Five ways to green your workplace

Shut if off
Every night, computers and monitors display screensavers to millions of perfectly empty cubicles. While many of the newer Energy Star monitors shut off the monitor after 10 or 15 minutes of idle time, there are a lot of older monitors and computers that waste energy all night long. Today’s computers boot fairly quickly so save all those watts (and the cooling load required from the heat generated from them).

See the light
Utilize daylighting, or natural light as much as possible. This may mean reconfiguring the workspaces, but its worth it. Natural lighting is healthy and free and studies have show it to increase productivity and test scores in children. Consider decentralizing the way individual spaces are lit. Rather than ceiling fixtures, it may be smarter to install energy efficient lighting at each desk. When you are using lighting fixtures in the ceiling, make sure they are super T-8’s for those 4 foot lamps. Reflectors and delamping can maintain light levels while reducing energy consumption. Use CFL’s in task lighting at the desk. By the way, do as mom always told you too: turn off lights when you're done with them. Millions of watts are wasted each night lighting empty offices. You can significantly reduce your energy consumption by doing these simple things!

Lose the paper
In the age of scanning documents, going paperless is a lot easier and saves trees. Another benefit to saving all those trees is that most computers now feature search functions which drill deep into a document text's. This makes it easy to find documents with a simple keyword search, including the ability to find the author and the time. Paperless offices can save storage space and thousands of man hours each year, just by getting their data off paper and onto networks where people can access the information.

Share the ride
Carpooling is one of the easiest things we can do. Most people choose not to carpool out of convenience of having cars when they want it. Most cities have parking as a premium, so that can often be a great incentive to encourage carpooling. While the immediate personal benefits are obvious -- reducing employee impact on traffic while preserving our finite energy resources, reducing the cost of gas for employees -- it's a great team-builder, too.

Cheers to the Green Team
Want to build some traction on your efforts? Build a green team. There are many others who care about sustainability that you work with. Spread the word, you will be surprised. The team should meet regularly to brainstorm and implement green strategies. You would be surprised the impact a team of peers can have on reducing waste and being more efficient.