Category Archives: Business

How to Become More Energy-Efficient at Work?

  By | | , ,
8 Comments

Nowadays, smart business owners are taking steps towards making their company more efficient in every way. By establishing more efficient processes, these businesses are capable of getting more done in a shorter amount of time, and they’re also saving money along the way. But, beyond helping their employees perform better, business pros are also working on implementing tools and strategies for becoming increasingly more energy efficient so that their business can be greener and so that they can save money on their energy bill.

save energy concept

If you are ready to take your basic eco-friendly office to the next level, keep reading for some helpful information on how to become more energy efficient at work.

1. Make the Switch to Laptops

Desktop computers that are always plugged in are always consuming some level of energy, even when they are turned off. Unless you have all of your electronics plugged into a power strip that is turned off at the end of every workday, those devices will continue draining energy, and you will see it on your energy bill. For this reason, a lot of businesses are opting to make the switch to using laptops rather than desktops.

Laptops only need to be plugged in when they are in need of a charge; the rest of the time, they use a built-in battery to function. This can help you save quite a bit of money on your energy bill, and it can also help you save much-needed space because laptops are smaller than desktop computers with separate monitors. This is one of the easiest ways to make your office more energy efficient, and your employees will likely welcome the change to laptops as well.

Recommended Reading: Sustainable Ways to Reuse Old Computers

2. Purchase Products Having Energy Star Seal

Another way to save money on your energy bill while making your office more energy efficient is by switching to Energy Star appliances and office products that will use up far less energy than their counterparts. Properly dispose of old appliances, such as your office’s refrigerator and microwave, and replace them with Energy Star appliances so that you can start to save money and allocate it towards more important aspects of your day-to-day operations.

Beyond appliances, office products like printers, scanners, copiers, and computers can also come with the Energy Star seal, so be sure to stick with those as well. Because you use these products every day, and for hours on end, making the switch to energy efficient office equipment is wise.

3. Get Smart About Lighting

Another way to become more energy efficient at work is by focusing on the lighting throughout your office. It is important to replace outdated light bulbs that are less efficient than modern options. So, for example, you could replace incandescent light bulbs with LED bulbs, which do not contain the harmful mercury that compact fluorescent light bulbs contain. Beyond that, you can check to see if there are any light fixtures that you do not really need to have in place after all. Plus, simply turning the lights off when you leave a room can be a great way to save money really easily.

LED-lighting-workplace

You can even opt to install light fixtures that use sensors to determine when there are people in a room, thereby allowing the lights to turn on and off automatically. And, finally, whenever possible, take advantage of natural light during the day so that you can rely less upon artificial, energy-consuming light.

4. Keep Your Staff Comfortable, but Save Money Too

What temperature is your office thermostat currently set to? Do you think that you can maybe tweak the temperature a bit so that you could save money, while also keeping everyone comfortable? Many times, office thermostats are set at temperatures that end up costing the business a lot of money. Small changes in temperature can make a big difference in your energy savings, but your staff are not likely to notice the changes because they will still feel comfortable while they work.

To keep the workers productivity high enough, you should definitely keep your office warm with the minimum cost incurred. It is more reasonable to use the energy efficient radiators that enable you to control the heating easily from anywhere you want. For instance, you can use BestElectricRadiators to not spend much money and keep the heating as well as the productivity of the workers.

eco-friendly-business-practices

For example, you can save money during the summer by setting the thermostat to 78-80°F. When the workday is over, you can allow the office to reach 80°F because no one will be there anyway, so you don’t need to bother keeping the air conditioner going. In the winter, on the other hand, you can keep your thermostat set anywhere from 65-68°F, and you can let it drop to 60°F overnight when no one is in the office. Go ahead and change the temperature setting by a degree or two for a month to see how much you can save.

Conclusion

It is pretty clear to see that it is very important to become more energy-efficient at work. The first step involves setting up an eco-friendly office. But, once you have set the foundation, you can go even further by becoming energy efficient for the planet and for your bottom line.

Why Should Your Company Commit to Renewable Power?

  By | | , ,
1 Comment

Roughly one-third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from burning fossil fuels to create electricity, according to Climate Collaborative. Using non-renewable gas, oil and coal adds to a rapidly growing carbon footprint, increases global warming and spells disaster for our fragile planet’s future. Companies and large corporations have the ability to make a positive environmental change by committing to transition to renewable energy in the coming months and years. Not only will this benefit our planet, but it also promises success for companies who choose to commit to it.

