NFU Mutual - Celebrating 100 years

About NFU MutualMedia CentreMenu break 2Local branchesMenu break 3With-profitsMenu break 4Fund pricesMenu break 5Careers

Home

Personal

Business

Farmers

Lifestyle

Contact NFU Mutual

You are here: Home > Lifestyle magazine > Home > Going green at work

NFU Mutual Lifestyle magazine  

Contact your
local branch

Break  
Motor

Going green at work

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.

Break

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.

Break

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.

Break

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.

Break
Related articles
Going green
Going Green

Here is our guide to living an environmentally-friendly lifestyle.

ArrowGoing green

Eco holidays
Eco Holidays

Eco-holidays represent the modern face of tourism.

ArrowEco Holidays

Break
Related affinity groups
Garden Organic
Garden Organic

Garden Organic is the national charity for organic growing.

ArrowGarden Organic

Break
Useful links

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

Break
Back to Lifestyle Home page

 

 

We have local branches across the UK. Use this search facility to find your nearest.

Select your region Map of the South West Map of South Central Map of the South East Map of the East Map of the East Midlands Map of the West Midlands Map of Wales Map of the North West Map of the North West Map of the North East Map of Scotland Map of Northern Ireland
Select a region

Base

Business insurance

Business insurance

NFU Mutual offer a wide range of insurance for businesses.

> Business insurance

Base
Break

© NFU Mutual 2010Menu breakSite mapMenu breakLinksMenu breakLegalMenu breakAccessibilityMenu breakCompany information

Online marketing agency - AlphaQuad