Today is Blog Action Day--the once-a-year time when bloggers pull together to blog on one topic, thereby raising awareness of an issue that impacts us all.
This year's topic is Climate Change. What follows are our contributions to the conversation. We hope you'll join in--sharing whatever you like about this interesting--and challenging--topic!
Paper reduction - a big saver!
(contributed by Gloria)
According to GreenAndSave.com, a paper reduction program can save the average office $1,250 per year. They report that paper is the number one item used and wasted in offices. Implementing a strategy to monitor your usage goes a long way in helping to reduce paper consumption in your office.
In my own office, I've utilized several methods of cutting down on paper consumption. It's not that difficult to measure consumption in a SOHO organization. If, however, you're working with a larger organization, determining a good method to reduce paper consumption can be a challenge. Green and Save has composed a helpful FAQ page that addresses strategies to help any organization (of any size). Great implementing ideas, too, are listed here (http://www.greenandsave.com/greenoffice/faq#3).
Reduce by...working virtually!
(contributed by Sharon)
Another way to green your office is to work virtually. As bloggers for The Virtual Wire (and Virtual Assistants), we all embody being green just by going to work in our home office every day and not commuting to offices. There are lots of ways that you can be green as well, even if you are in the corporate world. It all boils down to personal responsibility and doing small things to add up to big change.
A call to action
(Contributed by Rob)
Now is always the right time to start something. For example, how might you —you the individual— contribute to climate change?
You’ve just read how Sharon cuts down on paper consumption in her home office. At one of the colleges I teach for, fax orders for supplies are no longer allowed. At another, the majority of memos, letters, and reports come through as e-mail attachments.
Each thing we
as individuals do to save energy can contribute to helping climate change on a massive scale. If I work from my home office for one day, and don't drive to work, I will save the environment (conservatively speaking) 100 pounds or more of carbon dioxide emissions.
Simple things count.
In our home office we have an Energy Star compliant monitor. The Energy Star labeling / rating system was born in 1992 in the United States, and has since grown world-wide. When practiced, it is known to “reduce greenhouse gas emissions” (see this article for more information). By itself, our home office may have very little impact on climate change. But multiply that one appliance by several, or by Energy Star appliances used globally, and there can be a very notable impact.
We can and should take ownership of our micro environments. If we do simple things like using a computer’s power management feature, or not print when we don't have to, or printing double-sided when we do have to, before we know it we are helping our macro environment: our shared world.
Small cogs in a big wheel...but we matter!
(contributed by Petra)
We are small cogs in a big wheel, but we can all do our part to help the environment
Some would say that a Virtual Assistant business naturally helps the environment because we are not in an office. But we do not always think about the obvious energy consumption issues that we face in our home or small offices. The UK local government business website suggests some great ways to ensure that as a small business owner that I am doing my best to conserve energy in my business
Here are my thoughts on some of the Top Ten Tips provided by the Business Link.
Item no 1. Turn off all office equipment when you're not using it - overnight, at weekends and during bank holidays.
A single computer and monitor left on 24 hours a day will cost over £50 a year. Switching it off out of hours and enabling standby features could reduce this to £15 a year each and prolong the lifespan of equipment. For a typical small office with 10 PCs, this could equate to savings of over £300 per year.
I only really turn off my machine when I am absolutely “out for the day.” I know it makes sense to turn off my machine, but for ease I tend not to – basically the start-up process each morning takes too long, and if I get caught in a software upgrade well there is no control. So I am now resolved to turn off my machine everyday, but with 2 changes to ease the startup pain every morning 1) to hasten the start-up process, I shall remove most of the programs that automatically begin every morning, and 2) I will start my machine and then get breakfast, i.e. before I am ready to work, so if there are any software upgrades that need to happen this can start before I need to start to work.
Item no 6. Ask your suppliers about take-back schemes for unused products. You may be able to get your money back, or at least a portion of the cost.
Even though as a small company the amount of waste that I use is minimal, there are obvious initiatives that I can take to ensure that what I use is a part of a take-back scheme – printer cartridges, and general office equipment. I wouldn’t say that I am or can afford to be cutting-edge, but I do not use old equipment that makes my work inefficient, so when I am replacing a printer that may still have some life it in, or have read a business book that I no longer need, I do ensure that these items are recycled.
Item no 7. Minimise the need for travel, and drive efficiently when travel is necessary.
A business with five company cars could save £5,300 per year through more efficient driving, leading to a reduction in fuel consumption and mileage repayment costs. Real savings can be made on every vehicle used by reducing the load carried and good maintenance.
This appears to be an obvious part of being a Virtual Assistant, i.e. the nature of our business means that we travel less, but of course there are many ways in which we can improve on this. Even though I may not go to as many network/business meetings it still always makes sense to try to buddy up with someone. I am very conscious of petrol consumption, and albeit it is a small effort, I quite often give up the comfort of traveling on my own to be part of a group that will go together in a car.
For those of us who carry out travel for our clients, we can encourage a greener approach to their travel requirements and put this in place when making bookings.
I would also add to this and say that also when traveling and staying in hotels, push for hotels who consume masses amount of energy to stick to their action claims for energy reduction. What I mean is that many hotels say that they wash towels every 3 days. If I, the visitor, put my towel on the rack, then I am indicating that it does not need to be washed. Yet when I do this I still find that the hotel staff will replace it with a new towel, so I will always call the house staff and challenge them on this.
When we were on our “What’s Next” retreat a few years ago, the Hyatt said that they had a recycling policy, yet with probing we found that there was nowhere to recycle our bottles. When we challenged the hotel, although they had this policy they had actually not done anything to put it in place. Dawn ended up taking all the bottles home to recycle as she lived locally and could easily make the contribution to our planet by doing so.
And the most simplest thing--where possible, trips to the bank, post office etc on behalf of business do not have to be done in the car. Be very careful of your petrol consumption if the journey is close enough. The environment could do without us jumping in the car every time we have to make a 5-10 min journey, and our hearts can do with the exercise.
Item no 8. Invest in efficient equipment to help cut your energy, transport and water costs. Government support includes interest-free Energy Efficiency Loans and Enhanced Capital Allowances.
When investigating an item I now seriously look at the energy efficient of the item, and also the company as a whole. The cheapest deal just doesn’t work for me anymore. I cannot just close my eyes to organisations that are not doing their part. So even if I have to wait longer and save more money, I will make a choice more around energy efficiency of both the product and company than just the price. Hey and there is even some Government money to help.
Item no 9. Use email where possible, set your PC to print double-sided and use refillable printer, fax and photocopier cartridges. Your business can refill inkjet cartridges for about half the price of a new one.
The only thing I don’t do here is use refill cartridges, but a local shop has opened up, and I will do so with my next batch of ink cartridges. My friend told me that the colors do not print as crisply as with an original cartridge, but then no-one sees the stuff that I print as I usually just print documents for proofing purposes.
Item no 10. Let your customers and suppliers know you're committed to reducing your environmental impact, and promote it through your marketing. More than a third of consumers would favour a product that has been designed with either low environmental impact, minimal packaging or recyclability in mind.
Just in the same way that I look for companies who encourage and are always working towards reducing their energy consumption, in the same way I should promote that I do the same thing. It actually would help to attract the ideal clients to me. How cool would that be?
These are just some of the areas where I do and can improve my work towards being a part of a greener human being. What do you do? What can you do better?
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