Reduce energy costs by producing your own energy

Utility bills are a huge expense for businesses, many of which are at the mercy of utility companies that could raise their rates at any moment. Renewable energy is an attractive alternative to electricity and the bills that come with it. Wind installations are one option, but solar panels are even better as they are more predictable, efficient and affordable.

In fact, the cost of renewable energy is dropping at an incredibly rapid rate. The total cost of developing wind power has dropped 55% in the last five years while solar energy has dropped a shocking 74%. These low prices stem from massive global investment and rapid technological advancement. And major corporations that are already using clean energy are only looking to buy more in the coming months.

renewables-investment-trends

Boosting public relations

An increasing number of companies are committing to renewable power to boost public image. Smart businesses know that, in today’s world, renewable power is a source of competitive advantage. Social pressure to reduce emissions continues to rise as consumers look for ways to be involved in saving the planet. This green movement has driven a demand for green products. And companies that can sustainably create these products are winners in the public eye.

Renewable power is also reliable and predictable

Unlike coal or oil, we’ll never run out of wind or sun. This makes the cost and savings of wind and solar power quite stable. Solar panels installed on top of business structures will produce a consistent amount of energy year after year as long as they are properly maintained. This strong reliability makes budgeting easier and ensures a less volatile bottom line.

Reducing carbon emissions

Every one killowatt-hour of energy produced keeps 300 pounds of carbon out of the atmosphere. So, replacing non-renewable energy with renewable resources naturally decreases global warming emissions. And that’s good news for everyone on earth because if we’re left with more carbon than oxygen, it’s going to be a little difficult to breathe.

How Can You Commit to Renewable Power?

The first step in committing to renewable power is shifting your perspective. Take time to personally research these benefits of renewable power. Once you decide sustainable energy is worth implementing, on both an individual and global scale, you can begin to look for ways to create your own strategy.

The best way to brainstorm and execute strategy is to develop a team with specific goals in mind. This team should include members from different departments such as legal, financial, environmental, sustainability and operations. Once there is a team in place, you can begin to integrate energy into the company’s vision and operations.

The team should begin by assessing current energy impacts and how they might change them. Analyzing impact and comparing your own to competitors’ will reveal performance opportunities and gaps. The team can then develop a plan of action. Aggressive targets should reflect the degree and pace of emission reductions necessary to mitigate climate change.

Once goals are outlined, the team must create incentives for employees and consumers alike to make energy an actionable priority. From there, they can measure and manage energy usage as the company transitions from non-renewable to renewable energy sources.

How Can I Make My Business More Environmentally Friendly?

  By | | , ,
2 Comments

Climate change is quickly becoming a major issue. While it has long been a problem, we are starting to see the direct results of global warming. Each year is hotter than the last, we are losing wildlife, and many of the natural resources we need to survive are depleting faster than we can replenish them.

There is, unfortunately, no simple answer to this issue. There are many factors that impact the progression of climate change, meaning we can’t rely on a simple trick coming in at the last minute to save us.

Instead, we need to focus on doing everything we can across the board to slow climate change. With businesses being one of the biggest contributing factors in the current climate crisis, many business owners are curious how they can transition to more environmentally-friendly operations.

This article explores a few simple ways businesses can become greener and decrease their impact on the environment.

ways businesses can become greener

Consider Your Sourcing

One of the easiest ways a business can reduce its impact on the environment is to find green materials and manufacturers.

Many businesses rely heavily on materials that harm the environment. Plastic is a fantastic example. Plastic is made of petroleum, meaning that it is non-renewable. This alone makes it a bad choice for the environment. Compounding the problem, plastic doesn’t degrade. It lasts for an extremely long time.

This means we have to dispose of it by throwing it in landfills or the ocean. Once there, the plastic can cause further harm, trapping and killing wildlife or winding up in the food we eat and the water we drink.

Businesses that find more environmentally-friendly alternatives can radically reduce their impact on the environment.

This isn’t always viable though. Sometimes plastics and other somewhat harmful materials are crucial to producing a product.

In these cases, businesses should instead look to find the most responsibly-produced version of the material available. For instance, a business might source their plastic from recycling plants, allowing them to reduce the impact they have by using the material.

