Best Steps for Office Greening
Want to help green up your office?
Manager not listening?
1. Try these suggestions…
2. Frame them in a money-saving language.
3. Stand back.
4. Watch pointy-haired-boss’s ears perk up.
Substitute travel with videoconference or a web-based tool for getting together.
Not only will you be ‘back in the office’ 5 minutes after your meeting is over (ahem, productivity…), you will be able to stay in your own bed, at your own home, with your family. It will also save your company hotel, airfare, cabs, and meals/entertainment costs. Don’t have videoconference? Try Webex. You can watch others on camera, and listen real-time.
Shut down computers at night.
Now this one is probably trickier than it first appears. Talk to your IT department. Night time is usually when they like to do system-wide updates, and they don’t like having to run around and fix people’s computers when they’re having problems because the person’s computer was not available for system-wide fixes at night. But work with your IT folks and let them know what you’d like to do. At the very least, pick one night per week that everyone has to leave their computers on, and have the IT department send out an email out on that day to let everyone know to keep their computers on.
Scott Cooney
Scott Cooney (twitter: scottcooney) is an adjunct professor of Sustainability in the MBA program at the University of Hawai'i, green business startup coach, author of Build a Green Small Business: Profitable Ways to Become an Ecopreneur (McGraw-Hill), and developer of the sustainability board game GBO Hawai'i. Scott has started, grown and sold two mission-driven businesses, failed miserably at a third, and is currently in his fourth. Scott's current company has three divisions: a sustainability blog network that includes the world's biggest clean energy website and reached over 5 million readers in December 2013 alone; Pono Home, a turnkey and franchiseable green home consulting service that won entrance into the clean tech incubator known as Energy Excelerator; and Cost of Solar, a solar lead generation service to connect interested homeowners and solar contractors. In his spare time, Scott surfs, plays ultimate frisbee and enjoys a good, long bike ride. Find Scott on Google Plus
Get your signed copy of
Build a Green Small Business (McGraw-Hill)!
Or...talk with the author!
Click here to schedule an hour consultation.
- Green franchise opportunities: Other green business ideas
- Healthy Fast Food
- Farmer's Market
- Personal Trainer & Diet Planner
- Juice Bar and Smoothie Café
- Green Building Materials Store
- Permaculture and Urban Farming
- Edible and Organic Floristry
- Energy Efficiency Auditing
- Ecotourism and Sustainable Travel Planner
- Sustainable Coffee House
- Consignment Shop for Kids Clothing & Toys
- Natural Foods Co-op
- Sustainable Food Prep and Cooking Instruction
- Food Plant Nursery
- Mesh Network Telephone and Internet Company
- Drive-thru Coffee Stand & Espresso Shop
- Eco-Friendly House Cleaning Service
- Organic Backyard Garden Landscape Design
- Green Bed and Breakfast (B&B)
- Sustainable Mobile Food Vendor
- Biodiesel Cooperative
- Eco Friendly Pool and Spa Cleaning
- Green Wedding and Sustainable Event Planner
- Organic Farm
- Gift Basket Service
- Pedicab Company
- Used Books Vending Machines
- Organic Day Spa
- Restaurant Food Delivery Service
- Used Bicycle Retailer
- Landscape Maintenance in Arid climates
- Organic Food Delivery Service
- Outdoor Gear Consignment Shop
- Eco Concierge Service and Relocation Specialist
- Organic Community Supported Agriculture
- Sustainable Property Management
- Residential Solar