If your business isn’t going green then you are leaving money on the table. Not only is it the right thing to do from an eco-standpoint, but it actually saves you a lot of money. It’s a win-win that puts money back into your company’s coffers while also keeping the world a cleaner place.
It seems like it may be a bit of a fuss to change things, but many green upgrades can be retrofitted very easily. Every business can find a few ways to lower their carbon footprint without it even really feeling like anything changed.
It isn’t easy to find ways to make more revenue, so these days it’s important to find areas where you can save money so your business can stay competitive. In this article, we will go over several ways that you can make you and your employees much greener for a cleaner planet.
1 – Get Rid of the Commute
Since the start of the pandemic, many people have been thrown into a work-from-home situation. And even as the virus seems to be slowing down, the remote working trend hasn’t. It has shown many businesses that it is unnecessary to have everybody coming into an office.
Millions of people commuting everyday throw tons of carbon into the atmosphere. The more cars we keep off of the highways then the less CO2 is in the air which creates a greenhouse effect. Encouraging many employees to stay home and work from there will help lower the carbon footprint that your company would ordinarily be responsible for.
For those that do have to commute as they physically need to be present, then you can encourage them to use an electric vehicle. Have some charging stations installed in your parking lot and give people an incentive to switch to greener cars. You can easily find a commercial electrician these days that is skilled in doing the installation.
The best part about this transformation is that it not only costs nothing to keep your employees at home but it helps save you money. You may even be able to move your offices into something smaller that costs less to maintain and for the lease.
If you do require a physical presence from much of your workforce then you can also encourage them to start a carpool system to reduce the cars on the road.
2 – Go Paperless
Rather than recycling, it is better to not use paper when possible. Though recycling is far better than chopping down trees, the best solution is to lower the need to produce paper in the first place. That way there is less forest destruction and less pollution from the recycling process. And, as a bonus, your company will save a lot of money.
Start using secure digital documents. These days you can use smart contracts on the blockchain to keep track of all the documents used, signed, and sent without needing expensive data security systems. Securing sensitive documents is the biggest cause of friction when it comes to going paperless, so this solves that problem.
Digital signatures are just as good as physical ones and hold up in court just as they should. With this in mind, it simply makes more sense to save money and the environment by using less. You will also need less storage space so you can maximize the office space for other important things.
3 – Change the Lights
Changing the lighting in your building will give you a lot of savings while also being far more efficient. Using less energy is another one of those win-win situations where you save money for doing good.
New LED lights are far more efficient and last much longer than traditional or fluorescent lights. The nice thing is that you can also buy smart bulbs that will help you be even more efficient.
They can turn on when there is somebody in the room and off when somebody leaves. And at the end of the month, you can see your usage through an app so you can see the areas and times when lights are used the most. Understanding this data will help you come up with a plan on how to light your offices more efficiently.
4 – Greenify Your Kitchen and Snack Area
You may not realize it, but your break room is a very wasteful area. Many offices have capsule coffee machines now thinking it reduces wasted coffee, but they produce worse waste in the form of excess plastic. And these capsules can’t be recycled.
If you stock your break room with a lot of processed foods then surely, they have a lot of packaging which usually can’t be recycled. Try to buy in bulk to reduce the amount of packaging that is usually required. Avoid things like the cup of noodles for snacks and offer things like catered snacks that are made locally and don’t have too much plastic.
Then, make sure to give people the ability to sort their trash by having a bin for compostable material and others for plastic and paper. You can even make it fun for your employees by giving prizes for having the least amount of waste generated.
5 – Use Renewable Energy
The costliest way to go green is to use renewables. Although renewable energy like solar and wind cost less per kW these days, it is quite expensive to install. However, when you think long-term, the systems pay for themselves in the amount of money you end up saving.
Solar panels are so effective these days that you can generate power even on cloudy days. And when there is not enough sunlight for a long period then wind turbines can pick up the slack. Building itself can act as its own mini electricity generator and could even supply the grid with more power than you use. Which you will be paid for by the utility company.