There’s also the manufacturing itself to consider. Choosing a factory or plant that runs on solar or another renewable energy reduces the net impact of your business operations on the environment.

Finally, there’s the shipping and distribution. Ordering more materials at once can help reduce the amount of fuel used for transportation. You can also find shipping services that emphasize environmentally-friendly practices.

All of these things can make your production process easier on the earth.

Work Remotely

We live in the age of the digital entrepreneur. People can now start and run a business entirely from the comfort of their own homes.

Not only does this have many monetary and lifestyle benefits, but it’s also an excellent way to reduce the environmental impact of your business.

Environmental Effects of Remote Work

Avoiding an unnecessary office rental means less electricity is used each day. The lights in your home office aren’t going to draw nearly the same energy as the lights in a commercial space.

Additionally, working from home lets you avoid commutes, keeping you from burning fuel when you drive to work.

Also Read: How Can Companies and Employees  be Motivated to Care For the Environment

Create Green Alternatives

Finally, business owners can make their businesses greener by creating green alternatives to existing products. There is growing demand for environmentally-friendly products. Unfortunately, there aren’t always green options on the market.

ecofriendly home

As a business owner, you are directly in control of your business offerings. You have the power to invest in developing green products.

Doing this can make your business better for the environment while also opening new market opportunities for you. It’s a true win-win situation.

Why Businesses Need to Reduce Their Carbon Output?

  By | | , ,
5 Comments

According to a recent Nielsen study, 81 percent of consumers feel strongly that businesses should be taking measures to reduce their impact on the environment. This passion is shared across generations, and it’s safe to say that businesses that have little regard for their corporate social responsibility are significantly less desirable to consumers.

Despite this, a 2018 survey by Carbon Credentials found that only 10 percent of UK businesses had strategies in place to cut carbon emissions. Of those that did, none had a set science-based target in their carbon reduction plan. We know that climate change will devastate the economy and drastically increase the cost of doing business. That’s not even mentioning how it will impact resource scarcity and the global population as a whole.

At the same time, businesses that take the initiative to reduce their carbon footprint can look forward to many more immediate benefits. Here’s why your business needs to conduct a full carbon audit to reduce its carbon output and do to highlight climate action in the sustainability reports.

Cost Savings

Naturally, your expenses go down with your resource usage. From using more efficient equipment to streamlining your transportation operations to recycling office supplies, there are countless measures every business can take to make this happen. Within the first month, you’ll have more money to allocate towards growth – instead of utility bills.

Regulatory and Tax Compliance

Year-on-year, laws are passed to penalise businesses that don’t make an effort to reduce their impact on the environment and reward those that do. In the UK, this includes the Climate Change Levy, the EU Emissions Trading System and capital allowances on energy-efficient equipment, among other schemes.

Public Image

A 2015 Nielsen study of 30,000 consumers found that 66 percent of them would pay more for sustainably manufactured products. Among millennials, that portion increases to 77 percent. Gen Z is known to be even more conscious in this regard. The more your business cares, the more your customers will care about your business.

Employee Morale

In a similar light, going green fosters positive feelings from your employees as well. This has many benefits. For one, your staff will be more productive and motivated to achieve if they know they’re working for a good cause. Additionally, turnover will be reduced as employees will be less compelled to leave a work community that cares.

The Bigger Picture

This should go without saying, but reducing your company’s environmental impact has lasting benefits for your community and the economy as a whole. The likelihood of your long-term success and prosperity is far greater if the environment is in better shape.

What You Can Do

The list of measures your business can take to become more environmentally conscious is quite frankly endless. Get started by taking a look at this post on Utility Bidder, an energy supplier comparison website, about some simple ways that businesses can reduce their carbon output. The internet serves as a wealth of information on this topic.

Implementing greener practises is extremely beneficial to your business and more often than not, it is a dead-simple process. Getting started today will help you reap the benefits and reach your business goals sooner.

5 Effective Green Marketing Strategies

  By | | , ,
7 Comments

Becoming an entrepreneur steadily becomes a childhood dream for many young people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s, just like only about 30 or 40 years ago people have dreamt of becoming astronauts, policemen, or firefighters. Indeed, doing business today has become not only profitable but also challenging and overwhelmingly intriguing. At the same time, doing business internationally only spices things up. However, doing business just for the sake of it might easily become boring, especially with the younger people, which will not produce the desired results by any means.

