Energy efficient computers
Computers contain some of the most difficult materials to recycle, toxic chemicals and circuit boards are harmful to the environment when dumped and energy consumption by powerful machines can often be astronomical. Now that performance and design don’t differ massively companies are competing on greener grounds of sustainability. How economical and energy efficient a model of PC is now becomes a major selling point and even in the smallest of offices there can be between ten and twenty machines on at any given point. Investing in more efficient computers that don’t guzzle energy is a great way to reduce your office’s carbon footprint.
Mobile workforce management
So many business procedures are paper based but mobile and tablet technology is revolutionising the way we conduct these traditional operations and making organisations far more environmentally friendly. Mobile workforce management can be applied to many sectors that involve documents and reports on a daily basis. With cloud computing, signature capture and GPS locating the technology has the potential to remove paper from scenarios such as time clocking, job scheduling and on-site reporting.
Working from Home
Working from home is more and more realistic these days, with broadband internet connections, powerful home computers and virtual office software increasing numbers of employees can now work remotely. This lowers traffic congestion on the streets, as well as significantly reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of your company with fewer employees on the road. It’s not always a
viable option but if you were to give every employee a one day a month to work from home, over the years this would decrease your organisation’s carbon footprint massively.
Energy Proof the Office
These solutions don’t have to involve expensive new technology but simple affordable alternatives such as switching all the office light bulbs to energy saving ones. Closing windows and investing in a recycling bin or recycled paper for the printer. One of the easiest habits to get into is turning off lights and making sure all computer terminals are switched off at the end of each working day. Together these techniques can reduce your company’s carbon footprint considerably.
Zac Colbert writes on a variety of subjects, including sustainable design, digital media, mobile workforce management and environmental technology.