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Written by greeniac1217   
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Tuesday, 26 February 2008

Green Your Office

Many Corporations are making the move to green lately.Not only can a company do good for the environment by greening their operations, but they can save some money and help their bottom line, too. In fact, IBM estimates it saved $17.8 million worldwide in 1991 alone just by encouraging employees to turn off equipment and lights when not needed! This fact, along with many others, are motivation for some of us to take the initiative to “green our office.” If you are one to move in this direction, below are some simple ideas to take action.

Computers
Computers are good for minimizing paper waste, but they are energy guzzlers.
*Always turn off and unplug your computer and monitor when you leave for the day.
*Put your computer to sleep and avoid screen savers when not in use.
*Use a smaller monitor or consider a laptop.
*If you are purchasing a new computer, ask for an energy efficient model.

Equipment and Supplies
Manufacturing materials that we would typically see in our office can waste energy, reduce our air quality, and contribute to landfill waste.
*Buy used furniture or furniture that is nontoxic, made from sustainable wood or other renewable resources.
*Buy used computers, copiers, etc and recycle your old ones.
*Reduce vending machine waste or bring your own food in recyclable containers.
*Do not use styrofome. Instead try mugs or biodegradable products.
*Unplug all equipment at the end of the day or when not in use for extended periods of time.

Paper and Printing Products
In the U.S., over 40 percent of municipal solid waste is paper – about 71.8 million tons each year. Reducing paper product waste is very important and very easy.
*Always use both sides of the paper and reduce your margins when printing.
*Shred and/or reuse any unwanted paper and boxes.
*Buy chlorine free paper with the highest post-consumer recycled content available.
*Provide paper recycling everywhere-by every printer, on every floor, etc.
*Send memos and other distributed documents over email.
*Store manuals, policies and other documents online or in PDF format.

Electricity
Small changes in your air conditioning, lighting, fixtures, etc can make a huge difference on your energy consumption.
*Make it a habit to turn off lights and utilize natural light when possible.
*Buy Energy Star rated light bulbs and fixtures. (www.energystar.gov)
*Replace all light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.
*Consider using solar power, solar panels, and solar shading.
*Turn your thermostat down a few degrees lower and create and after hours and weekend setting.
*Check to see if you can get your energy through an energy efficient company.

Transportation
American workers spend an average of 47 hours per year commuting through rush hour traffic. This adds up to 3.7 billion hours and 23 billion gallons of gas wasted in traffic each year.1 Commuting to work can have a major impact at your office and on our environment.
*Consider carpooling, taking public transit, biking, walking, or a mix of these.
*If you can not give up a car, consider buying a hybrid or another high-efficiency vehicle.
*Work from home whenever possible.
*Allow alternative hours like working longer but less days.
*Maximize teleconferencing, email, or conference call gatherings.


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1 http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/12/how_to_green_your_work.php




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Last Updated ( Thursday, 10 February 2011 )

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Green Facts

  • It takes 6,000,000 trees to make 1 year's worth of tissues for the world.

  • The World Health Organization estimates that 2 million people die prematurely worldwide every year due to air pollution.

  • 82 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from burning fossil fuels.

  • Americans throw away more than 120 million cell phones each year, which contribute 60,000 tons of waste to landfills annually.

  • Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans every day.

  • In the United States, automobiles produce over 20 percent of total carbon emissions. Walk or bike and you'll save one pound of carbon for every mile you travel.

  • Recycling for one year at Stanford University saved the equivalent of 33,913 trees and the need for 636 tons of iron ore, coal, and limestone.

  • American workers spend an average of 47 hours per year commuting through rush hour traffic. This adds up to 23 billion gallons of gas wasted in traffic each year.

  • A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water.

  • A laptop consumes five times less electricity than a desktop computer.

  • Turning off the tap when brushing your teeth can save as much as 10 gallons a day per person.

  • A tree that provides a home with shade from the sun can reduce the energy required to run the air conditioner and save an additional 200 to 2,000 pounds of carbon over its lifetime.

  • Recycling 1 million laptop computers can save the amount of energy used by 3,657 homes in the U.S. over the course of a year.

  • A steel mill using recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution, and mining wastes by about 70%.

  • Less than 1% of electricity in the United States is generated from solar power.

  • One recycled aluminum can will save enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours.

  • Refrigerators built in 1975 used 4 times more energy than current models.

  • An aluminum can that is thrown away instead of recycled will still be a can 500 years from now!

  • Rainforests are being cut down at the rate of 100 acres per minute.

  • States with bottle deposit laws have 35-40% less litter by volume.

  • You’ll save two pounds of carbon for every 20 glass bottles that you recycle.

  • Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.

  • Glass can be recycled over and over again without ever wearing down.

  • Bamboo absorbs 35% more carbon dioxide than equivalent stands of trees.

  • Due to tiger poaching, habitat destruction, and other human-tiger conflicts, tigers now number around 3,200—a decrease in population by about 70% from 100 years ago.

  • Washing your clothes in cold or warm instead of hot water saves 500 pounds of carbon dioxide a year, and drying your clothes on a clothesline six months out of the year would save another 700 pounds.

  • Every week about 20 species of plants and animals become extinct.

  • You will save 100 pounds of carbon for each incandescent bulb that you replace with a compact fluorescent bulb (CFL), over the life of the bulb.

  • Current sea ice levels are at least 47% lower than they were in 1979.

  • Nudge your thermostat up two degrees in the summer and down two degrees in the winter to prevent 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

  • 77% of people who commute to work by car drive alone.

  • For every 38,000 bills consumers pay online instead of by mail, 5,058 pounds of greenhouse gases are avoided and two tons of trees are preserved.

  • Recycling 100 million cell phones can save enough energy to power 18,500 homes in the U.S. for a year.

  • You will save 300 pounds of carbon dioxide for every 10,000 miles you drive if you always keep your car’s tires fully inflated.

  • Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy used to make the material from scratch.

  • If every U.S. household turned the thermostat down by 10 degrees for seven hours each night during the cold months, and seven hours each weekday, it would prevent nearly gas emissions.

  • In California homes, about 10% of energy usage is related to TVs, DVRs, cable and satellite boxes, and DVD players.

  • Shaving 10 miles off of your weekly driving pattern can eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

  • Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every 3 months