Guest Contributor
Trending

How to Reduce Your Company’s Impact on the Environment

By | Samantha Higgins

Businesses have a lot of responsibility for the environment. Pollution plagues many communities and natural ecosystems, and issues like global warming could cause even more harm in the future. Changing the tide on these issues likely will require substantial action from businesses. If you are a business owner, below are some strategies for reducing your company’s impact on the environment.

Move to Paperless Offices

One of the most important elements of natural environments is trees. Trees provide the shade and habitat needed for many other species to thrive in the wild. Beyond that, they also produce the breathable oxygen that makes human life sustainable on planet earth. Without trees, everything would likely quickly die. Unfortunately, whole forests continue to be cleared to develop land for commercial or agricultural purposes.

The use of paper is also a huge drain on this natural resource. The offices of businesses alone use up over 12 trillion sheets of paper a year. Thankfully, almost anything that can be done on paper can be done better in a digital format including everything from memos to charts. Switching to a paperless office will also save you a good deal of money in addition to the benefits for the environment. Buying all that paper, toner, ink, and printer hardware will no longer be needed.

Switch to LED Bulbs

One thing you should be aware of as a business owner is that traditional incandescent bulbs are outmoded as a technology. Today, the preferred choice is LED bulbs. These bulbs do not run as hot as incandescent bulbs.

As such, they use far less energy and last much longer. Thankfully, most light fixtures are compatible with these newer more energy-efficient bulbs. Switching them out will be rather easy and provide continued benefits for your green initiatives.

Monitor Your Energy Use

One of the contributing factors to so much waste by businesses is the fact that many companies simply are not even aware of the amount of energy they are using on a routine basis or what that energy is being used for.

If you want to lower your energy consumption to help lessen your company’s carbon footprint, consider investing in energy monitoring software. With such a system in place, you will be alerted of how much energy is being used by which of your company’s assets and at what time.

With this knowledge, you’ll be able to adjust your operations to increase efficiency and lower your energy usage. You may, for example, find that certain pieces of machinery that should be switched off or be put into a state of hibernation are using the same amount of energy while your factory is closed for the night as while it is open.

You could end up saving a lot of money and increasing your energy efficiency significantly. Modern software for energy monitoring is also designed for ease of use and can allow you to access all kinds of information regarding your energy usage from the same digital portal.

Upgrade to More Energy Efficient Equipment

Making a substantial difference in your overall operations is going to require some investment. Thankfully for many companies looking to make their operations greener, many of these investments will pay for themselves over time.

For example, if you swap out older machinery for more energy-efficient models, the cost savings in less consumption of electricity and fuel will eventually help pay for the new investment. Choose equipment, machinery, and appliances that have been tested for energy efficiency by the US government and carry the ENERGY STAR label.

Buy Carbon Offsets

Unfortunately, many businesses, especially small businesses, do not have the resources to immediately upgrade all their facilities and equipment to greener alternatives. If that is the case for your company, you can take the step of purchasing carbon offsets until you can make more long-term changes.

These offsets can be used by a carbon offset broker to take steps to lower the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. This can help offset the pollution your company releases into the environment to produce a virtual carbon-neutral outcome.

Bottom Line

Challenges like pollution and global warming must be overcome if the environment is going to be persevered for future generations. This will require action from parties at all levels of society including businesses. Steps such as converting to a paperless office, utilizing software to monitor your company’s energy use, utilizing LED bulbs, buying carbon offsets, and upgrading to greener equipment can add up to making a big difference.

 

Show More

Related Articles

Back to top button