Have a Greener World – Modern Technologies & Global Warming

There is no longer any doubt now that burning fossil fuels in any form contributes to global warming.  And powering electrical appliances requires burning fossil fuel to generate the needed electricity.   According to Consumer Reports, putting a computer on system standby or hibernation mode 12 hours out of every 24 would save about 576 pounds of CO2 annually.  Certainly turning the computer off saves even more energy.  The same power save mode is now available with many other types of office equipment like printers and copiers.  I often wonder why we can’t take it a step further and build equipment with timers, so we can program them to turn on at a certain time and also go to sleep when they are idle.  It would cost $5 or less to have such logic circuits built-in.

I have always been a conservationist.  The way I grew up has a lot to do with it.  I do not believe in using more resource than I need to get the job done, and I do not believe in taking more from the world than I can give back – although such an equation is difficult to measure. Still, I find that just thinking about consumption in this way helps me to remember to do what I can to conserve. I abhor waste, so much so that I am still using the same cell phone and computer that I’ve had for the last 8 or more years.  People often do not understand how I can work with such old equipment.  In actuality, I think I am more productive than many who use much better equipment than I do.  And although I am an unapologetic high-tech geek, fancy gizmos do not turn me on.  On the contrary, if the gizmos do not help me to be more productive, they turn me off.

Over the years we have developed ways to conserve not just our material resources, but other types of resources as well. We have learned to use what we need and acquire new things only when we need them, at least most of the time.  Growth alone is not our business goal, but growth with efficiency is. Until we can be more efficient with what we have, there is no point in growing.

Below are some of the ways we conserve resources in our office:

	While we have several printers, one of them prints double-sided and is set to print double-sided by default.  At home, my wife recycles Xerox paper by using the unprinted side for drafts or other printing that does not need to be on a brand new piece of Xerox paper.
	We buy paper with post-consumer recycled content – the higher the percentage, the better.
	We set the color printer default to print only black and white.
	Whenever possible, we use electronic documents for reading instead of printing them out.
	We use electronic books – like CD books – whenever possible.
	As much as we can, we recycle all recyclable items.
	We regularly use only half of our lighting in the office, especially during the day.
	We have also installed motion sensors to know when lights are in use and turn them off when they’re not.
	We have a company policy that says that all computers and office equipment is to be turned off at the end of the day.  We connect all equipment to a common power strip to simplify the task.
	We use low-profile cubicle partitions and glass partitions to increase lighting.
	We buy Energy Star office equipment whenever possible.
	To cut water waste and reduce bottled water consumption, we provide filtered water.  And we have installed low-flow toilets.