{"id":1493,"date":"2014-09-04T08:04:06","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T08:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/?p=1493"},"modified":"2016-11-22T13:18:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-22T13:18:00","slug":"green-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/green-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips from the Experts – Greening Your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s edition of Tips from the Experts, we asked two business professionals to tell us their top tips for introducing sustainable business practices.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jodie Read, Managing Director at Penarth Management<\/a><\/h2>\n


\n\"jodie1\"1. Implement an Environmental Management System\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once companies understand how they impact on things such as energy, waste, water, paper, and travel, they can normally identify ways of reducing the amount of harm caused to the planet. Interestingly, what is good for the planet is normally also good for the pocket. As an added bonus, prospective customers will often appreciate your efforts to go green, and may even prefer to buy from you because of your ethical stance. Despite the cost of implementing ISO14001, and getting it assessed by a United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accredited Certification Body, the cost savings that can be achieved can negate those costs.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Second Hand Furniture\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Using second hand furniture can provide a cost effective and environmentally friendly way of kitting out your new office premises. There is often a surplus of high quality, second hand office furniture available for a fraction of the cost of buying new. You can even give old furniture a new lease on life, and maybe even get more of a corporate look into the bargain. For example, rather than buy new filing cabinets, why not get your shabby old ones spray painted in your company colours?<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Use Cloud Based Technology\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

To help cut down on the amount of paperwork in the office, utilise cloud based technology to manage everything from your customer database, to job sheets and project management, right the way through to accounts.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Reduce Paper Use\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Introduce a simple \u2018think before you print\u2019 policy to eliminate unnecessary printing altogether. If printing is still required, why not change the settings to duplex print (or even print two pages to one sheet)? This means that you can at least halve the number of sheets of paper being used.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Monitor Energy Consumption<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s often surprising just how much electricity computer monitors and other appliances use up when left in standby mode. Once you see how much energy you\u2019re paying for overnight, it\u2019s easy to become ever so slightly obsessive about masterminding switch off campaigns!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Laura Croisdale, Environmental Officer at Encore Packaging Solutions<\/a><\/h2>\n


\n\"laura1\"1. Motion Sensors<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of a company\u2019s biggest costs is lighting. By installing motion sensors you can drastically cut your electricity bill without the massive investment of upgrading the whole lighting scheme. Having the lighting sensors also reduces the \u201chuman error\u201d risk of employees forgetting to switch off a light, or switching off a light whilst someone is still working in the room!<\/p>\n

2. Set and Lock Heating Controls<\/strong><\/p>\n

Set and lock your heating controls to an ambient temperature (e.g. 21C). Regulating the temperature automatically will save a significant amount on heating costs and employees will no longer partake in heating wars- switching the heating on and off, or switching the heating on whilst the air conditioning is running.<\/p>\n

3. Make It a Competition<\/strong><\/p>\n

Turn a green initiative into a mini competition – it\u2019s amazing how competitive people can become! Our office had an issue with everyone leaving computers and monitors on overnight. So we introduced an office competition, grouping the different desks into teams and monitoring who had and hadn\u2019t switched off their equipment. By ranking the teams on a monthly basis, the office began to police them and now it is second nature to switch everything off before leaving for the night.<\/p>\n

4. Toilet Hippos<\/strong><\/p>\n

If a company has older toilets, invest in Toilet Hippos. Toilet Hippos are placed in the cisterns and reduce the amount of water used per flush. It\u2019s a cheap, quick and easy way to save money on your water bill without re-fitting the company bathrooms.<\/p>\n

5. Encourage Suggestions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Set up an open forum for employees to make suggestions and provide feedback. It\u2019s great to see what people think of to implement in the workplace and see what else could be done to help the environment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thanks to both of our contributors for their valuable advice. Do you have any green business tips that you would like to share? Feel free to leave a comment in the section below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s edition of Tips from the Experts, we asked two business professionals to tell us their top tips for introducing sustainable business practices.   Jodie Read, Managing Director at Penarth Management 1. Implement an Environmental Management System\u00a0 Once companies understand how they impact on things such as energy, waste, water, paper, and travel, they can normally identify ways of reducing the amount of harm caused to the planet. Interestingly, what is good for the planet is normally also good for the pocket. As an added bonus, prospective customers will often appreciate your efforts to go green, and may even prefer to buy from you because of your ethical stance. Despite the cost of implementing ISO14001, and getting it assessed by a United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accredited Certification Body, the cost savings that can be achieved can negate those costs. 2.\u00a0Second Hand Furniture\u00a0 Using second hand furniture can provide a cost effective and environmentally friendly way of kitting out your new office premises. There is often a surplus of high quality, second hand office furniture available for a fraction of the cost of buying new. You can even give old furniture a new lease on life, and maybe even get more of a corporate look into the bargain. For example, rather than buy new filing cabinets, why not get your shabby old ones spray painted in your company colours? 3.\u00a0Use Cloud Based Technology\u00a0 To help cut down on the amount of paperwork in the office, utilise cloud based technology to manage everything from your customer database, to job sheets and project management, right the way through to accounts. 4.\u00a0Reduce Paper Use\u00a0 Introduce a simple \u2018think before you print\u2019 policy to eliminate unnecessary printing altogether. If printing is still required, why not change the settings to duplex print (or even print two pages to one sheet)? This means that you can at least halve the number of sheets of paper being used. 5.\u00a0Monitor Energy Consumption It\u2019s often surprising just how much electricity computer monitors and other appliances use up when left in standby mode. Once you see how much energy you\u2019re paying for overnight, it\u2019s easy to become ever so slightly obsessive about masterminding switch off campaigns!   Laura Croisdale, Environmental Officer at Encore Packaging Solutions 1. Motion Sensors One of a company\u2019s biggest costs is lighting. By installing motion sensors you can drastically cut your electricity bill without the massive investment of upgrading the whole lighting scheme. Having the lighting sensors also reduces the \u201chuman error\u201d risk of employees forgetting to switch off a light, or switching off a light whilst someone is still working in the room! 2. Set and Lock Heating Controls Set and lock your heating controls to an ambient temperature (e.g. 21C). Regulating the temperature automatically will save a significant amount on heating costs and employees will no longer partake in heating wars- switching the heating on and off, or switching the heating on whilst the air conditioning is running. 3. Make It a Competition Turn a green initiative into a mini competition – it\u2019s amazing how competitive people can become! Our office had an issue with everyone leaving computers and monitors on overnight. So we introduced an office competition, grouping the different desks into teams and monitoring who had and hadn\u2019t switched off their equipment. By ranking the teams on a monthly basis, the office began to police them and now it is second nature to switch everything off before leaving for the night. 4. Toilet Hippos If a company has older toilets, invest in Toilet Hippos. Toilet Hippos are placed in the cisterns and reduce the amount of water used per flush. It\u2019s a cheap, quick and easy way to save money on your water bill without re-fitting the company bathrooms. 5. Encourage Suggestions Set up an open forum for employees to make suggestions and provide feedback. It\u2019s great to see what people think of to implement in the workplace and see what else could be done to help the environment.   Thanks to both of our contributors for their valuable advice. Do you have any green business tips that you would like to share? Feel free to leave a comment in the section below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,217],"tags":[93],"class_list":["post-1493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-growth","category-expert-tips","tag-tips-from-the-experts-2"],"yoast_head":"\nGreening Your Business | Expert Tips - Instant Offices Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In today\u2019s edition of Tips from the Experts, we asked two business professionals to tell us their top tips for introducing sustainable business practices.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instantoffices.com\/blog\/business-growth\/green-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Greening Your Business | Expert Tips - 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