Over the last four decades, governments worldwide have slowly started to wake up to the impending risks posed by climate change. In particular, the recent Paris Agreement of 2015 saw almost all world nations (195 in total) sign up to a landmark treaty to reduce global greenhouse emissions with the aim of limiting temperature increases this century to a maximum of 2 degrees – but ideally keeping them to 1.5 degrees or less.
However, while the Paris Agreement was indeed a game-changing accord, scientists warn that governmental action alone will not be enough. If we’re to finally slow the damage we’re doing to our planet, we’re all going to have to get involved and start living a greener lifestyle – and that includes making more environmentally friendly decisions in the way we run our firms.
Green ideas for your company
Below are a few small and easy changes you can make to how your business operates that could go a long way to reducing its carbon footprint. Not only will you protect the environment by going green – you’ll also like save considerable money.
Change how you light your workspace: If you have a lot of natural light in your workplace, there’s no need to have the lights on between the typical work hours of 9-5 (in most nations, the brightest period of the day). However, if you do need artificial lighting, you should change to using energy-saving lightbulbs. While they might be a little more expensive to buy, they last considerably longer than traditional bulbs and can use up to 75% less energy – which will have the additional knock-on effect of reducing your electricity bills. You should also educate staff to turn off lights when they leave a room and power down devices when they’re not in use.
When buying materials, use search engines and shop online: No matter what you’re looking for, there’s a very high likelihood that you’ll find it online – and normally at a better price than if you shop locally. Shopping online also means you can browse without leaving the office, meaning no lengthy car trips trying to find what you need. Obviously, we all know the major search engines like Google but don’t forget the vast array of specialist search engines like Octopart, which offers digikey product search across a huge range of electrical components. Shopping online is almost always quicker, cheaper, and greener than its real-world alternative.
Consider installing smart devices: The green revolution has embraced technology in recent years, and there is now a huge range of energy monitoring and consumption reduction devices available for both home and office spaces. If you install smart meters in your office, you’ll be able to accurately identify where you’re using the most energy. However, suppose you want to go one step further and fully embrace the concept of a greener working environment. In that case, Artificial Intelligence (AI) sensors and automatic controls can be set to independently turn off lights when people leave a room or even regulate the warmth in your office, only heating rooms when they drop below a certain temperature. They can also be used to pre-heat your office space, ensuring rooms are toasty warm just in time for you arriving at work.
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