Eyenetwork
In the coming years, the question of your company's carbon footprint is going to be a significant factor. Not only could you be penalised for being excessively wasteful - you'll also miss out on a range of incentives on offer. For those who are worried about how going green could hurt their business, here are a few ways that won't just cut your carbon emissions - they'll also save you money in the long run.
Travel Costs
One of the easiest ways of cutting your carbon footprint is cutting the amount of travel you and your staffs take and here, technology can be extremely useful. For instance there's no need to fly thousands of miles to have a face to face meeting when you can use video conferencing in London, you sit in your boardroom whilst in New York, and your client sits in his. Connected by real-time high quality video and audio, you can conduct all your business just as you would in a face-to-face meeting and the only thing that will be missing is the final handshake. You'll cut tonnes of carbon from your annual emissions and you'll save hundreds if not thousands of pounds in airline tickets.
Energy Efficiency in the workplace
Just a few simple steps can help cut down your carbon footprint and your electricity bill. From turning your electrical equipment off at night (something surprisingly rare in bigger businesses) to changing your light bulbs to energy-efficient models can have a big impact over time. Each bulb could save you an estimated 40 over its lifetime - there's no need to wait until 2012 for the government to phase out the production of old model light bulb, which waste an estimated 95% of their power usage in heat energy. You could start saving money now after all.
Improvements or changes to how you manage your premises can also have a huge benefit. Simple measures such as lowering the heating by a couple of degrees (often they are placed too hot initially and are never modified), or you could install movement-sensitive lighting in your toilets or leave unused portions of your buildings unlit. You can also save on your heating bill and cut down carbon waste by making your building more efficient; roof insulation, double-glazed windows, carpeted floors - all help retain heat and minimise the cost of warming your building. Similarly, try opening windows rather than using the air-conditioning.
Use suppliers of low-carbon products
Cutting your carbon footprint is about more than just the direct steps you take in your own business though. It's also about cutting the carbon cost of your purchasing decisions. For example you could dramatically cut your carbon emissions by switching your company fleet cars to low-emissions vehicles such as hybrids or even (soon) electric cars. You could buy more energy efficient equipment - some manufacturers include this information already and others will soon be required to by law. Then you could change your supply chain for your own products to sustainable goods, using recycled, recovered or re-manufactured goods and materials. Another benefit to this is that if your products are sustainable or eco-friendly, then you'll have access to a wider market; some companies and most of the public sector have policies that require them to consider environmental sustainability when making business decisions.
Travel Costs
One of the easiest ways of cutting your carbon footprint is cutting the amount of travel you and your staffs take and here, technology can be extremely useful. For instance there's no need to fly thousands of miles to have a face to face meeting when you can use video conferencing in London, you sit in your boardroom whilst in New York, and your client sits in his. Connected by real-time high quality video and audio, you can conduct all your business just as you would in a face-to-face meeting and the only thing that will be missing is the final handshake. You'll cut tonnes of carbon from your annual emissions and you'll save hundreds if not thousands of pounds in airline tickets.
Energy Efficiency in the workplace
Just a few simple steps can help cut down your carbon footprint and your electricity bill. From turning your electrical equipment off at night (something surprisingly rare in bigger businesses) to changing your light bulbs to energy-efficient models can have a big impact over time. Each bulb could save you an estimated 40 over its lifetime - there's no need to wait until 2012 for the government to phase out the production of old model light bulb, which waste an estimated 95% of their power usage in heat energy. You could start saving money now after all.
Improvements or changes to how you manage your premises can also have a huge benefit. Simple measures such as lowering the heating by a couple of degrees (often they are placed too hot initially and are never modified), or you could install movement-sensitive lighting in your toilets or leave unused portions of your buildings unlit. You can also save on your heating bill and cut down carbon waste by making your building more efficient; roof insulation, double-glazed windows, carpeted floors - all help retain heat and minimise the cost of warming your building. Similarly, try opening windows rather than using the air-conditioning.
Use suppliers of low-carbon products
Cutting your carbon footprint is about more than just the direct steps you take in your own business though. It's also about cutting the carbon cost of your purchasing decisions. For example you could dramatically cut your carbon emissions by switching your company fleet cars to low-emissions vehicles such as hybrids or even (soon) electric cars. You could buy more energy efficient equipment - some manufacturers include this information already and others will soon be required to by law. Then you could change your supply chain for your own products to sustainable goods, using recycled, recovered or re-manufactured goods and materials. Another benefit to this is that if your products are sustainable or eco-friendly, then you'll have access to a wider market; some companies and most of the public sector have policies that require them to consider environmental sustainability when making business decisions.
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