Tips for Greener Businesses

For hotels & travel-related businesses, see special section at the end.

Saving Energy
GET AN ENERGY AUDIT

Find out where energy is being used, lost and where it can be saved. Do it yourself or get a professional. Many utility companies offer business energy audits for free.		  
REDUCE YOUR USE

Lighting

Artificial lighting accounts for 44% of the electricity use in office buildings.

  • Turn off the lights when you’re leaving any room for 15 minutes or more and utilize natural light when you can. Install timers or motion sensors that automatically shut off lights when they’re not needed.
  • Make it a policy to buy Energy Star-rated light bulbs and fixtures, which use at least 2/3 less energy than regular lighting.
  • Install compact fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent ones.
Heating and Air Conditioning
  • Make sure your equipment gets routine maintenance. Check for coolant and air leaks, clogs and obstructions in intakes and vents.
  • Keep programmable thermostats set to turn air conditioning on 30 minutes before people arrive and off 30–60 minutes before they leave. Set heat no higher than 68 degrees in the winter. Set a/c no lower than 78 in the summer. Adjust timer controls and programmable thermostats for daylight savings time (which begins 2nd Sunday of March and ends 1st Sunday of November.)
  • Shade windows, doors, skylights with awnings, sunscreens and blinds to reduce heat.
  • For hotels, install programmable timers and sensors for lights, appliances and room HVAC (so a/c is turned off when a guest is not in the room.)
Electronics

Computers in the business sector unnecessarily waste $1 billion worth of electricity a year.
  • Make it a habit to turn off your computer—and the power strip it is plugged into—when you leave for the day. (Check with your IT department to make sure the computer doesn’t need to be on to run backups or other maintenance.) During the day, setting your computer to go to sleep automatically during short breaks can cut energy use by 70%. Remember, screen savers don’t save energy.
  • Turn off all unused office equipment—including monitors, printers, copiers and scanners—on evenings and weekends when not in use.
  • Make it a policy to invest in energy-saving computers, monitors and printers and make sure that old equipment is properly recycled.
  • If your business uses televisions and other electronics, purchase energy efficient models.
Travel
  • Rethink your travel- Make it a habit to take the train, bus or subway when feasible instead of a rental car, when traveling on business. If you have to rent a car, some rental car agencies now offer hybrids and other high-mileage vehicles.
  • Make it a policy to invest in videoconferencing and other technological solutions that can reduce the amount of employee travel.
Commuting
  • Make it a habit to carpool, bike or take transit to work and/or telecommute when possible. If you need to drive occasionally, consider joining a car-sharing service like Zipcar and Flexcar instead of owning your own wheels.
  • Make it a policy to encourage telecommuting and make it easy for employees to take alternative modes of transportation by subsidizing commuter checks, offering bike parking or organizing a carpool board.
  

Conserving Water
  • Promptly repair any plumbing leaks.
  • If you own your building, install low-flow showerheads, bath and sink faucet aerators and ow-flow toilets.
  • If you are responsible for the landscaping of your facility, choose a low maintenance landscape design that uses few chemicals and little water. Try succulents as an alternative. (www.LagunaNursery.com)
  • Restrict watering to evening and night.
  

Reducing Waste

Remember, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle is just as effective a mantra for business as it is guiding your own personal decisions. Before you Recycle, it’s better to think first about ways to Reduce or Reuse.
REDUCE
  • Go paperless when possible. Make it a habit to think before you print: could this be read or stored online instead? Make it a policy to post employee manuals and similar materials online, rather than distribute print copies.
  • Print smarter—The average office worker goes through 10,000 sheets of copy paper in a year. Make it a habit to print on both sides or use the back of old documents for faxes, scrap paper or drafts. Avoid color printing and print in draft mode whenever feasible.
  • Make it a policy to buy chlorine-free paper with a higher percentage of post-consumer recycled content.
  • Provide filtered water to reduce bottled water waste.
  • Make it a policy to purchase office supplies and furniture made from recycled materials.
  • Order products in concentrated form or in bulk.
  • Use cloth roll towels or hand dryers in public restrooms.
  • In situations where using reusable dishes and glasses is not possible, make it a policy to buy and use non-styrofoam products. (Styrofoam has been banned for business use in Laguna Beach.)
  • To reduce harmful runoff and make indoor environments healthier, use biodegradable, non-toxic cleaning products.
  • To make indoor environments healthier, use low-emission paints and recycled carpeting.
  • For hotels, use organic cotton or bamboo sheets.
  • For hotels, use refillable soap, lotion and hair rinse dispensers to replace soap waste and individual plastic bottles.
REUSE
  • Make it a habit to bring your own mug and dishware for those meals you eat at the office.
  • Make it a policy to provide reusable dishes, silverware and glasses.
  • Reuse manila envelopes, shipping containers, packaging pellets and bubble wrap.
  • For hotels, start a linen and towel reuse program. Post in-room cards to inform guests of your program and encourage their reuse of sheets and towels.
RECYCLE
  • Recycle toner and ink cartridges and buy remanufactured ones. According to Office Depot, each remanufactured toner cartridge “keeps approximately 2.5 pounds of metal and plastic out of landfills…and conserves about a half gallon of oil.”
  • E-Waste: Recycle your electronics properly. Look for a recycler that has pledged not to export hazardous e-waste and to follow other safety guidelines. Old computers that still work, and are less than five years old, can be donated to organizations that will refurbish them and find them new homes. (You may even get a tax deduction.) (www.EPA.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/index.htm)
  • Ramp Up Your Recycling—Make it a habit to recycle everything your company collects. All kinds of paper can be recycled. So can your old cell phone, PDA or pager. Make it a policy to place recycling bins in accessible, high-traffic areas and provide clear information about what can and cannot be recycled.
  • For hotels, place recycling bins in guest rooms.
  

For All Businesses

See Resources in the Sustainability Section of this web site.

Additional Resources For Travel-Related Businesses

(including Hotels, Restaurants, Attractions, Corporate travel / meetings / conventions, Destinations & Transportation)
The U.S. Travel Association has a new web site, TravelGreen, which is a go-to source for information on sustainability efforts within the travel community. Includes latest developments, case studies from each sector of the industry and information on the sustainability programs (both education and certification) in each sector of the industry. We encourage everyone in a travel-related business to use this valuable resource to implement policies and practices that work for your business.
 www.TravelGreen.org
 


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