Greening Your Office

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Greening Your Office
Presented by Bonita Areman Consultant to the
Green Industry Smart Energy Group
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Our World is Changing

• What is the Ecological footprint
• Impact of Climate Change
• Rise in Temperatures
• Increase in cardio and pulmonary disease
• Unacceptable levels of airborne particulate
  matter
• By making small changes in the way we
  operate, encouraging and inspiring others to do
  the same we can have an impact!

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What is a Green Business

• Triple Bottom Line Business must pick up the
  three
• Pronged fork of sustainability to help society
  achieve the interlinked goals of economic
  prosperity, environmental protection and social
  responsibility.
• Green Businesses strive to have
• a positive impact on the environment and
  community
• Develops and practices business strategies that
  go beyond regulations
• Demonstrates commitment to healthy and
  sustainable future
• Defined principles, policies, and practices
  that improve the quality of life for its
  customers and employees

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Does your Company Support Carbon Offsetting or
Carbon Crediting?

• Day-to-day activities by humans since the
  beginning of the industrial era have resulted
  in the increased emission of carbon dioxide and
  other greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere,
  causing a trend of warming at a distressing pace.
• The term carbon offset means that you attempt
  to mitigate or reduce the effects of your
  emission of greenhouse gases by trying to do
  other activities which may have an equivalent
  value
• Offsets are normally measured in tons, and are
  bought and sold through brokers and traders.
• www.carbonfund.org
• www.earthlab.com
• Businesses need to take responsibility for their
  actions.  Furthermore, by implementing a program
  you
• may be able to trade carbon offset credits as a
  commodity.

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What You Can Do

• Common Misconception
• Green products are more expensive
• Green products are not as effective
• Green products are complicated
• In Reality.
• Green products are competitively priced/cost
  neutral
• Green products can be more effective and have a
  higher ROI
• A good green procurement program is easy to
  monitor, train, and maintain
• Office Supplies
• Who is your office supply company?TheGreenOffice.
  com (of CA), Green Earth Office Supply (of CA),
  GreenLine Paper Company (of PA), Dolphin Blue
  (of TX) and TreeCycle (of OR).

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What You Can Do - Paper Waste

• Paper
• Use less of it
• Purchases paper products with a minimum of 30 of
  post-consumer waste (PCW)
• Use printers with double-sided printing capacity
• Designate a draft tray and fill it with paper
  that is blank on one side
• Print only what you need
• Reduce margins
• Reduce fax waste eliminate cover pages, E-Fax
• Communicate by email, read messages on screen
• Pens
• Refillable
• Made from sustainable materials
• Non toxic
• No animal by-products
• Solar Calculators, rubber bands, adhesives,
  correction fluids, clipboards, desk pad
  calendars, desk caddies, Chalk boards,
• Recycle paper, glass, metal, plastic
• Safely dispose of or recycle hazardous materials,
  including ink cartridges and batteries, Compact
  fluorescent bulbs

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What You Can Do - Paper Waste

• In the Kitchen and bathrooms
• Drinking water - Replace delivered water jugs
  with a water cooling filtration system that
  employs energy saving measures when idle.  
• Coffee Forest Shade Grown coffee
• Avoid plastic bottles and other disposables
• Purchase recycled, chlorine-free napkins with
  high PCW
• Keep washable mugs and plates
• Install faucet aerators and low-flow toilets or
  toilet dams
• Stock bathrooms with PCW tissue products
• Janitorial Services hire a company that uses
  plant based chemicals
• Use 100 biodegradable and compostable trash
  bags.
• Recycle Packaging
• by recycling packaging you are saving energy,
  saving trees, and reducing waste at landfills.

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What You Can Do - Electricity

• Energy Audit Contact your utility company, An
  engineer will examine your operations and provide
  you with a detailed report about how your firm
  can save on energy costs, from rebates to
  improved maintenance.Lighting
• Switch to energy-saving fluorescent lighting-
  CFLs
• Turn off lights when leaving office create an
  informal lights out policy Install Motion
  sensors
• Install Solar Tubes
• Electronics
• Purchase Energy Star office equipment
• Turn on power-saves modes /Use power strips
• Instead of using a screen saver, set your
  computer to sleep or hibernate use
  standby-mode if idle for more than 20 minutes
• Turn off your monitor over night can save up to
  50
• Recycle
• Air-Conditioning
• Use fans and open windows instead of A/C

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Create Green Business Travel Policies

• Use Teleconferencing
• Travel by Train or bus both long and short
  trips
• Fly airlines with eco friendly policies
• Choose a green hotel
• Drive a green rental car
• Hire an eco-friendly car service
• Save energy at home remember to unplug

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Other Ideas

• If feasible - go into the power business.  Make
  your business as energy independent as possible
  by installing solar, wind, etcMany utilities
  will actually pay you back for excess energy fed
  into their grid.  There are numerous NJ State and
  federal incentives.  
• Watch your thermostats - Adopting a common sense
  energy use policy for office temperature will
  save a great deal of money and the environment a
  great deal of unnecessary abuse.  Locking the
  thermostat helps ensure that personal employee
  preferences don't override sound policy.
• Office Plants - 1 plant for every 100 sq. feet of
  floor space.
• Refurb existing office furniture
• Do Your Doors Close Automatically?
• Marketing Material - Take stock of the materials
  you have now before ordering more.  Ask if your
  sales people have any marketing materials hoarded
  in their cars.  
• How old are your exit signs? Many exit signs
  contain a radioactive material known at Tritium
  which is harmful to the environment.

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How to Start the Green Journey

• You can do it! To effect change, it takes strong
  leadership and committed effort
• Do a green audit
• Develop and plan and a program
• Identify realistic actions you can take
• Establish recommended best practices

Going Green is more than just switching a
couple of chemicals. Its a comprehensive
program of integrated resources
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Conclusion - Going Green has proven there are
many benefits

• The environment - Improved health safety of the
  office occupants and building visitors
• Positive effect on overall long-term cost
• Productivity
• Attract quality candidates
• Creates community stewardship

Do not overestimate what you have and
underestimate the value of what you may gain-by
giving up the old!