1) ENERGY SAVERS back to top
- Turn off lights in offices and conference rooms when they are not in use
- Turn off office equipment when it's not needed [night or on the weekends.] About 30 to 40% of office equipment is left on at night and on weekends
- In the winter, turn your thermostat down to 68 degrees or below. Reduce the setting to 55 degrees at the end of the day. (For each 1 degree you turn down the thermostat in the winter, you'll save up to 5% on your heating costs)
- Place outdoor signs on a timer so they only run until 1:00 am, saving electricity during non-peak hours
- If your company's computers are on a network and you can't shut them off at night, be sure to turn off your monitor. When counted together, computer monitors use more energy than any other piece of office equipment
- Use upgradeable PCs instead of having to buy new computers every few years
- Encourage your company to participate in the EPA's Energy Star Office Equipment and Green Lights program
In a small office, Energy Star equipment can save more than 3,500 kilowatt hours of electricity per year (about $265 dollars at current energy prices).
Overall, the EPA estimates that the Energy Star Office Equipment program will be the equivalent of taking 807,000 cars off the road.
Participants in the EPA Green Lights program are cutting their power bills in half and earn an average 58% return on their investment.
2) THE PAPERLESS OFFICE back to top
Save time, money, and resources by converting paper files into electronic documents. What does that mean? Fewer file cabinets. Not to mention that it can cost over $2,000 each year to maintain a filing cabinet and about $25,000 to fill it. One estimate even states that about 3 percent of your filing cabinet documents will become misplaced, and it will cost about $120 in labor to find each one. On the other hand, storing files on disk or CD-ROM is much less expensive in human time and in storage space.
For example:
One floppy disc= 750 sheets
100Mb hard disk= a four-drawer filing cabinet
CD-ROM= an entire roomful of paper
FACT! Every year, enough paper is thrown away to make a 12-foot-high wall from New York to California.
Here are more ways to end the paperchase in your office.
Copy on both sides of the paper. This is especially efficient for internal documents and drafts.
Reduce documents to fit two pages onto one. Use for circulating rough drafts or file copies of documents.
Use lighter weight paper. Lighter paper requires less energy and fewer raw materials when it's manufactured.
Find alternatives to mail. Use email, voice mail and fax modem transmissions whenever possible.
Eliminate unnecessary subscriptions. Cancel newspapers, newsletters, and magazines you don't read or can access online. Take your name off mailing lists to reduce junk mail.
Do a "paper" audit. Determine the kind and volume of paper waste your company generates, then take steps to use less.
Make recycling easy. Place recycling bins in high-traffic areas, including the conference room and kitchen as well as by the copier and fax machines.
Be like Memolink employees! Make notepads and scratch paper out of spare/used paper/outdated letterhead.
Use notice boards rather than circulating non-urgent memo's.
Does your business recycle?
3) OFFICE SUPPLIES back to top
Tools of the trade
Pens, pencils and other writing tools can leave their mark on more than paper. Rather than getting reused or recycled, these implements usually end up getting tossed in the garbage. Choose recycled. Several pencil and pen manufacturers now make their products from recycled plastic, newspapers, fabrics, even money. Read the label on the package before you buy.
- Buy refillables. "Mechanical" pencils and ballpoint pens can be refilled hundreds of times, as long as the pen or pencil casing itself does not break.
- Avoid toxics. An increasing number of pens and markers are now available in nontoxic ink, as are crayons made from soybean oil instead of more dangerous chemicals.
- Pick the best package. Buy pens, pencils, and markers in bulk or out of reusable displays rather than in single plastic packages.
Furniture The choices for buying eco-friendly office furniture are plentiful. Here's where you can start when making a new purchase: - Buy recycled. More and more shelving and countertops are being made from recycled alternatives to conventional wood or fiberboard products.
- Consider "Wheatboard." This alternative is manufactured from straw that is normally discarded when wheat is harvested. Instead, the waste is compacted into a sturdy fiberboard that is more economical than standard wood particle board.
- Avoid tropical woods. Select domestic woods (pine, cherry, oak) over tropical varieties like teak and mahogany.
- Try metal. Seek out one of the growing number of manufacturers that incorporate recycled steel or aluminum into their furniture designs.
- Avoid VOCs. VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, are gases emitted by furniture glues, some of the foams used in making cushions and some types of carpeting. These gases contribute to indoor air pollution and can cause headaches and other personal discomfort.
Check with furniture manufacturers before you buy to select items that emit low or no VOCs.
- Read the label. Some foam cushions are manufactured from polyurethane foam made from HCFCs, chemicals that contribute to global warming and the destruction of the ozone layer. Look for less harmful alternatives like foams made with acetone, isoprene and even carbon dioxide.
- Open the windows. When new furniture is installed, air out the room to reduce the indoor air quality impact.
- Refurbish. Before you buy new furniture, consider the possibility of recovering or refinishing your current stock. Wood can be restained or repainted, cushions can be recovered.
- Donate, don't trash. Contact community groups, churches, shelters and even schools before you discard used desks, filing cabinets and other office furnishings.
