Putting a Little Green in your Workplace

You may be considering the question of how to make your workplace more green, or environmentally friendly. To keep things simple, making a workplace green can be looked at in a similar manner of making a residence green. Starting there will mean that the things that are similar to a residence will be considered first, as they can be considered the proverbial "low hanging fruit." With that in mind, the focus will be on alternative energy options, energy efficiency, and waste minimization.

Alternative Energy

The main options for alternative energy are in the form of generating renewable energy, capturing and using renewable energy, or purchasing renewable energy. A very simple option is to look for providers of pollution free/renewable electricity plans. Such plans are usually more expensive than the regular plans, but it is a way to be green. Solar energy can be captured for heat or electricity onside, as well. The question of how does solar energy work will probably be asked. It's only natural. Solar energy can be captured with special materials and panels to generate either heat or electricity. In the case of heat, the concept is fairly simple. Dark colors tend to absorb more heat from sunlight, converting it to heat. This heat can be used to do useful things, such as heat hot water. There are solar water heaters specifically for this purpose. As for electricity generation, it is a bit more complicated. The main thing is that the panels capture the sun's rays, and convert them into direct current electricity. This electricity can be used to reduce the amount of power needed from the power grid. If the panels are sized correctly, they can even provide the primary power for the workplace in question. There may be government incentives to help with this, as the price for solar energy devices can be fairly expensive.

Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency is simply maximizing the amount of benefit received from the energy used to do something. When looking at a workplace, there are likely many areas where energy efficiency can be improved. A good starting place is lighting. LED fixtures tend to use far less energy than incandescent lighting, and less energy than fluorescent lighting. But, they provide similar levels of useful light for a task. Another area to look at is how well a workplace is sealed against air leaks. The better sealed the work area is, typically the less energy is lost, and the less energy is needed to supply. This is something that a professional can help with in detail.

Waste Minimization

This may be the most straight forward of the options available. The main focus is to get the most use from something before it is discarded. A good place to start is rechargeable batteries. They are roughly competitive, price wise, with their non-rechargeable counterparts. They can be used hundreds of times before needing to be discarded. Recycling is another option to minimize the amount of waste going to a landfill. The less waste going to landfill, the more material that is available, that doesn't need to be mined for. Composting is a great option to minimize food waste, while fertilizing the plant life around an office. Some of these options may have specific requirements, to make sure to check the requirements of your area if considering this.

There are many options available to make a workplace more eco-friendly. There can be even more options depending on the specifics of the workplace, including more opportunities for waste minimization. The specific work area needs to be looked at in detail to know what might work best for it. Starting small allows for the process of thinking and being green to occur without outpacing the benefits that being green provide. There are definitely costs to consider for any green approach.