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How To "Green" Your Business
When our son Ian first started riding a bike, he was a bit reluctant. He watched
other people do it, talked about it, was interested in how the equipment worked,
but wasn’t so sure he was ready. An early incident didn’t help matters.
Ian was just starting to feel comfortable when he sailed down a hill, careening
on one training wheel while he wobbled the front wheel back and forth trying
to regain control. He didn’t know how to use his brakes and eventually
toppled. Ian had pads on and wasn’t physically hurt, but his confidence
was shaken. He figured he would leave bikes alone and let other people ride them.
Ian’s experience is a lot like how many of us approach “green.” Watching,
listening, talking, interested, but not really pushing off into it yet. Hearing
about mercury in compact fluorescent lightbulbs leaves our confidence shaken.
Is it going to do us harm? Maybe we’ll leave it alone and let someone
else do it.
The old analogy about bike riding is true though; you can read about it all
you want, you can watch others, but until you try for yourself, you really
can’t
know how to do it and you can’t gain the benefits. And there definitely
are benefits to greening our businesses on a personal level and collective
level, as well as organizationally - saving energy saves money.
If you reduce the amount of paper you use, you reduce the amount you have
to buy. If you reduce the amount of travel and transportation, you reduce the
travel costs. If you improve the efficiency of your light bulbs or turn them
off when
not in use, you reduce the amount of electricity you have to buy.
We went back to the Chicago area recently to visit family. There were bike
riders everywhere - the fit and the flabby, the wildly carefree racers, the
white haired
retirees and the serious riders on their way to work. The hilly landscape in
Austin, Texas is a lot different than the flat streets of Chicago suburbia.
It’s
different riding on gravel than pavement. The environment makes a difference.
Again, it’s like making the green transition. The weather affects the
appropriate solutions for greening your offices and other facilities. For instance,
in colder
climates you want to use designs, materials and habits that encourage heat
to enter the buildings. In warmer climates, you want to keep the heat out.
In all
cases, you want to minimize the heat transferring in and out unintentionally.
The social environments make a difference on how accepted and expected a
green existence is. Peer pressure makes a difference. Media coverage in your
area
makes a difference. Attitude is important. A gloom and doom feeling is not
very inspiring.
Focusing on problems and fears freezes action. Focusing on solutions and success
motivates and moves us.
The Chicago trip inspired Ian to venture out around his hometown. He started
out with a death grip on the handlebars and needed a push to get going. He
focused on every obstacle within twenty feet, sure he was going to fall victim
to it.
But he kept going. He began to notice how little changes in the way he moved
made a big difference in how smoothly the ride went. At the end, he was riding
leisurely, looking around at the dogs, the lake, the boaters, confident and
proud. Like anything, it gets easier when you get into motion.
If you’re hesitant about becoming a green business, find someone to give
you a push. You’ll find it’s fun to play the game of energy efficiency. “What
if we kept the temperature one degree different - would we notice the difference
and how much energy would it save? I wonder how few lights we can use? How about
if we stagger work hours so employees could avoid rush hour traffic and use less
gas on their commute? What if we allowed more telecommuting? How about if we
used teleconferencing in place of some of our business travel? How can we reduce
paper waste and other waste? I wonder how much energy we’d save if we
installed motion sensors in the bathrooms?”
To really understand the impact, you should track the changes as business
process improvement projects. Or not. Just the fact that you play the game
will get
you saving and improving and making a difference.
No matter what size your business is, everyone can contribute to making a
greener office environment by simply starting small. Each small movement will
make
everyone more comfortable with bigger steps. For instance, changing out lightbulbs,
in
the office or at home, is relatively simple and inexpensive to do. It’s
like taking that first push on the bike - you’re on your way. Have a lightbulb
smashing party for the old bulbs, signifying the company’s commitment
to being a green business.
Don’t smash the new bulbs though! About that mercury: if a compact fluorescent
bulb breaks, treat it like the mercury from those old thermometers - make sure
to clean it up thoroughly. Treat broken or burned out bulbs as hazardous waste
- put them in a bag and put them out with other hazardous wastes. When you bring
those to the hazardous waste recycling center, bring the bulbs, too. It’s
really not that big a deal.
Computers generate lots of heat and provide lots of opportunities for energy
savings. Make sure defaults are set to standby or hibernate when idle; screensavers
still use energy! Encourage staff members to start the habit of turning computers
off when going home or leaving the office for an extended period. Consider
using power strips to shut down all electronics completely.
When you’re ready to move onto bigger projects, your computer networks
are a good place to look. Get more efficient equipment, energy efficient chillers
for data centers and check into computer power management for large-scale networks.
In other areas, think about using solar water heaters, acquiring your own energy
storage to take advantage of off-peak electricity prices, and xeriscaping the
grounds to reduce the water usage. Use alternative fuels and alternative vehicles
for company vehicles. For those with dedicated routes, see if fully electric
vehicles will do the job. Share your research with other companies so they
can benefit, too.
Knowledge dissipates fear, so continually educate yourself and your employees.
Knowing you’re contributing to the solution just feels good! Like riding
a bicycle.
Contributed by Susan Meredith, an engineer, MBA graduate and founder of HumanExcel,
a corporate educational firm that helps organizations improve efficiency,
reduce wastes and save energy. For more information visit
www.HumanExcel.com or call 512-326-9300.
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