By Jack Oldham
Minimizing carbon emissions should be a priority for even the smallest of businesses. Just because you’re known as a “small” business doesn’t mean that your carbon footprint is small and everyone can work to reduce theirs. Today’s guest blogger shares ways to do your bit for the environment.
The Simple Option. Be more energy efficient – it’s easy! A few quick, easy and (perhaps most importantly) cheap changes can be made to allow your energy to go further and not put a burden on the environment. Light bulbs are one area where many companies can easily reduce their carbon footprint. No, we’re not suggesting you work in the dark! The large majority of bulbs on sale these days are known as “energy-saving bulbs”, so it’s worth making sure that you have these fitted in your working premises.
Timers can also be fitted in an office to ensure that equipment isn’t kept on any longer than it needs to be. We’re only human, and occasionally someone may forget to turn a light off at the end of the day, which will burn lots of energy overnight. Similarly, items such as scanners, printers and kitchen appliances may not be used so regularly, so why not only boot them up when it’s really necessary?
On The Road. Driving is a part of everyday life for almost every business – it’s unavoidable. What can be avoided, however, is the strain on the environment that it causes. Deliveries wouldn’t get made, meetings would be cancelled and business would grind to a halt without transport. However, there’s nothing to say these can’t all carry on in a more efficient manner.
One useful tool with regards to reducing a carbon footprint is a vehicle tracking device. These can help you plan out the quickest, most efficient route for you and your drivers, meaning that slow country roads aren’t used which in turn will reduce the chance of constant bottlenecks and traffic lights breaking up the journey.
An Alternative Option. If the above options are simply impossible for you to implement, then there is an alternative available. You may not be able to reduce your carbon footprint but still want to give something back, so purchasing carbon credits may be a good idea. This is almost like you’re compensating the environment for the damage your carbon footprint is causing.
Essentially, you can buy these credits based on your carbon emissions. Then, the money that is made from your “purchases” of credits is then put towards the costs of producing more hydro-electric power stations and various other environmentally-friendly building
s and schemes. This is particularly useful for companies who simply cannot reduce their emissions, but still want to contribute to making the world a greener place.
Jack Oldham is a journalism graduate blogging on behalf of fleet vehicle tracking company Teletrac.