To do business with passion, one must pursue a higher goal, which means something more than just making money. One such great goal is sustainability. Not only it looks cool, but it also serves a great deal to the community at large.

sustainable-habits-for-ecofriendly-home

Doing the Right Things

When you serve not only yourself or your community but the whole planet, you might say that you’re doing something beyond great. Not only you look cool when you do a sustainable business, but you also manage to save your resources, costs, and, oftentimes, life force by following eco-friendly practices. At the same time, it is somewhat easier to start your business following the green trend. Your store or production facility, for example, might not look smooth but it might be sustainable by saving energy and water, recycling and reusing the office supplies, and being generally made out of different materials and objects available at hand.

Yet, at the same time, maintaining and raising a sustainable business might be quite a challenge. Despite the fact that green business is quite a popular thing today, you might observe this only as long as you stay local.

It’s truly hard to maintain the volumes of production viable for the greater audience and you might find yourself either sacrificing some of the green principles you craved or disproportionally increasing your costs as you grow bigger. Yet, one thing can still help with this problem and that is green marketing.

green-entrepreneurship

By following these green marketing strategies, you can at least pay off those massive costs that arise as you expand your green business.

  1. Design your business green. You could have probably used the materials and objects you stumbled upon as you started creating your sign or building the workspace for your employees. Well, as you grow, you can use it effectively. Produce your packaging or even the whole facilities with recycled materials, reuse as much as possible. You can even rebuild the abandoned half-destroyed building into a smaller office for your crew or development team. Not only that will look cool but will also promote you as a 100% sustainable entrepreneur.
  2. Increase online presence. Why even go outside when you can expand your business online. Create a blog if you haven’t done so yet or translate the one you already have. If you don’t have the time or knowledge to do this yourself, hire a digital marketing agency with experience in your industry niche as this will help the process go smoothly. Think about it, an automotive marketing agency would more than likely provide much better marketing results for an auto parts store than a real estate marketing agency. This way you will ensure that more than just one audience will see you. So, it’s worth the effort anyway. Just check out this best translation companies list and look for the one that suits your content the best. You’ll be surprised to find that you don’t have to pay a fortune for such services.
  3. Communicate the green message. Sometimes, simply selling eco-friendly products or having a green design might be not enough, no matter how hard you try. This is where you have to learn to communicate right. And that’s not just about marketing campaigns and blogging like in the point above (yet, you can check out the necessary knowledge for translators to communicate your message in different languages through the best translation service).
  4. Using webinar tools, make sure to let your clients know how they and the environment benefit from their purchase or service you provide. In many cases, one such benefit is financial, which may attract people even more.
  5. Using sustainable web hosting. You might not know it but maintaining a data server is not that all clean and eco-friendly. In fact, running all of the U.S. web servers does as much environmental damage as 5 nuclear power plants. So, partnering with a sustainable data center is a good idea if you truly pursue a sustainable goal. Such a data center will use cutting-edge data science tech, more compact servers and might even be self-sufficient regarding the electricity powering itself with its own solar batteries.
  6. Promote and follow the 3 Rs of sustainability. Those Rs are to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Reduce the number of resources and harmful materials used in your production and main activity. Reuse all materials you can. Recycle the materials that can’t be reused or reduced. This rule is very simple to follow, yet, it largely affects your green mentality and enables your customers to see what you do.

It’s Not Hard at All

Doing the right things and leading your sustainable business through international ventures might seem challenging upon first glance (because it actually is) but the greater the challenge the greater the reward. By letting your customers know that you truly care you get them closer to yourself and vice versa. The bottom line of your pain is that you at least feel better for doing the right thing and being a better person every day.

How to Start Eco-Business Internationally?

  By | | , ,
1 Comment

Doing business today is, perhaps, one of the hottest trends that have held its high position for a number of years now. If you want to make more than enough money, you should totally start your own business or, at least, purchase a franchise and go ahead from there. Yet, if you’re already in the game and want to grow then going international should be your next step. And going global with your eco-business is not the easiest feat, although it becomes quite popular as more and more entrepreneurs realize that it’s a pretty viable idea that pays off exceptionally well. So, what are the challenges of going international in eco-business, and how these challenges can be mitigated?

international-eco-business

Internationalization Done Wisely

Being smart in business is something that goes without question. You have to not only have some theoretical understanding of how business is done and what’s an international business but also have some kind of sixth sense to make the right decisions and take viable directions. Internationalizing your eco-business can be quite painful and not just while you’re in the process of leading your company into the Great Unknown (which international business essentially is about) but while preparing for it.

