Do this |
Because |
|
| Telecommute instead of going to work |
Staying
at home eliminates transportation costs and energy needs. It does
however not reduce your heating needs since you will need to be
comfortable at home. Telecommuting also requires a certain amount of
additional energy to connect you with your office. If you travel far to
get to work, telecommuting makes a lot of sense. |
significant |
| Work fewer days at the office. |
Every day you stay at home reduces how much you pollute and it is more if you travel far to get to work. |
significant |
| Carpool |
If
a colleague drives by your place every day you might as well drive with
him/her. Or they with you. In any case, driving one car to work
pollutes less than driving two or more cars. |
noticeable |
| Walk to work |
If you live close, walk to work. It is good exercise and you do not burn fossil fuels. And you car lasts longer. |
significant |
| Bike to work |
If
you live close but too far for walking, use your bicycle to get to
work. It is good exercise and you do not burn fossil fuels. And you car
lasts longer. |
significant |
| Use public transportation to get to work |
Public
buses, trolleys, subways, etc. are on the road even if you are not
inside. So you might as well use them. Any of the public transportation
vehicles create less pollution (when loaded with people) than your car
(which is generally loaded just with you). In addition, public
transportation vehicles often get the right of way or use express
lanes. Less stop-and-go traffic means an additional reduction in
pollution. And you can read while you commute. Safely. |
significant |
| Avoid single-use cups and plastic ware – reuse or bring your own from home. |
Plastic
cutlery is made from petro-chemical products. That essentially means it
is made from oil. Maybe those plastic forks will be recycled for a
while, but they usually end up in the garbage (that is the landfill for
a few hundred years). You save the energy for washing the dishes and
silverware, but you are forgetting the energy that is necessary to make
plastic cutlery and paper plates every day. |
not enough |
| Encourage others to bring mugs and "real" silver ware |
Not only does it pollute less, now several people are doing it. |
not enough |
| Print only what is necessary to be printed. |
Print
only what NEEDS to be printed. And then print it on recycled paper.
Most stuff does not need to be printed. Keep it in electronic form.
Stop printing the goofy stuff you find online. Show it to your
colleagues on the screen or e-mail it to them. |
not enough |
| Use wooden pencils, not plastic pens and markers |
Pencils
are made from very few materials. Especially the ones without eraser.
Wood, graphite, and maybe some paint. The wood is renewable. More
importantly, pencils always work, never dry out, work upside down, in
any weather, and have an unlimited shelf-life. Other writing utensils
require much more energy to be made, are usually not recycled, and are
often not reliable. |
not enough |
| Use refillable pens, roller pens, fountain pens |
If
you want to use a writing utensil other than a pencil, use one that can
be refilled. That way you are keeping the part that is made from strong
and long-lasting materials and are replacing just a small part of it
(the cartridge). In case of a fountain pen you are only adding new
liquid. |
not enough |
| Use recycled paper for everything |
Paper
that has a high amount of post-consumer recycled paper is made in part
from paper that has been collected through the public recycling system.
Fewer trees are cut to create this paper. Often this paper is also not
bleached with toxic processes. |
noticeable |
| Drink cold water tap-temperature water |
Drinking
nice, macheine-cooled water SEEMS to be more refreshing. That feeling
lasts a few seconds. What you body basically needs is water so you can
sweat. You body does not care if it is tap-temperature. If you do not
cool the water you pollute less because you use less energy. |
noticeable |
| Turn down A/C |
For every degree you turn up the air-conditioners thermostat, you pollute less because your A/C has to work less hard. |
noticeable |
| Work without air-conditioning |
A/C uses a LOT of energy. |
significant |
| Build office buildings in a smart way. |
Keep
the sun out during hot times, let the sun in during cold times. Don’t
build office buildings like glass houses (which heat up too much during
summer, and are difficult to heat during winter when there is no sun).
Don’t rely on machines to keep you comfortable. Avoiding all this saves
tons of energy and pollution. Sorry architects, a new look is required.
|
significant |
| Dress according to the weather. |
If it is hot, dress so that you are comfortable without
air-conditioning. If it is cold, dress so that you are comfortable
without much heating. The machines that cool or heat your environment
create a lot of pollution. Learn to live without them. Or at least with
much less. |
significant |
| Change dress codes |
Long
pants and suit jackets are too hot in the summer. Many materials do not
allow your body to perspire well and you can only wear them comfortably
if machines create the proper climate around you. Change or abolish
dress codes that require A/C to be comfortable. |
significant |
| Encourage your boss to loosen dress-code. |
It is cheaper (less money spent for energy) and it is cleaner (for the environment). |
significant |
| Do virtual banking |
Avoid
having bank statements printed and mailed. Look on internet instead and
print at home if really necessary. Printing and mailing costs energy,
resources for materials, and transporting those materials. |
not enough |
| Use natural cleaning products |
The
use of "regular" cleaners, air-fresheners, bleaches, etc. requires a
lot of packaging. Those containers have to be made. The cleaners
themselves are dangerous in our natural environment and often for you
while you are using them. How dirty can it get at the office anyways? |
noticeable |
| Turn off computers when not in use. |
If no one is using the machines turn them off. |
noticeable |
| Turn off lights when no one is there. |
If
no one is there you do not need the lights on. If you have the option
to turn of your room light, do it. It probably does not make sense to
turn of the lights for a whole floor just because you are leaving but
will be returning in a few minutes. If you are the last one leaving
though, turn it off! |
noticeable |
| Turn off lights even if the tourist like to see the skyline. |
Tourism
in your city may be a benefit, but creating a beautiful skyline at
night is wasting a lot of electricity if no one is actually in the
buildings. |
significant |
| Find an new architect |
Finding an architect who can design office buildings that look great
and impressive (or whatever you want) while using much less energy than
other buildings means that you will pollute a lot less. A building
truly to be proud of! |
significant |
| Host your website through a web hosting service which uses wind and solar energy |
If
you indirectly choose energy that is made cleanly you can reduce the
pollution you would create if you used other web hosting services. They
need electricity to run many computers and room air-conditioning to
keep those machines cool. |
noticeable |
| Refill printer cartridges |
Refilling the cartridges means that you are not wasting resources and embedded energy by throwing away the plastic cartridges. |
not enough |
