Greening Your OfficeEasy ways you can reduce your Carbon Footprint in your office..
- Purchase energy-saving models of office appliances and equipment, such as EnergyStar-approved computers, LCD monitors, printers and photocopiers. Not only will this help save energy, but it will save money too.
- Design for lighting intensity of 1.0 watts per square metre or less. Over-lighting wastes energy and produces glare.
- Install lighting controls to turn lights on only when needed and to provide the required amount of light. Use lighting systems which incorporate sensors and computer-based dimming controls to provide significant savings in energy costs.
- Encourage staff to commit to taking alternative modes of transportation for their daily commute at least once a month. This can include options such as car-pooling, cycling, taking public transit or walking where possible.
Help your company reduce vehicle trips to the workplace.
- Reduce your staff's environmental impacts from air travel by using video-conferences for meetings.
- Create a recycling program and decrease paper use.
- If you have a fleet of vehicles, try to use the most energy-efficient models possible.
- Energy-efficiency upgrades and retrofits to office buildings can have long-term paybacks. An example from Canada - instead of spending more than $3 million to build a new leisure centre, the District of Mission, B.C., upgraded its existing leisure centre. It replaced the refrigeration plant and hot water boiler systems and installed energy-efficient lighting systems among other measures. As a result, Mission will enjoy annual energy savings of $74,000.
- Encourage your local government to move towards energy efficient communities. Encourage your city to expand transit and other alternatives, make city operations more energy efficient and encourage compact development instead of sprawl.
Source: www.davidsuzuki.org/climate_change