Getting Greener

Tuesday, 25 March 2008 You don’t need to spend millions to make your business more ecologically friendly.

The colors you wear are important – no one would even think about wearing a bright red outfit to a funeral, for example. With many companies becoming increasingly aware of the impact they have on the environment, green is suddenly the in thing. Corporations are going out of their way to make sure that green is the color most people associate them with, either by committing to renewable energy, overhauling their manufacturing processes to become more eco-friendly or investing millions in sustainable business initiatives.

For most companies, however, such massive and drastic measures aren’t feasible. Switching to renewable energy often requires a huge capital outlay, changing manufacturing processes can cause already-thin profit margins to evaporate and the majority of businesses simply don’t have millions to put into becoming greener. It may seem as if your company is showing up to a St. Patrick’s Day party while still decked out in its Valentine’s Day outfit.

There are still options, however. Experts in the field of green business practices say that there are simple, inexpensive things small- and mid-sized companies can do that, although not showy or complicated, still work wonders for reducing their environmental footprint. These ideas include things as obvious as turning off lights and getting rid of Styrofoam cups, but can also include things that aren’t as obvious, like updating mailing lists. The common thread among all of these ideas is that they are all inexpensive and can actually end up saving your company money in the long run.

“There’s an enormous misconception with people thinking green can be very expensive, and it can be, but there are a ton of ways you can do it and save a lot of money,” says Laura Briere, founder and CEO of the World Green Business Association Inc., an organization devoted to changing the way businesses think about the environment.

Power Drain The most obvious area in which your company can change its environmental impact is in the energy it uses. From computers to cell phone chargers to overhead lighting, most modern offices draw a lot of power, and for good reason. Still, there’s no reason to leave all of those things running when no one’s using them, says Carol Cannon, founder of Environmental Placements and the Carol Cannon Group. Cannon is a certified building biology environmental consultant, and helps companies not only improve the health of the environment, but the health of their employees, as well.

The simplest thing companies can do, Cannon says, is to unplug equipment at the end of the day. Even when not in use, she says, most office equipment still draws a small amount of power, power that isn’t being put to any use. Programmable thermostats also help reduce energy use by allowing a company to automatically turn off heating or air conditioning at quitting time.

Gregg Steiner is CEO of GreenLifeGuru, a Los Angeles company that he describes as a “green Geek Squad.” He says a common mistake many companies make is leaving cell phone chargers plugged in all the time. “They’re called ‘vampires;’ they’re using energy even if your phones are not plugged in,” he says.

Of course, if your company owns its offices, there are steps to take that can increase the amount of sunlight that enters the building and decrease your use of electric lighting. “You can do things for lighting with solar tubing, and it’s almost like installing an electric light in the ceiling and it uses nothing but solar power,” Cannon says.

Steiner also suggests switching from incandescent light bulbs or fluorescent tubes to compact fluorescent bulbs. Looking into the future, he says, LEDs are becoming less expensive and are a great energy-saving alternative to traditional light bulbs. “They use four watts of energy for the equivalent of a 50-watt bulb,” he says.

Briere says that when choosing a computer upgrade for your company, keep in mind that laptops consume about 50 percent less energy. Any additional cost in buying them vs. a desktop computer will be offset in a few years with the money you save in energy costs, she says.

Greener Supplies Along with energy usage, there’s one other major area in which a company can improve its ecological status, and it’s something that’s already in your office all the time, usually within arm’s reach: office supplies. Cannon says there are many simple changes a company can make to its office supplies, such as switching out Styrofoam coffee cups for biodegradable cups or using ceramic mugs.

“You can get pretty much anything recycled for content,” she adds, citing Greenlinepaper.com as one easy-to-find resource for recycled office supplies. You don’t have to wait for someone else to do the recycling first, however.

“If you receive something in the mail from someone, reusing that envelope or reusing the boxes [works],” she says. Companies can also reuse old memos by printing new ones on the blank side. “Everybody can do that tomorrow,” she says.

Thinking Bigger Even after enacting all of these simple but effective changes, there may be other environmental initiatives that you want your company to put into practice, but don’t have the resources to do so. Michael Hickey, president of consulting firm Hickey & Associates LLC, says there are resources available in the form of state and federal grants.

In addition to federal tax credits for LEED certification or using recycled building materials, Hickey says grants are available for other projects such as installing solar panels. “They can be anywhere from $10,000 to a couple hundred thousand dollars, and it depends on what a company is doing and how aggressive they’re going to be,” he says.

Regardless of how your company achieves a greener operation and how much it spends to make it happen, Briere says the net result is an example for the rest of the business world. “It kind of has a viral effect,” she says.

Getting Greener - To learn more about this author, visit Laura L. Briere's Website.

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