by Barry Marcus

Created on: March 25, 2010   Last Updated: April 04, 2010

Every business is under pressure to reduce its carbon footprint to offset the steady increase of global warming. There is a common perception that environmentally friendly business practices will cost money. The truth is that a whole range of environmentally friendly measures will save you money as well as helping to preserve the world for future generations.

These ten environmentally friendly business tips should help to improve your bottom line.

Lighting

Many offices and production environments are enclosed in buildings where there is little access to daylight. The result is that the lights are left burning all by themselves all day long. In some cases, the lights carry-on burn all night long as well as well as all day. There are a number of solutions to this that will not only help the business to become more environmentally friendly, but will save money.

The simplest solution is easy to implement with available technology.  That is to install sensors to which the lighting system is connected. A very simple infra-red sensor will do the trick. When a person is detected in the area, the lights automatically switch on. The lights remain burning until the person leaves. Almost every office building is full of offices, meeting rooms and board rooms. This simple system ensures that lights are not left burning when the rooms are empty.

The same principle should apply to lobbies, stairways and parking areas. Lights are only necessary when there is someone there.

An investment like this will pay for itself within months, perhaps even weeks when the power savings make themselves felt.

Computers

Almost everyone has a computer on their desk in many offices. It is not unusual for the computers to remain on using full power even after the people have gone home. Huge savings can be achieved by enforcing a rule to shut down all workstation when leaving the office in the evening. In the case of a nine-to-five employee, the computer sits idle for 16 hours every week night and for 64 hours over the weekend. Very few computers need to be turned on all the time. Put an end to it.

Of the eight hours when the workstation is required, there are probably at least two hours every day that the computer is not being used. Change the settings on all workstations to go into sleep mode after five or ten minutes of standing idle.

In almost every business, Information Technology is one of the major consumers of electricity. Involve the IT department in a process of finding ways to

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