If you’re the last one to leave the office or an empty room, make sure you switch the light off! The average office wastes thousands of dollars each year by leaving equipment on when it’s not in use and leaving the light on all night. Turn off computers and monitors at the end of each day.

Make energy saving practices company policy and lead by example.

Only turn the heating on when you really need to. Turning up the thermostats by one degree pushed up your heating costs by 8%.

Start a carpool scheme. Find out who lives near to you and share lifts to work, saving you money and getting another car off the road and thus helping the planet.

Cut down on long-distance travel in favour of video conferencing or Skype.

Opt for the green electricity tariff from your power provider. If they don’t have one look for a company that does.

Don’t put hot equipment such as photocopiers and laser printers close to cooling vents, the cooling system will need to work harder.

Improve facilities for cyclists, for example provide secure bike parking and showers, this will encourage people to use a sustainable way to travel to work.

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Hidden Power Usage-
Power bills are still high even though most businesses turn their appliances off at night. But it is the nightly ‘standby’ setting is what is costing your business (and the environment). The low-power mode is great during office hours but can increase the power bill and wastes energy that could be saved.

To make sure work appliances like computers, monitors, printers, microwaves and photocopy machines are completely off, try and pull out the plug rather than simply flipping the switch. You should also ensure climate control systems are turned off when not in use and that they are set to energy-efficient mode. You may be surprised how much energy is saved in the long run.

Toxic Indoor Air-
It’s not unusual for interior air to be more contaminated with toxic chemicals than the air outside. Furniture (especially particle board) and paints in office buildings can cause health problems as well add to the ozone layer. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found in workplaces have been linked to problems like birth defects, cancer and endocrine disruption.

If your office is well insulated (which in most cases it should be) toxins won’t easily be able to escape. You can purchase green-certified products that will not let off these toxins and be harmful to yourself or the environment.

To ensure the wood for office equipment is environmentally friendly you can check with the Forestry Stewardship Council and the Rainforest Alliance, which both make sure the wood is reclaimed or comes from sustainable harvested forests. When looking for products ensure they do not contain formaldehyde or other VOCs.

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2. Digitise- Although in the digital age many workplaces still have apper materials used on a daily basis. Notes, files in filing cabinets and documents are still in paper form and are usually thrown out over time. Try and keep everything as digital as possible. Don’t print or write unnecessary documents. The more you can do online or on computer technology, the better.

3. Don’t Be a Paper Pusher- when buying printer paper for the office look for recycled paper that has a high percentage of post-consumer content and minimum chlorine bleaching. Recycled paper takes up a lot of energy in itself, so it is best to look for this option. Also print on both sides for note paper or choose a printer that has a double sided option.

4. Greening the Commute- driving to work is time consuming and the build up of cars on the roads adds to the already existing carbon dioxide in the environment. Ease some of this strain by car-pooling, taking public transport, riding your bike, walking or combining the above. Hybrid vehicles or scooters use less fuel than the average car, so if you need to drive try and use these vehicles.

5. Green Sleeves- try purchasing cheap or second hand clothes. If you buy them new, try and get clothing made from organic or recycled fibres. Avoid spending money on clothes that need to be dry cleaned or find a green dry cleaner.

6. Work From Home- use instant messaging, video conferencing and the like to communicate from home. This will save you driving to work in terms of time, money and the environment.

7. Use Green Materials- use eco-friendly materials. Aside from paper you can purchase a variety of recycled products like pens, pencils, cloth towels and biodegradable cleaners.

8. Lunch Time- bringing your lunch to work in a reusable container is the greenest and healthiest way to eat lunch at work. When you purchase food, the packaging goes into waste adding more to our large landfill. If you do have to order out, try ordering in a big group or place it in a re-useable container.

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CAVE is the work place that allows you keep in touch with others across the other side of the world, without moving from your seat. This Virtual environment promises to bring us a global boardroom.

The Cave Automated Virtual Environment was made in the 1990’s and works by back-projecting stereoscopic images into the walls and floor of a room. The program is designed so that you have to wear special glasses to be able to see the 3D images and you must also carry a wand to track your movements.

Doing this will enable visitors to also immerse themselves in the virtual environment and, in theory, interact with other CAVE participants across the world, as though they were physically in the same workplace.

This same immersive technology is being adapted to car manufacturing, architecture, astronomy, and even archaeology. The technology remains expensive at the moment ( CAVE at University College in London about $1, 962, 000) but there are advances in processing and graphics that means the use of this technology could be in workplaces closer than originally thought.

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To keep the carbon dioxide and trees in the earth, we need to limit our use of paper in our everyday work practices. Home use of paper is nothing, compared to office paper use.

Try to stop getting junk mail or pieces of paper you will only throw out anyway. If you like a product, or need information for your business-, sign up online to receive emails rather than paper letters. You can also opt out of receiving junk mail and leaflets in your home or business, which will reduce at least 1/3 of paper use.

Find out which of your bank accounts or notices you can get online statements for. Only print out the statements or documents you need. Just log on to your website and check your documents rather than have them send it to you.

If you need to buy notebooks, greeting cards or other products for the office make sure they are from recycled paper. Most of the time the paper ends up in the recycle bin, so you should ensure it is not a complete waste.

Buy a paper shredder for all the wasted paper documents thrown out. This way you can make use of the paper used and recycle it into more paper.

Encourage everyone in your office to try and cut back the paper use. Implement ideas that could save paper like writing phone messages on the computer and sending via email. Or if you have to write a note, write on the back of the page.

For teaching professionals, when doing reports or grades, make sure the information is printed through both sides of the paper. It will still look professional on the students sheet and will save you using paper and making another copy for yourself.

One last note, ensure you double-check what you need to print. Printing a document incorrectly means you need to do it again, which does not save trees and keep the carbon dioxide flowing.

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One of the best ways to start this process at work is to encourage your company to use environmentally friendly paper.

Every company uses paper on a daily basis – for note taking, printing, photocopying and other activities – and some companies use an unbelievably large amount of it.

Most people are not aware but there are actually several types of environmentally friendly paper available today.

The most highly recommended paper types are those produced from alternative fibres (hemp, kenaf, wheatstraw), and those sourced from ecologically managed pine or eucalypt plantations.

Some of the best recycled paper companies reside in Europe, but they are able to export their products internationally and savvy business owners will buy paper in bulk.

Beyond the office there are several ways to make your own recycled paper. You can start with a recycled paper kit (these can be bought on eBay), or if you are feeling confident you can use your own waste paper to make recycled product.

If you are unsure to go about it, do a quick internet search for recycled paper options and you will soon come across some useful instructions.

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