The Green Office

As the trend in self-employment continues to rise in North America, home office space is becoming ever-more popular. However, as the popularity with in-home offices are increasing, so too is the household footprint. Below are some tips and advice to help you lighten your energy consumption and not your pocket book!

Lighting
Late-night hours are common if you have your own business, or if you are trying to catch up on your work. which is why installing compact fluorescent light bulbs is a smart and efficient thing to do!

Office Equipment
When looking for new office equipment, make sure to look for the Energy Star label. Fact: A home office that uses an Energy Star computer, printer and fax machine saves enough electricity every year to light your house for four years!

Computer Consumption
When not using your computer or laptop, put your computer to sleep or in stand-by mode. It has this feature built in, so why not take advantage of it? Putting your computer to sleep or in stand-by mode will help you save 80% more energy than when on full-power mode, helping you save on energy consumption because the screen goes blank and the hard-disk stops spinning.

Use a power bar
Even when not in use, your computer or other accessories might be sucking the power right from under your nose. Use a power bar to plug in your computer and related components so that it is easier to switch off all electronics at once, rather than individually.

Paper
The office is the room that uses the most amounts of paper. Recycling helps with this burden. However, if you want to be more eco-friendly, choose 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR)
paper. Recycled paper reduces and diverts the amount of solid waste that is being sent to the landfill and incinerators. Most of the recycled paper produced is made with a blend of virgin and post-consumer fibres. The higher the level of post-consumer recycled content, the greater the environmental benefits.

Disks and CDs
Re-using old diskettes is a good way to save on the environment. However, when your computer does not accept them anymore, what do you do then?GreenDisk Services will take in old diskettes or CDs for recycling. Buying rewritable CDs are better for the environment, since you can re-use them multiple times.