Lot Five
How Green Is Your Workplace?
You can’t move these days without hearing about how you can cut your CO2 emissions in your home, with ad campaigns, government policies and constant news coverage. Millions of ordinary people are going around fitting energy saving lightbulbs, switching off their TVs properly and recycling their garbage.The reality, however, is that our individual impact on the environment is just a drop in the ocean.The truth is that the largest part of the global enviornmental burden comes from businesses and organisations. And just like any economy of scale, in larger organisations even a small change can have a huge impact.
Yes, I hear you say. But its not my responsibility. Reducing the company’s carbon footprint is my boss’s job, not mine. Hell no. Anyone who has a job can make a big difference to their employer’s CO2 emissions.Additionally, this can have a far more powerful impact compared to the difference you can make just at home.
Here are some pointers, small and large, on achieving a greener workplace:
- Recycle office waste. The sheer volume of plastic, paper and card chucked out by the average office is massive in comparison to your household output. Why not try bringing in recycle containers in accessible locations. Oftentimes there are government initiatives to help you get this done for free.
- Reduce car usage. Get a car pooling system going to reduce carbon emissions from all those unneccesary exhaust pipes. Even better, ditch the motor and get a bike, or walk to the office.
- Install eco-friendly lightbulbs. Switching a few bulbs in the house conserves only a small amount of energy. But think of how much more energy is used in lighting up your office and you begin to see how powerful a simple thing like switching to energy saving bulbs could be.
- Green Computers. No business today is without a large number of computers and IT, and the energy usage of these is massive. Switching off your computer monitor is one simple but effective measure you can start with. Why leave it there, though – for real results, get on to your IT manager about reviewing the company’s “green baseline”. Get them to perform some proper asset tracking on all office IT equipment, using professional asset management software, a business can dramatically reduce its carbon footprint and help meet increasingly stringent government environmental requirements.
- Campaigning. Take matters into your own hands. Gather yourself a like-minded platoon at work and start campaigning change and you’ll see big things happen.If the management aren’t taking their environmental obligations seriously, there’s nothing wrong with exerting a bit of pressure on them to do so, and making a big difference in the process. And in these tough economic times, managers will be keen to implement green intitiatives because very often they are also great money savers (see the IBM ad above!). For example, companies involved in transporting goods and supplies often generate millions of tons of CO2. Pushing them to properly review their transport and logistics management and make the smallest of improvements can save them big money and dramatically reduce their carbon footprint in the process.
These are just some ideas. This article was primarly aimed at getting your juices flowing about this issue. Agree? Disagree? Feel free to air your thoughts!
David Bowie – Five Years Live on Old Grey Whistle Test 1972
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