Green Your Office Tipsheet

Here are sixteen sweet ways to green your office, cut energy use, help fight global warming and other environmental threats, and save your business money.

You can be an office hero. Take these tips to your office manager and work with your co-workers to craft a greener office game plan that makes sense for your place of work.

You can learn more about how to green your office at EDF's Innovation Exchange.

 

Five No Brainers

Here are five low (or no) cost, high reward ideas. Just start with these five simple steps and you're on your way to a greener office with very little cost and a nice return on energy savings.

1) Switch to energy efficient compact flourescents (CFLs) and T8 or T5 linear fluorescents throughout the office. This step alone can cut energy use by up to 75%.

2) Urge employees to turn off computer equipment at night; install PC and monitor energy management software. The EPA Energy Star program is a great resource and even offers a free power management software package.

3) Set printers and copiers to double-sided printing and make double-sided copying and printing a company policy; if current equipment does not support double-sided printing, investigate equipment upgrade options. For more on the benefits of paper-saving, click here.

4) Work with your suppliers to switch the office paper to 30-100% post-consumer recycled, chlorine-free paper. For more on the benefits of recycled paper, click here.

5) Add a requirement to your company's purchasing policy that all new office equipment (including PCs, monitors, copiers, printers and fax machines) be Energy Star certified. Energy Star certified equipment can use less than half the energy of non-certified equipment, and usually costs little or nothing.

Four Ideas that Will Take a Bit of Work (But They're Worth It)

After you've checked off the low-hanging fruit, here are four ways you can take the next step in greening your office. These ideas will take a bit more time and planning, but they'll pay off in the end.

6) Work with an energy engineering firm to audit your office space and find ways to increase energy efficiency. You can start by asking your regional electric utility or by searching the database of the National Association of Energy Service Companies.

7) Hire an engineer to tune-up and reprogram newer heating and cooling (HVAC) units, and get a quote for replacing outdated HVAC equipment. HVAC systems are one of the biggest energy hogs in office buildings, typically responsible for over 50% of energy consumption.

8) Install occupancy sensors to control lighting in offices, common spaces, stairwells and hallways. This can cut lighting energy by up to 90% in spaces that are often lit but rarely occupied.

9) Install photo-sensitive dimmers in open areas that receive abundant natural light. In daylit areas, this may completely eliminate the need for artificial lighting during daytime hours.

Two Ways to Renovate Green

The next time you're planning to renovate your office or have to move to new office space, here are two ways to do it right.

10) Use LEED standards when building and renovating offices.

11) Purchase renewable energy whenever possibe; consider installing an on-site renewable power generation system.

Five Ways to Save While You're Out of the Office

One of the best ways to green your office is to green the way your co-workers get to and from the office. These tips offer great ways to reduce time stuck in traffic congestion, improve fitness and boost morale.

12) Offer an incentive program for employees who use mass transit or carpool.

13) Use regional car services with low emission vehicles such as hybrids to transport employees and partners.

14) Encourage telephone and video conference meetings as opposed to traveling long distances.

15) Encourage employees to travel by train rather than air when possible. Calculate the difference for a given trip using this calculator.

16) Purchase high quality greenhouse gas emission offsets for employee travel.

Posted: 18-Aug-2009; Updated: 14-Aug-2009