Indeed, in order to enter your desired international market smoothly, you have to calculate your steps pretty carefully. Nothing is perfect, of course, but you can, at least, aim for the right spot and potentially be at a significantly lower risk of not making it. One of the trendiest aims in international business today is going eco-friendly. This is the kind of trend that is not only viable to follow but is also reasonable to follow.

solar-rebates-faqs

Preserving our mother Earth from any kind of environmental danger is, perhaps, the best repayment we can do, so there you have 2 reasons. As for the methodology of doing eco-business internationally, it’s pretty basic, with something borrowed from the general internationalization practices and something from the eco-business trends. So, here are a couple of such tips.

  • Assess your potential markets. Obviously, it’s better to aim where it might fit in better or correspond with the local tastes and preferences. Some of the top eco-friendly brands come from the United States and European countries, predominantly from the Scandinavian part. So, one of the best picks for your start would be somewhere there. In addition, you should consider the buying power of your potential customers, the environmental situation in the country, as well as the overall green culture of the country.
  • Establish an online presence. The internet is perhaps one of the best places to start your internationalization. As lots of people use social media and simply cannot live without Google search, having your digital content targeted for a specific audience, or translating your original content is a solid and viable idea. One way of starting your business and hitting a bull’s eye is to familiarize people with you before going with a full blast.
  • Comply with your ideas. You’re running an eco-friendly business, right? That means that you must minimize any potential harm you might do to an environment or even completely eliminate it. You have to agree that marketing an eco laundry detergent produced on a rather smokey plant or delivered by huge fuel trucks is kind of weird, to say the least.
  • Keep an eye on formalities. As you go international, every formal aspect, including the needed documents and licenses must be kept in order. That also applies to their translation. Address the leading language translation services to make sure that the quality is at the top. Additionally, consider a certified translation company in order to ensure that the professional specialists working on all translations and have the full legal right to do so. This will certainly keep you from the trouble you might be least expecting.
  • Go ethical. As it’s a must for an eco-friendly business to maintain eco-friendly production, it’s also a great bonus if you treat the people around you well too. Ensure great working conditions for your employees, implement the rules and policies that stimulate a friendly environment and productivity. This way you’ll be able to show that you’re really pursuing the great goals as well as motivate your employees to work well.

Not as Hard as It May Seem

Although running your business internationally and in the eco-friendly arena might be somewhat overwhelming from time to time due to such business’ development and limited popularity, there still is a great payoff to that. One of the most important traits of such business is that it’s considered as innovative as it can only get today and being one of the driving forces of progress is pretty cool and attracts people. So, get your courage together, make sure you do more good than harm and go ahead exploring the new horizons.

10 Green Business Ideas for Young Entrepreneurs

  By | | , ,
3 Comments

Out of some of the hottest trends that have been on the top lists for quite a while are choosing an entrepreneur as the primary occupation and doing an eco-friendly business. While the former is primarily motivated by making money to afford quite a comfy living, the latter is usually motivated by something else. And that something else does not mean it has to be charitable.

The eco-friendly business has lots of benefits, the scales of which largely outweigh the monetary advantages of doing any kind of other business. Just think about it, by going green with your business you’re promoting the Earth’s safety from potential environmental catastrophe, you support innovation, and simply look cool and trendy. So, what are the specifics of doing business in a green way? Using essay writing service uk also will help you find more information about green business.

green-entrepreneurship

Green Business: The Essentials

Although it might seem like something totally out of this world, green business is still business. You still have to be aware of all the formalities, such as legal regulations, competition, and economic rules and environments. You must make sure that people know about you, so marketing through all channels is reasonable.

Yet, there are some specific characteristics of the eco-friendly business in particular. In fact, such specifics are large in numbers, yet, their main ideas lie in creating and maintaining an image of the sustainable business that cares about its surrounding in all possible meanings. That applies not only to Mother Earth but also to your employees (who should be treated well anyway), your customers, and your business partners.

green-business-ideas

As for how you can do that, here are the 10 hottest green business ideas for green entrepreneurs today.

