By Brooke Chaplan
Today’s “going green” initiatives are focused on making our lifestyle match a green-oriented culture while relatively little is being written about how to convert businesses to an environment-friendly mindset. Terms such as sustainability, energy-efficiency, and going green itself have now become common vernacular in office, industrial, and commercial settings.
The article below covers five methods any business can use to promote green initiatives while helping their profit line and the planet as well.
1. Networking with Other Businesses
Searching for green vendors that’ll serve your business needs, whether it’s online printing, web-hosting your e-commerce web site, or getting better, more sustainable packaging partners is a tremendous help in growing and expanding your business exponentially. It will also help you find more ways to improve your own green initiatives while adopting some of theirs.
2. Using Energy-Saving Transport
Consider selling your present mode of transport in exchange for a method that is more cost and energy-efficient. Another green alternative is incorporating electric or hybrid cars instead of what you presently use for shipping. You can find Arrow Truck Sales that offer a wide selections of heavy-duty trucks and financing options as well.
3. Communicating Your Vision
A clear, focused, pathway reaped from the employee’s environment-friendly input and feedback, should be a regular part of your operations. Ask the workforce what they want to see more of, what green initiatives they think are missing and see how you can implement these new ideas. Communicating your goals and incorporating feedback can go a long way.
4. Go Digital
As 35 percent of our waste system is composed of paper products, use recycled paper whenever possible. Setting your printer to print on both sides and using sustainable paper are other energy-saving methods as well.
Exploiting digital products in your paper signing routines are other environmental-friendly measures: use electronic signatures such as found in PDF software to save big on e-signatures in obtaining secured documents. If you use services such as PayPal to send invoices, then you’ll also get a host of other services that eliminate paper documents as well.
5. Find Your Phantom Loads
While electric companies don’t really expound too much on this subject, become educated about unplugging your electronic devices each night. Your copiers, hard drives, printers, and even cell phone chargers are all sucking in electricity–even when they’re turned off.
That being said, even a power switch that’s left in a receptacle and turned to “off” is consuming juice. Battery chargers are notorious for drawing energy, whether they have anything plugged into them or not so consider getting solar-powered battery chargers.
Taken one-step-at-a-time, a noticeable differences on both your bottom line and in this beautiful green planet is achievable. Overtime, energy-saving measures adding up will take their toll. Moreover, we’ll all be able to stand back, and see the rewarding results.
Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most her time hiking, biking and gardening. For more information contact Brooke via Twitter @BrookeChaplan.
