Going green at work
More and more people are making a conscious effort to reduce their energy usage at home - but as we spend most of our waking hours at work, it’s important to save energy in the office too.
In fact, only 27% of Britain’s carbon emissions come from domestic households - 40% come from businesses. Here are some tips to help you make your office a little more environmentally-friendly.
Monitor your energy usage
The monitor accounts for around two-thirds of a computer’s energy output, so don’t leave yours on for any longer than is necessary. Get into the good habit of switching your monitor off if you leave the office for meetings or lunch breaks.
A screen-saver doesn’t reduce the amount of energy your monitor uses.
Computers should be switched off completely when you leave the office at night - leaving them on standby will still require up to 30% of the computer’s energy.
Reuse and recycle
Most people are now used to recycling in the home - but all the good work is undone if you’re wasting reams of paper and packaging at work.
Before printing a document, consider whether you really need to. If you do, then use both sides of the paper - and recycle your old print-outs as scrap paper.
Even if you don’t use computers and printers in your workplace, you can still recycle to help the environment. For example, if you have a water-cooler, make sure you reuse the plastic cups rather than throwing them away after each drink. If you use an internal mail system, put new sticky labels on any envelopes you receive rather than ordering in some more envelopes.
Is your office full of tea-drinkers? If so, remember to boil only as much water as is necessary. You could even put the used teabags to good use in the form of compost.
Daylight savings
The vast majority of offices are open during the day, so make the most of natural daylight rather than reaching for the light switch. Not only is this better for the environment, it could also save up to 20% on your office bills - so your boss will be happy too.
Useful sites
www.netregs.gov.uk/netregs/legislation - Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive
www.green-office.org.uk - Friends of the Earth Scotland
www.officegreen.co.uk - Office Green Technologies
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