4) COMMUTER RESOURCES back to top Tired of a long commute to work, spending your paycheck on gasoline and car repairs? Then try some alternatives! By taking advantage of carpooling, work-week alternatives and public transportation, you save time, money, and energy... three things that you can spend in better ways than sitting in traffic!
Considering the cost of gasoline, insurance, wear and tear and parking, the typical commuter pays over $200 per month. That's over $2,400 per year, or put differently, the same as a $3,500 raise in your salary!
Save Money- You have more choices than simply driving alone to work. You could reduce commute time, avoid traffic congestion, relax on your way to work, and many more benefits.
Change How You Work- By telecommuting or changing your work hours, you can reduce commute costs and save time. Your employer will appreciate your working with fewer distractions and increased productivity.
Your employer may offer you an option of avoiding rush hour altogether. By varying when you work, you can choose to avoid traffic or to receive an "extra" day off!
- Compressed Work Weeks - Compressed work weeks allow employees to shorten their work week by working longer hours each day. Two common ways of "compressing" the work week is either a "4/40" or "9/80".
The 4/40 has the employee work four days per week of ten hours each day. One day each week is granted as an "off-day".
- Staggered Work Hours - Staggered Work Hours spread out the arrival and departure times of employees. If you feel you are more productive in the earlier portion of the day, then with staggered work hours, you could arrive at 7:00 am and depart by 4:00 pm. Or, conversely, you prefer working later into the evening, then arrive by 9:30 am and depart by 6:30 pm. Staggered work hours will help you avoid the worst of rush hour congestion.
- Flextime - Flextime is similar to staggered work hours, in that the employee adjusts his or her arrival and departure times. However, flextime takes this the next step, by allowing the employee to flexibly identify arrival and departure times on a daily basis. This means that some days are "short" days, and others are "long" days. As long as the employee works 40 hours per week, then he or she can choose when to work.
5) THE AIR YOU BREATHE back to top
Indoor Air Pollution
According to the EPA, the air within homes and other buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air. People spend about 90 percent of their time indoors. And unlike so many other forms of pollution, indoor air pollution is relatively easy to correct.
Some common sources of indoor air pollution include new carpet; paint; mold and mildew build up, particularly in ventilation systems; tobacco smoke; restroom air fresheners; chemicals emitted by copying machines; and formaldehyde and other chemicals that can seep out of pressed-wood products like particleboard, plywood paneling, and fiber-board.
To keep your air as fresh as possible, consider these tips:
- Circulate the air. Wherever possible, select offices where windows open _ and crack them open every now and then. If you install new carpeting or cabinets at home or in the office, open windows and turn on fans until the new smells dissipate. Make sure that copying machines and other equipment are located in rooms that are properly ventilated.
- Consider the alternatives. Many chemically-sensitive consumers opt for carpet made from wool or cotton rather than synthetic fibers; others choose cabinets made from solid wood and finished with water-based varnishes rather than those constructed from particleboard or fiberboard.
- Keep it clean. Rather than use synthetic air fresheners to mask an unpleasant odor, find the source of the odor, and clean it up. Then open the windows for fresh air, or use flowers or potpourri to add a more natural scent to your room. If necessary, install air filters and purifiers and other air cleaning devices.
- Ask smokers to smoke outside. It is not unreasonable to ask visitors to your home to take a smoking break out of doors. Many offices have already instituted a smoking policy that minimizes nonsmoker exposure to environmental tobacco smoke; if yours hasn't, broach the topic with your office manager.
- Speak up. If you or others at your office are experiencing health or comfort problems that you suspect may be caused by indoor air pollution, discuss the issue with your supervisor. Talk with your own physician and report your problems to the company physician, nurse, or health officer so that they can make appropriate recommendations.
6) PLANTS ARE GOOD FOR OFFICES!
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You can easily freshen your office air with plants! Common indoor plants may provide a valuable weapon in the fight against rising levels of indoor air pollution. Those plants in your office or home are not only decorative, but NASA scientists are finding them to be surprisingly useful in absorbing potentially harmful gases and cleaning the air inside modern buildings.
NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) have announced the findings of a 2-year study that suggest a sophisticated pollution-absorbing device: the common indoor plant may provide a natural way of helping combat "Sick building syndrome."
Top 10 plants most effective in removing formaldehyde, benzene, and carbon monoxide from the air.
- Bamboo Palm
- Chinese Evergreen
- English Ivy
- Gerbera Daisy
- Janet Craig
- Marginata
- Mass cane/Corn Plant
- Mother-in-Law's Tongue
- Pot Mum
- Peace Lily
- Warneckii
Sources of airborne pollution :
Formaldehyde: Foam Insulation, Plywood & Particle Board, Carpeting, Furniture, Paper Tissues, Household Cleaners
Benzene:Tobacco Smoke, Petrol, Synthetic Fibers, Plastics, Inks, Rubber, Detergents
Trichloroethylene:Dry Cleaning, Inks, Adhesives, Varnishes, Lacquers/Paints
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