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This month millions of Sydney-siders will switch off their lights for an hour to show their commitment to reducing carbon emissions. Currently 6000 businesses have signed up for Earth Hour and the state and federal governments have shown their support.
While this is admirable , what about businesses who want to do more to combat climate change? Surprisingly, relatively small adjustments on a daily basis can have far reaching environmental benefits.
Firstly, try to conduct more interviews and meetings by teleconference. Every time you commute to a meeting it costs money, wastes time, and burns fossil fuel. Research has found that teleconferencing is also more efficient and productive then face-to-face meetings.
Another small yet effective step that you can take is to introduce real, as opposed to fake, greenery into the office space. Although they require watering and a bit more T L C, the real thing adds beauty and more importantly oxygen to your surroundings.
Whether your office provides lunch for employees, has a café on site or holds the odd Friday afternoon BBQ, buy local produce. By stocking the lunch room with food products made locally you are injecting funds into local communities, reducing carbon emissions as goods do not need to be transported as far, and eating fresh food.
Something that can be done with little effort is adjusting the thermostat in the office. Although this may require wearing long sleeves in winter each degree warmer you leave the thermostat in summer, and each degree cooler you set it in the winter can save 6 to 8 percent in energy costs.
Something quite self explanatory which can sometimes fall by the wayside is recycling. Avoid printing emails unnecessarily and where possible print papers on both sides. It also helps to institute a recycling program, and to switch to recycled paper and water-based inks.
Laptops have improved leaps and bounds in the last 15 years. Desktop computers in 1993 when left on for 24 hours per day produced 1065 kgs of CO2 and laptops today with LCD monitors and power saving features produce only 426 kg. Consequently, by replacing old desktop computers you can save up to 60% of your electricity bill and save the polar bears.
One deterrent for upper management is a fear green practices will cause profits margins to drop. This is often the opposite of what happens. Bob Willard, a former leader at IBM and the author of "The Next Sustainability Wave," conservatively estimates that 20 percent of job candidates are drawn to businesses that tout green practices.
Christy Webber Landscapes, a US based company uses solar and geothermal heating/cooling, vegetative roof cover, weather-responsive lighting, rain water tanks and methods for harnessing wind for power and ventilation. As a result, facilities use 55 per cent less energy then average commercial properties.
If you don't know quite where to start, it is a good idea to use a reliable third party such as the Carbon Reduction Institute to calculate your carbon footprint. Their NoCO2 certification program makes it easy for business to become carbon neutral and sell carbon neutral products & services. Consumers can do their bit for the environment by supporting these carbon neutral organisations and by neutralising their personal carbon footprint through their carbon offset calculator.
Posted at 12:06 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments
The Agincourt Hotel is Australia's first carbon neutral Pub, and is tackling global warming - 1 drink at a time!
Licensee of Sydney’s Agincourt Hotel Matthew Jones is passionate about making a difference. He saw a business opportunity in making his pub carbon neutral and also wanted to pass down a better environment to his three children.
The Agincourt Hotel has been on the Sydney hotel circuit for over 100 years, and caters for a range of patrons. A multi-level venue, with a club, bar and function centre, the pub also has a restaurant boasting tasty cuisine, classic pub food and light snacks.
“As soon as I heard that too many people believed that not enough was being done about global warming I knew I had to get involved,” Mr Jones said.
“I immediately sought to calculate the impact the pub had on Australia’s environment in terms of total carbon dioxide greenhouse emissions.”
He did this with the help of the Carbon Reduction Institute who offer businesses the opportunity to become ‘carbon neutral’ through their “NoCO2” certification system.
Interested venues undergo a site assessment by an institute representative who will calculate the amount of the site’s emitted carbon dioxide greenhouse gas. According to Mr jones this included everything from the production of the beer to the mode of transport his staff used to get to work.
“Carbon credits” are then purchased, with each credit equal to one ton of greenhouse gas emissions. The money used to purchase each credit then goes towards funding projects like renewableenergy resources and tree planting. Once the amount of credits a venue has matches the amount of carbon it emits, it can claim to be carbon neutral.
Jones was adimant not to run his pub at a loss so worked out that he would need to charge an extra 2.5 cents per drink in order to cover the additional overhead. Customers lapped this up, so to speak, and Jones still boasts the cheapest beers in the area.
The Agincourt is currently undergoing $1.2 million AUS renovation, including replacing the bar with Recyled Tasmanian Wood, Intorducing water tanks and even water free urinals.
The jury is officially out! Paris Hilton is releasing a new range of foot wear.
While the socialite has tried her hand at everything including singing, acting, jewelery and perfume it was inevitable that she further expanded her franchise.
These new shoes I hate to admit don't look half bad with the soles a trademark pink which i though was a cute idea. They retail between $50-200 US meaning that even the most thrifty of us can enjoy a night in Paris' shoes. They all have a heart shaped cushion which is supposed to give the illusion of walking on air which I doubt.
She has jumped on the Eco band wagon by selling the shoes in environmentally friendly packaging and adding handles to the boxes meaning that a separate bag is unnecessary. I wonder whether Paris thought of that one her self. Also they come in big sizes for girls like Paris with a size 11 foot
These are some of the styles, what do you think, like em, hate em? own em? Let me know.
At the Detroit Auto Show, Katsuaki Watanabe, CEO of Toyota has confirmed plans to launch a plug-in hybrid by 2010.
Now that we have a date this is great for people who have environmental concerns as this could make more people move to hybrid. It also puts Toyota in direct competition with General Motors, which has announced plans to sell its own plug-in hybrid vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt, sometime around 2010
[ Click here to read more ]
Under the law of the sea, an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a sea zone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources.
Paul Watson, the captain of the Steve Irwin an Australian whaling patrol ship, estimates that at least 300 whales have been killed so far this season. The majority of these have been slaughtered inside the Australia's self-declared EEZ, an area for which it is predominantly responsible
[ Click here to read more ]
“Enough already!” is what you’ll increasingly hear from consumers around the world when faced with yet another corporate ‘eco’ vision or must-buy green product.
Trend researching site trendwatching.com has discovered that society is increasingly suffering from ECO-FATIGUE. It is argues that consumers are fed up with being told what to do and what not to do and are sick of being treated like infants by Al Gore and the like
[ Click here to read more ]
Come to a party to raise money and awareness for the Borneo Rainforest & its species.
So, it sucks to be an orangutan right now. What's left of the Borneo rainforest is the only natural habitat for the endangered Bornean Orangutan. There are less than 20,000 left in existence. Experts believe we could witness their extinction in the wild in as few as 10 years
[ Click here to read more ]
A new phenomenon in New Zealand is taking the idea of you are what you eat to the extreme.
Vegan-sexuals are people who do not eat any meat or animal products, and who choose not to be sexually intimate with non-vegan partners whose bodies, they say, are made up of dead animals
[ Click here to read more ]
Feel like a celebrity in sexy, one-off designs that won't blow the budget and help the environment at the same time.
Tucked away in the heart of Crows Nest lies a diamond in the rough. Handcut is a fabulous clothing store which stocks innovative, one-of-a-kind designs for women & men
[ Click here to read more ]
Sarah Lucy Smith, a recent Eco-Design graduate based in London is adding a new facet to vintage clothing. In part she is transforming floral dressed into underwear
[ Click here to read more ]
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