  1. Start with yourself. If you want to run an eco-friendly business, such as a solar panel business, that pursuits a corresponding role, you want to make such business green to the bone. Try to reduce or eliminate the use of harmful materials in as many processes as possible. Recycle the office supplies that got used up. Avoid transportation using fossil fuel vehicles. This way you’ll show that what you do is not only for money or prestige, it’s for the sake of itself, which is quite attractive for consumers.
  2. Save energy and water. While neither electricity nor water harms the environment, by saving them, you also save the environment. The thing is that electricity production might harm the environment while saving water basically saves water, the resource that becomes quite scarce even in the developed countries of the world.
  3. Address green consulting. Yes, there is such a thing as green consulting and it might be very useful especially in the beginning. Essentially, by addressing a sustainability consultant, you retrieve invaluable information for your green business that you will be able to use and reuse at your disposal. So, don’t neglect a great piece of advice, even if you have to pay for it.
  4. Topical publications. It’s also nice to show that you know what you’re doing. By creating a blog outlining the current environmental trends, you can achieve exactly that. While some of the elements of your business will surely demonstrate your eco-friendliness anyway, sharing your experience and knowledge with people also looks pretty cool.
  5. Support relevant local events and businesses. It’s always nice to have a community that follows similar ideas to yours. Sponsor the bicycle races or supply the local concerts with what you have to offer, and people will see you even if you make minimum to none marketing efforts.
  6. Partner with similar businesses. By directly cooperating with other businesses supporting sustainability will reduce the harm you might potentially do to the environment to the minimum. While you might use sustainable technology yourself, your suppliers, for instance, might not. Partnering exclusively with eco-friendly businesses will surely fix that.
  7. Even more topical publication. You might not get popular with all this eco thing in your country. But you can still expand abroad, at least, on the internet. You can significantly enhance your online presence and SEO by translating your blog content. Just check out Pickwriters and find a suitable professional for your business. There’s a lot of services like that online and many of them don’t charge a fortune.
  8. Promote reuse and recycling. Whether you produce certain green products, sell them, or provide eco-friendly services, there’s always a place for reuse. Recycle the container material, encourage your customers to bring those paper bags back for a reward, or reuse all your tools whenever possible.
  9. Get involved in green financing. This is suitable for the later stages of your business development. While there were some ways, in which you can support the local sustainability movements, you can also help with money directly whenever you can. Give donations that develop and support sustainability, sponsor the cleaning of public spaces, etc. there are many ways to help our environment and money is not an exception.
  10. Don’t stop in one kind of business. You can do good in many ways. If you sell organic food, deliver it, and help other businesses to do the same. If you repair bicycles, gather the old ones and refurbish them. If you produce organic beauty products, then sell them or provide beauty services for people.

Doing the Right Thing

Doing an eco-friendly business is certainly the right thing. There are lots of ways you can make our world a little bit cleaner and safer to live in and many of those ways can co-exist in one business. It’s important to remember that whenever you do a good thing, there’s no point in doing just one good thing. Diversifying your sustainable business will only multiply the great things you do in the first place.

Going Green: Ways to Reduce Business Energy Costs

  By | | , , ,
11 Comments

Do you stress over your electric bill every month? Or do you assume that’s just part and parcel of owning a business, and you’ll simply have to keep up with costs? Well, that’s not exactly true. You don’t have to endure the increased energy costs; in fact, you can lower your bill while maintaining a fully functioning business.

Here are some simple changes you can make today that will ensure you’re conserving energy.

1. Turn Off Lights And Devices

Yes, this one is self-explanatory; however, you will be surprised how often it gets overlooked. How many vacant rooms have all their lights switched on? And how many temporarily unused computers are sitting there? Make sure, whenever leaving a room, turn off all lights and equipment such as printers, coffee machines, televisions, or heaters. 

2. Use Natural Sunlight

Absorb as much as you can from natural sources if you happen to work in the day time.  Switch off unnecessary lights and take advantage of that glorious sunshine! Why increase costs on lighting when you have the brightest light of all, the sun!

3. Consider Alternative Suppliers

If you are feeling run-down by overpriced utilities, or perhaps struggling to stick to a budget, it is vital that you become aware of the different business utilities where you’re located. Not only will this generate more power, but it will also help your organization thrive toward success.

