Greening a business can produce long-term effects that will help it do much more than save money. It also provides employees and customers with a healthy environment to conduct business in as well as helps attract new customers. Take a look below for some excellent tips relating to greening a business.
Promote Fuel Efficiency
Whether a business has one company vehicle or a fleet of business cars, it should always promote fuel efficiency. A great way to do this is to supply workers with hybrid fleet vehicles. For those businesses that do not have business vehicles, it is smart to ask workers to carpool to work. In doing so, workers can save money on gas expenses.
Install or Build a Living Wall
A living wall is a wall that is covered in plants. Unlike some contrary beliefs, this type of wall is not hard to maintain nor is it expensive, and the benefits that it can bring are very valuable.
The plants that cover the wall should be ones that improve the indoor air quality of a business. The best types of plants to use on a living wall are those that fall into the English ivy family as well as the peace lily family.Many office versions of a living wall can be purchased for very affordable prices starting at around $450.
If installing a living wall is not applicable within an office, it is smart to add a few plants to the office environment; this can help improve indoor air quality as well, and it helps in enabling workers to breathe easier.
There have been many research studies on living walls, including a NASA-backed study that states living walls help to eliminate toxic chemicals from an office atmosphere. Many times, these toxic chemicals are pulsated from computers and other types of electronic devices.
Greening the Printing Processes
One of the best ways to green the office is to carry out green printing processes. There are many different green materials that can be used in printing processes, making this tip a very simple one to follow. For those businesses that outsource printing tasks, it is wise to partner with a green printing company.
Promote Telecommuting
Another great way to maintain a green office environment is to promote telecommuting. By doing so, workers can carry out many of their business functions through the use of videoconferencing tools. There are thousands of videoconferencing tools that businesses can take advantage of, and many of them are available free of charge.
Turn Off all Electronics
If a business only operates certain hours of the day, it is smart to power down all electronics during the hours that no one is present at the office site. In doing so, businesses are able to save tremendous amounts of money in electricity bills. There are different types of systems that can be installed which make it simple to power down all electronics with one simple flip of a switch. These types of systems are advantageous to install because they enable all electronics within an office to be shut down without having to power down each device individually.
Power-Saving Mode
Another excellent way to green the office is to use computers in power-saving mode; this extremely helps promote efficiency and can help save money on electric bills.
Install Waterless Urinals
Installing waterless urinals has many advantages including the following:
Conservation of Water: Waterless urinals of course help conserve water. In fact, a research study performed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concluded that a waterless urinal can help save up to 27,000 gallons of water a year when compared to a traditional urinal.
Minimum Maintenance
Due to the beneficial features of waterless urinals, they do not require a large amount of maintenance. There is never any need to repair handles or replace them, and when compared to traditional urinals, they require much less plumbing maintenance.