growing amount of hard-to-dispose and hazardous electronic waste.

Here are some green tips that you can easily adopt in your office and contribute to a better environment :

1. Go paperless where possible
- Think before you print and print only when you really need to. Read documents off the screen and store them online. Post employee instructions, manuals and other similiar materials online rather than distributing hard copies.
- Use a fax-modem to reduce paper usage as it allows documents to be sent directly from a computer without the need for a printed hard copy.

2. Print smarter
- Print on both sides of paper or recycle old documents for printing on one side.
- Avoid color printing and print in draft mode whenever possible.
- Buy chlorine-free paper as products bleached with chlorine leached harmful by-products like dioxins into the environment.
- Choose a lighter stock of paper, which uses less paper fibre, and consider alternatives made from bamboo, hemp, organic cotton or kenaf.
- Consider buying copier paper produced from farmed trees as paper produced from farmed trees which are grown and replaced, have minimal environmental impact.

3. Recycle
- Recycle toner and ink cartridges and buy re-manufactured ones. Companies like Dell and Hewlett-Packard have schemes to take back used printing cartridges from their customers for recycling.
- Recycle everything that your company collects including fax paper, junk mail and catalogs and check if your suppliers take back packaging for re-use.
- Place recycling bins in accessible, high-traffic areas and provide clear information about what can and cannot be recycled.

4. Improve computer efficiency
- Turn off your computer at the end of the day. Leaving it on overnight increases energy consumption by more than 50 per cent, increases mechanical stress and reduces its lifespan.
- Turn off the monitor when not in use and setting your computer to "sleep" mode during breaks reduces energy consumption by as much as 60 per cent.
- Invest in energy-saving electronic products for e.g switching to LCD monitors as they use half the energy of old, bulky CRT ones.
- Refurbish and reuse old computers or donate them to organizations that will refurbish and find them new homes.

5. Save electricity
- Turn off the lights, air-conditioners and other apliances when leaving a room. Utilize natural light whenever you can.
- Use energy-rated light bulbs and fixtures, which use at least two-thirds less energy than regular lighting, and install timers or motion sensors that automatically shut off lights when they're not needed.

6. Improve communication efficiency
- Reduce the amount of traveling by investing in video-conferencing and other technological solutions.
- Make it a habit to commute by train, bus or subway whenever possible instead of a rental car when traveling on business.

7. Create a healthy office environment.
- Brighten up your workplace with plants which absorbs indoor pollution.
- Use non-toxic cleaning products.
- Buy furniture and carpeting and use paint that are free of volatile organic compounds that will not leach toxic chemicals.

*Related post :
- Going green at home.
- Calculating your carbon footprints.


Spread the
green message
with mouse pads
from zazzle.com

Reducing Your Carbon Footprints - Going Green At Home.

You don't have to take drastic measures to save planet Earth from the effects of global warming, neither does it requires massive changes to the way you live. Going green and leading an environmental friendly lifestyle does not have to be about grand gestures.

Simple changes to how you live, play and get around can make all the difference and you can even save money in the process. For example, choosing to take the trains or bus instead of driving your car can keep about 4,500kg of CO2 out of the environment a year and will also result in a bundle of savings for you. Replacing 3 incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs in your household will result in less electricity used by up to 4 times.

Here are some green tips for an area which anyone can easily adopt and reduce their carbon footprints - your home.

Electricity
- Switch off lights, fans, air-conditioners, televisions, computers and other appliances when not in use. Turn-off "standby" mode and pull out the plug as well.
- Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs and install dimers, timers and sensors.

Air-conditioning
- Do not overcool air-conditioned rooms. Set the temperature at between 25 to 26 deg C and remember to close all doors and windows when running the units.
- Check air-con filters once a month and clean or replace them if necessary. Dirty air filters impede air flow and result in more electricity being consumed.
- Do not place television sets, lamps or other heat-emitting appliances near the air-con thermostat as they will interfere with its ability to regulate the air-con operations, thus making it work harder than it needs to.

Refrigerator
- Decide what you want before you open the door. That way, it doesn't stay open too long and waste energy.
- Cool down hot food before you put it into the fridge so that it does not have to work harder to maintain the temperature.
-Avoid overcrowding the fridge as too many items obstruct air-flow and reduce cooling capabilities.
- Do not position fridge near to a oven or stove.

Washing Machine
- Wash clothes only when you have a full load and choose a cold water wash cycle.
- Use just enough detergent as this will cut the need to rinse again.

Appliances
- Opt for energy-efficient appliances as green tick energy-labelled appliances can result in massive energy savings.

Furniture
- "Green" your furniture. Buy furniture made from sustainable harvested woods and recycled, bio-based or non-toxic materials.
- Bamboo is an excellent option as it is versatile and grows fast. You can also buy second-hand or vintage furniture which does not require further resources to make.

Shopping, eating and drinking
- Where possible, buy in bulk. Buy household necessities like rice, juice and detergent in large sizes as small sizes use relatively more packaging materials and opt for refills instead of throwing bottles away.
- Cut back on consumption of meat. Not only will it do wonders for your health but will help greatly in cutting down emission of greenhouse gases. Estimates by the United Nations point to livestock as contributing to almost a fifth of the world's emissions with cattle being the biggest contributor. They emit methane and nitrous oxide, greenhouse gases that trap more heat than carbon dioxide.

Watch what you throw.
- Learn to compost. Even if you live in an apartment, food waste can be used as compost in your personal or community garden. You can learn more about composting at sites like Compost Guide.com.
- Use recycling bins for your trash like paper, bottles and other materials so that they can be recycled.

*Related posts :
- Calculating Your Carbon Footprint
- How To Make Your Home Environmental Friendly


Spread the
green message
with cups from
zazzle.com