4. Input LED or CFL bulbs

Save energy, costs, and the environment at the same time with light-emitting diode (LED) or long-lasting compact fluorescent light (CFL). They can really make a drastic, positive change to your savings. These energy-efficient bulbs will not only decrease your electric bill, but will also last a lot longer than the average light bulbs.

5. Upgrade To Energy-Efficient Office Equipment

Whenever you are in need of photo-copiers, monitors, scanners, or any other appliances, consider purchasing office equipment that is energy efficient. But these will still need to be unplugged when not in use, as some equipment still consumes energy while switched off.

6. Invest In Programmable Thermostats

Installing programmable thermostats will automatically adjust the temperature of your workplace. This will reduce the use of heaters and air conditioners, and will result in significant business savings!

7. Energy Audits

Getting an energy audit will benefit your business’ energy usage and costs. These will help you identify what exactly is consuming the most energy and where you can increase energy efficiency while trimming down your electric bills.

8. Go Green, Literally!

Spend your free time gardening and discover how trees save energy through cooling the room in the summer, and blocking cold wind in the winter. This will reduce your usage of heaters and air conditioners. Just make sure to plant them strategically. 

9. Get Motion Detectors

Lighting is a huge factor to consider when it comes to high electricity bills. So using motion detectors with automatic dimming controllers, where lights are constantly necessary, can fulfill your energy needs.

Now you can follow these simple steps and have a clear understanding of how impactful energy-efficiency is. You can save plenty on your electric bill, reduce energy costs, and use renewable energy sources at your workplace. Your business energy costs will no longer be an obstacle in your organization. 

Bonus Tip: If you want to avoid budget overrun for your sustainable installation project, check out this guide.

6 Ways Businesses Can Protect The Environment

  By | | , ,
2 Comments

Over the years, humans have begun to see the negative impact a lot of our behaviors have had on the earth. Whether it is our use of energy, our contribution to growing landfills or a variety of other things, many people are making changes. More and more individuals are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint and lead environmentally friendly lives, e.g., many people are using vpn apps which are carbon-neutral.

While individuals are increasingly doing their part to help the environment, businesses also need to do the same. They are often some of the biggest contributors of the environmental damage being done, and need to find ways to turn it around. With that in mind, this article is going to go over a few ways that businesses can help protect the environment.

1. Adopt More Efficient Processes and Machinery

Many processes and machines that businesses will use end up using a lot more energy or power than they need. Protecting the environment can often be as simple as replacing or changing these processes and machinery to efficient options that exist today.

ecofriendly-manufacturing

For example, a fax machine, which is still used at many companies, can use a lot of energy to work all day. They can generally waste a lot of paper too. Instead, consider using a service like eFax. They allow you to receive and send fax via Gmail quickly, all online without the need for a machine. This is only one of several examples of how old, outdated and inefficient processes and technology can be replaced.

2. Reduce Paper Waste

Many businesses create a lot of waste. While this type of waste can depend on your company and industry, it is often things like paper and garbage. In fact, around 26% of the total waste in landfills is paper waste. This isn’t all from companies, but they generally create much more paper waste than residential households will.

While many companies have gone completely paperless, others still have a lot of work to do in that department. Some of the best ways to reduce paper waste are to store files online, use electronic documents and print things less often.

In addition to less waste, these online solutions are generally easier and preferred for both employees and customers. Of course, any paper you do still need to use, make sure it gets recycled and isn’t simply tossed in with the rest of the garbage.

3. Use sustainable packaging

Sustainable packaging is an essential aspect of protecting the environment, and businesses have a significant role to play in this regard. Using eco-friendly materials and designs for packaging not only reduces waste and energy consumption but also promotes the image of an environmentally conscious brand. Arka folding carton boxes for printed and custom packaging is an excellent option for businesses looking to reduce their environmental impact. These boxes are made from sustainable materials and designed to be visually appealing and eco-friendly.

4. Use Efficient Light Bulbs

Keeping your office buildings well-lit is an important part of ensuring your employees can comfortably see and do their job. However, with potentially hundreds of light bulbs on for the better part of most days, these lights can use a ton of energy. Instead of using traditional bulbs, consider using energy-efficient LEDs.

LED-lighting-workplace

In addition to saving energy, these bulbs can save money as they take less energy to use. Most will also last significantly longer, and aren’t that much more expensive to buy. This is a quick change that can have a significant impact on how much energy is used and/or wasted at your business.

