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How To Go Green (And Save)
By Bizbox
Now probably seems like an inopportune moment for us to be harping on you to go green. 
Caring for the environment, and organizing your business in a way as to be friendly to it, may seem like a nice thing to do when times are good. But right now, you might think, is not the best time to pester you with eco-consciousnesses--you have more pressing matters at the moment.
But--and you should know what's coming next--the truth is that going green will also cut your costs if you do it right. And yes, that's true even now that energy prices have come down from their record highs of a few months ago (and anyway, $60/barrel oil is still historically stratospheric). It's a point Scott Cooney made in his recent BizBooks conversation; and a point made in an Entrepreneur.com excerpt of a new book, 101 Ways to Turn Your Business Green.
A summation of the piece's advice:
Cut down on energy consumption. Obvious, but true--the only argument is whether this is of greater benefit to the environment or to your bottom line, but of them will be very pleased with you. Specifically, the piece recommends that you conduct an energy audit, comparing how much you use (and pay for) with how much you should be able to get by with, and keeping track of not letting consumption growth get out of hand as your business itself grows. Also, use energy-efficient light bulbs.
Plants! Good for the environment, good for your office air quality, and just generally good for morale. The piece has a nice list of recommended plant types for those not blessed with green intuition.
Reuse bags. Not just for Whole Foods shoppers.
Encourage working from home. It will save your employees gas money and the enivronment as well, yes. But it will also allow you to spend less on day-to-day office maintenance.
In the case of several of these things, there actually is an initial extra cost as compared to the same old, non-green status quo. Those nifty energy-efficient light bulbs, for example, do cost more tha the regular ones. But then they last longer and cost you less energy, and you save costs in the long run. And while you're at it, yes, you are doing a good thing.
Comments (0)October 29, 2008 9:15 AM