5. Allow Telecommuting and Remote Work

While the prevalence of remote work has been growing recently, there are still some companies who don’t allow it. By simply allowing people to work remotely permanently, or from time to time, companies can improve their eco-friendliness. The amount of energy used in your office should drop significantly with less people there.

Also, with less people driving to work, your company will lower the emissions it is responsible for creating, even if only by a little bit. In addition to saving the environment, having more employees work remotely will save on energy costs. You could even potentially downsize to a smaller and more affordable office.

6. Clean Up Any Mess You Make

Using hazardous materials or chemicals is sometimes required at many companies for a variety of things. Ensuring you proper waste disposal is of the utmost importance. As a result, be sure to work with a reputable clean-up service who works in an environmentally friendly manner.

recycling-in-offices

If this mess is cleaned up incorrectly, your company could be doing a ton of damage to the environment near your offices, plants or factories. Not only that, but you could find yourself in serious troubles with the government if you don’t do things according to the regulations in your area.

Bottom Line

These are 5 of the many different ways that businesses can help do their part to protect the environment. Many of these methods can also help the business by saving you money or providing an increase to efficiency or productivity. You can also make use of green marketing strategies for green branding of your business.

Financing of Solid Waste Management Projects

  By | | , ,
9 Comments

Financing of solid waste management projects can be pretty overwhelming for the city government, especially if the government see it as a critical part of the service they should render to the citizen and if the citizen also hold it as a basis for measuring the performance of the government and using it as one of the conditions for re-election.

The increasing cost of waste disposal is a cause of major concern in developing nations

Solid waste management entails different aspects. Generally speaking, waste management consists of pre-collection, collection, transportation, storage, treatment, and disposal. The modern hierarchy of waste management includes prevention, minimization, reuse, recycling, energy recovery, and disposal.

All these aspects require proper funding in rendering a good waste management service to the society. As citizens, we hardly give any thought to the different aspects and what it takes to ensure it is carried out efficiently and effectively.

Financing Options for Solid Waste Management

There are four different options for financing of solid waste management projects. The option chosen will be dependent on various factors. The chief factor will be “what is the end goal of providing waste management service to citizen” and this is to be determined by the city government. Therefore, we say finance option is directly related to waste management goal of a city or State.

Public Financing

This primarily involves funding of waste management service entirely by the government through budgetary allocation. The government determines how it will generate the cash for service and this can be through taxation or redistribution of funds generated from other sources like sales of city natural resources or combination of various sources of funds.

In developing countries, this is generally inefficient due to the corruption within the government and lack of proper waste management capabilities in most instances. The government might decide to charge a service fee or not.

Private Financing

This involves infusing funds from the private sector into waste management service and also overseeing day-to-day running of the service. However, the hired company will charge a service fee which will be determined by calculating the amount of invested funds, operating cost, and profit envisaged. This will be spread over a period of time.

This financing option can deliver optimal result in providing waste management service but the private sector needs to be checked in order not to set a high fee that will end up scaring citizens which might lead to citizen abhorring the service.

Public-Private Partnership (PPP)

This is a special type of arrangement which brings together the government and private sector in providing funds and management capabilities for the delivery of waste management service.

All things being equal, this arrangement is best because the government will be able to regulate and have a say in how the service should be delivered especially as it relates to the setting of service fees which might be difficult in the solely private financing option. The PPP can equally be extended to be a Joint Venture (usually termed as Institutional PPP).

Recycling trash adds value to the community’s economy and allows those in need of money to find new work. If you need money quickly, banks, credit unions, and reputable lenders like PaydayChampion are common options.

Donors and Grants

This funding mechanism is dependent on the interest of the donor organization. While it is a good way to develop a city’s waste management infrastructure, attracting and utilizing grants is solely reliant on what the donor considers as important. Hence, it might be difficult for a city government to dictate how the funds should be distributed among the various aspect of waste management.

Waste management projects based on public-private partnership (PPP) model has more chances of success in developing countries

However, this type of financing can be combined with a PPP arrangement to cater for a specific waste management aspect that is in tandem with the interest of the donor and can be part of the city government contribution to the PPP.

Conclusion

In conclusion, waste management financing is quite dynamic just like many other services and infrastructure provided by a city government and the best option for financing the provision of waste management service can only be made after appropriate due diligence and consultation with relevant stakeholders has been made and observed.